Posted on 12/28/2006 1:59:22 PM PST by Dallas59
Cordoba, 28 Dec. (AKI) - The Bishop of the southern city of Cordoba, Juan Jose Asenjo, has turned down a request from its Muslim community to be allowed to pray with Christians in its cathedral - a former mosque. Asenjo was quoted as saying the joint use of consecrated places of worship would "generate confusion" and lead to "religious indifference". Asenjo also said that the Bishopric had valid legal documents entitling the Catholic Church to sole use of the building. Moreover, while Catholics are able to live in peace with other faiths, and the Cordoba Diocese wants to maintain its good relations with local Muslims, Cordoba's Christian roots should be respected, Asenjo argued.
Spain's Islamic Board, which represents a community of some 800,000 in a traditional Catholic country of 44 million, argued in a letter to Pope Benedict XVI that such a move in Cordoba could serve to "awaken the conscience" of followers of both faiths and help bury past confrontations.
The organisation stated that they were not aiming at re-establishing the Cordoba Mosque - now a Unesco world heritage site - nor reviving Andalusia, the pre-Christian Muslim civilisation of Spain, of which Cordoba was the capital. Rather, the demand should be seen as a move to encourage tolerance and reconciliation, the Islamic Board argued.
"What we wanted was not to take over that holy place, but to create in it, together with you and other faiths, an ecumenical space unique in the world which would have been of great significance in bringing peace to humanity," said its letter to the pontiff.
The Cordoba mosque was turned into a Catholic cathedral in the 13th Century after the city was conquered by King Ferdinand III in the war to drive the North African Moors from the Iberian peninsula.
Sure! They can do that when Hagia Sophia is reconsecrated as a church.
Translation: give us back our use of the building, or face the wrath of TROP.
Hallelujah!
Arriba Espana!
A nice, polite way of saying TROP can **** off.
Perhaps, but only when they let Christians pray and worship freely in the mosques...ah, only when pigs fly.
Nice to see some common sense.
Racism?
First of all, Islam is a religion, not a race, so no discrimination against Muslims could possibly be racism. Secondly, name any other religion that is allowed to pray in a Catholic cathedral. Thirdly, Muslims are violently protective of their "holy places", yet they think that Catholics should allow Muslims in a Cathedral. Last I read (and maybe this isn't correct anymore), Christians and Jews were barred from the Dome of the Rock, which is under Muslim administration.
Good for this preist...showing rare courage in Europe. But with Spain's amazingly low birth rate this Muslim can just walk into the Cathedralin a few years and there won't be any Christians there.
MUSLIMS SHOULD START BY ALLOWING THE CHRISTIANS IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES TO FREELY AND OPENLY WORKSHIP AND PRACTICE THEIR RELIGION. IN SPAIN, AS IN ALL OTHER CHRISTIAN COUNTRIES, MUSLIMS ARE ALLOWED TO FREELY PRACTICE THEIR RELIGION. DON'T BE FOOLED BY SWEET WORDS BY THOSE WHO PREACH DEATH TO THE INFIDELS AND WHOSE PURPOSE IS TO RECONQUEST THE SPANISH AL-ANDALUZ, AS WELL AS THE CREATION OF EURABIA.
When was the last time Christians were allowed to pray in Hagia Sophia?
good ....in a very pc way they told the muzzies to go f themselves!!!
good ....in a very pc way they told the muzzies to go f themselves!!!
Well said!!! BRAVO!!!
On the left of your keyboard is the Caps Lock - please start using it. Thank you.
There are lies and then there are lies.
True, the Cordoba Cathedral was a former mosque but let's not forget that the mosque stand on the site of a Catholic Church which was razed after the Moors' conquest in 711.
When the Muslems occupied Cordoba I very much doubt they allowed any Christian to even enter the Mosque.
Not racism! I saw nothing about race, only religion. They are not the same thing.
forgot.../s
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