Excerpt:
The Archbishop of Cordoba has refused permission for Muslims to practice formal Islamic prayer in his cathedral, which is dedicated to Saint Mary of the Assumption. According to Mansur Escudero, who is leading the campaign for Islamic worship in the cathedral, the purpose of the campaign is not to win a victory for Islam, but a victory for mankind. He wants the cathedral to serve as a living symbol of religious harmony.
On his side Escudero has the dual heritage of the cathedral. Originally the site of a Catholic church dedicated to St. James, it was converted to a mosque after the Islamic conquest of southern Spain in the 8th century, and it was converted back to a cathedral when Spain's Catholic monarchy wrested control of Cordoba from the Muslims in the 13th century. It is said that at times during the golden age of Islam, Christians and Muslims worshipped together peacefully in the mosque, though apparently never so peacefully that the Christians did not yearn to throw off their Muslim conquerors, fighting for some 700 years before they finally managed to reclaim all of Spain.
Against the sincerity of Escudero's idea is the rather telling point that Escudero, though claiming to be motivated by sweetness and light, happens to be a convert to Islam. Yet, curiously, has not jump-started his campaign by seeking to open a currently active mosque to Catholic worship. Instead, he wishes to launch peace and harmony by insisting that a Catholic cathedral open itself to Islam.