Of Mosque and Man

By Joe Schilp, Cross posted from More Middlesex Musings

On Friday night, Congressman Rush Holt (D-12, Middlesex) was in attendance at President Obama's Ramadan Iftar dinner speech . In fact, Obama pointed-out Holt to the gathering as one of 3 House members present. 3 out of 435, so it was big deal that Holt decided to attend.

While we all know by now that Obama forcefully endorsed the construction of the a mosque adjacent to the World Trade Center sight, also known as Ground Zero, in his dinner speech and subsequently backpedalled a day later, what we don't know is where Holt stands on the Ground Zero Mosque.

We'll get back to Holt in a moment, but first, why the firestorm over the construction of the mosque? A majority of Americans questioned by numerous pollsters feel that the mosque should not be built at a site where Islamic terrorists killed thousands in the name of Islam, but should feelings rule here? Are a majority reading too much into this, or is there a good reason oppose the construction of this mosque?

In this case, there's a darned good reason for the opposition. Let me tell you why... The project to build the mosque is called "Cordoba House" by the imam building it. Why "Cordoba?" It's not even a muslim name, so what does the name have anything to do with it?

Plenty.

Cordoba is the name of a city in Spain. 1,300 years ago, Cordoba was one of the largest cities on the Iberian Peninsula and the people of the predominantly Chrisitan city decided to build a church there, but not just any church, a huge church - a cathedral - that would be the greatest structure on the Iberian Peninsula.

Before the church in Cordoba was complete, muslims had invaded and conquered the Iberian Peninsula and decided to turn the nearly completed church - the most recognizable structure in the region and a symbol of the people and their way of life - into a mosque. That's right, after conquering the area, muslims turned the greatest symbol in the largest city in the land into a mosque.

Islam had truly conquered; game, set, match.

Flash forward to today. An imam wishes to build a mosque. Big deal. But he doesn't wish to build just anywhere; he wants to build it literally on the ashes of the vanquished in our nation's largest city where one of the world's most recognizable symbols of free markets stood, until islamic terrorists destroyed it in the name of islam. And to show that this mosque is no peace offering or expression of freedom of religion, he has named the structure after a mosque that once replaced the greatest symbol of Christianity in southwestern Europe.

If you're not offended, you're not paying attention.

Many have stood up to this imam, most notably, Rep. Peter King (NY-3), who took the imam's gesture the way one would take to being spat on in the eye - he is fighting mad and standing up to the bully.

Back to our hero, Rush Holt. He was there when Obama expressed his strong support for Cordoba House. And Holt did not express opposition the president's position. He hasn't released a statement about Cordoba House over the weekend. So what is Holt's position? Does he stand up to the bully like Rep. King, or will Holt hand over his lunch money?

With so many of 9/11's deceased coming from District 12, this is no trivial matter. Come on, Rush. Take a stand. Which side do you stand on?