Newt Gingrich on the Cordoba House Mosque: No Surrender

posted at 8:21 am on July 22, 2010 by Diane Suffern

Refreshingly stern words came from Newt Gingrich yesterday vis-à-vis the colossal 13-story slap in the face that is the Cordoba House.

Hot on the heels of Sarah Palin’s recent Facebook criticism of the mosque, Gingrich flexed his academic muscles, offering some historical perspective:

The proposed “Cordoba House” overlooking the World Trade Center site – where a group of jihadists killed over 3000 Americans and destroyed one of our most famous landmarks – is a test of the timidity, passivity and historic ignorance of American elites.  For example, most of them don’t understand that “Cordoba House” is a deliberately insulting term.  It refers to Cordoba, Spain – the capital of Muslim conquerors who symbolized their victory over the Christian Spaniards by transforming a church there into the world’s third-largest mosque complex.

Today, some of the Mosque’s backers insist this term is being used to “symbolize interfaith cooperation” when, in fact, every Islamist in the world recognizes Cordoba as a symbol of Islamic conquest.  It is a sign of their contempt for Americans and their confidence in our historic ignorance that they would deliberately insult us this way.

He rightly noted the appalling double standard—proponents of the construction urge tolerance, benefiting from freedom of religion within our own borders, while refusing to initiate a similar call for religious liberty in Muslim nations:

Those Islamists and their apologists who argue for “religious toleration” are arrogantly dishonest. They ignore the fact that more than 100 mosques already exist in New York City. Meanwhile, there are no churches or synagogues in all of Saudi Arabia. In fact no Christian or Jew can even enter Mecca. [...]

If the people behind the Cordoba House were serious about religious toleration, they would be imploring the Saudis, as fellow Muslims, to immediately open up Mecca to all and immediately announce their intention to allow non-Muslim houses of worship in the Kingdom.   They should be asked by the news media if they would be willing to lead such a campaign.

It is an egregious affront to our fallen that 9 years later we have yet to rebuild the World Trade Center, Gingrich explained.  Yet, within one year, a structure referencing one of the most famous sites of Muslim conquest—the third largest mosque in the world—will stand at the site.  If symbolism is half the battle in this ideological war, have we already lost?

It’s heartening to see two possible GOP presidential contenders take on this issue, even if the political jockeying does come wearyingly early in the election cycle.  I did find it curious that Gingrich peppered his argument with the term “elites,” as if being a former educator, historian, author, Speaker of the House and Beltway insider somehow excludes him?  Regardless, if the good Professor continues down this route, I just might forgive him for this and this.  Might.

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