Posted on 08/16/2010 10:01:15 PM PDT by neverdem
One wonders about the symbolism of the Cordoba Initiative. Was Cordoba selected because in a multicultural context it represents a blending of harmonious cultures? If so, I’m not sure history quite supports such a usage.
The city was founded by Romans and remained Western in some sense until conquered by Muslim invaders in 711, when it soon became a capital of what Muslims called al-Andalus, the Islamic foothold in southern Europe, the recurrence of which is so nostalgically evoked by bin Laden and Co. The president’s Cairo speech cited Cordoba as a beacon of tolerance during the Spanish Inquisition (“Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance: We see it in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition”), but that was mostly therapeutic myth-making: Cordoba had been captured in the first wave of the Reconquisita in 1236, and most of its Muslim population had fled, been converted, or forced out more than two-and-a-half centuries before the Inquisition even began.
But even before then, the once-cosmopolitan Cordoba — as handed down from the overtly homosexual and enlightened Al-Hakam II — was already in decline due to serial assassinations, court coups, and increasing Islamic intolerance for freedom of thought and expression outside the boundaries of the Koran.
The evocation of Cordoba may refer to the cultural achievements of late tenth-century Islam, but the city’s full history also recalls Islam’s efforts to conquer southern Europe and reminds us that, so often in the past, innate Muslim genius was stifled by reactionary clerics worried about human claims of secular achievement.
If a Muslim city inside Europe is what the Initiative needs for symbolic purposes, why not the “Constantinople Initiative”? Perhaps the proponents of the new Islamic center could make the argument that 1453, with its symbolic minarets on Hagia Sophia, marks the sort of religious ecumenism that we should again strive for. To go further, why look for iconic Islamic cities in formerly European territory at all, when a “Dubai Initiative”or a “Baghdad Initiative” might serve as a better and more contemporary model of East-West cultural and commercial cross-fertilization, or our common efforts at promoting democracy?
When reality doesn’t fit the liberal meme they just make stuff up...it’s also why liberals are often compared to children intellectually.
The Turks want to bring back the Ottoman Empire. Check history.
If you visit Cordoba, you will get to see the Mosque built on the ruins of a cathedral, the ultimate symbol of Muslim dominance over Christianity.
The moment I heard this NYC project was named the Cordoba Initiative, I knew it was a middle finger to the people of the United States by muslim girly-men.
Oh, why do muslims hate homosexuals so much?
Because even the most gay man is still more of a man the most masculine muslim.
The Greeks ought to forget that Euro nonsense and bring back Byzantium;)
islam is a homicidal, suicidal, homosexual death cult.
OOPS! Did I say that out loud?
Any time someone attempts to flesh out dreams of islamic conquests of old with tales of equality and such, the only things coming to my mind are the definition of the word dhimmi, and the horrible jizya and code, forcing people to constantly live as second class citizens. Any political ideology that uses such tactics upon a portion of those living under it must not ever stand. Not ever. No matter what it’s called, that is EVIL.
Good one!!!
Having spent a few years in the middle east observing the locals, I believe it is a self hate type of thing.
And emotionally.
Indeed!
When you see a minaret where a church steeple used to be, it’s too late.
What is even sadder is, thanks to the NEA, secular humanists, and liberals in the educational system, most Americans would not even know what the significance of "Constantinople" was, what Hagia Sophia was, or the general trends of civilization in Western history from the 7th century to 1453 A.D.
With liberalism, the naked public square becomes not just a confusion about values, first principles, religion, and cultural identity, but through Separation of Church and State and the kowtowing, bowing, appeasement, anti-Americanism, anti-Christianity, and silliness of this White House, almost a suicide pact. They would be the first ones to ban a Christmas Nativity display in Manhattan.
"John Gibson, call your office..."
![](http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:WmtQERetqOS0MM:http://www.geocities.com/ring_of_fnord/MSNBC_08.jpg")
Keith was off his medicine again on this on The Countdown, even getting the history of Spain and medieval Europe ass backwards - with the Christians as the aggressors, the usual spin about freedom of religion (denied by the party in question in all other matters), and, presumably, a confidence that all cultures and values are equal, with Western Christianity deserving no prominence or praise from liberals, as he sneered at the churches in Manhattan near Ground Zero. The naked public square has not only taken away moral values, but left them moronized by lack of education on the history of the struggle between civilization and barbarism. Or on any sense of what a truly post-Christian, post-American world would be like on a day-to-day basis.
No liberal yells about "freedom of religion" when a zoning board denies a building permit to a Christian congregation or when a group of secular humanist cranks with genital issues stage a public riot against a Christmas Nativity display. They shift to "free speech" on those days. Some issues, it seems, are more equal than others.
A most Majestic Church, thanks for posting the photo.
Someone said, "1389?? Six hundred years ago??"
And the pundit said, "These people have long memories. They don't forget what they've won and they don't forget what they've lost. Their view of history is just not the same as ours."
Opa! Nai!
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Thanks neverdem.[Cordoba] was founded by Romans and remained Western in some sense until conquered by Muslim invaders in 711, when it soon became a capital of what Muslims called al-Andalus, the Islamic foothold in southern Europe... The president's Cairo speech cited Cordoba... ("Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance: We see it in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition"), but that was mostly therapeutic myth-making: Cordoba had been captured in the first wave of the Reconquisita in 1236, and most of its Muslim population had fled, been converted, or forced out more than two-and-a-half centuries before the Inquisition even began. But even before then, the once-cosmopolitan Cordoba -- as handed down from the overtly homosexual and enlightened Al-Hakam II -- was already in decline due to serial assassinations, court coups, and increasing Islamic intolerance for freedom of thought and expression outside the boundaries of the Koran.To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
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