Radio Recap – Turkey Converts Iconic Hagia Sophia Into a Mosque

Turkey has converted the Hagia Sophia into a mosque.

On today’s Jay Sekulow Live, we discussed the stunning development that Turkey has reconverted a historic Christian church into a mosque. The Hagia Sophia has been an iconic Christian church for centuries.

We’ve also posted a new blog from Senior Counsel Andy Ekonomou at ACLJ.org explaining some of the history and significance of Hagia Sophia.

An original in one sense, built around 537 AD, the historic Hagia Sophia in Instanbul has been once again converted into a mosque. This is a historic church in the Christian faith. During the Ottoman period, the Ottoman Turks came over under the Muslim regime and converted it into a mosque. Then Ataturk turned it into a museum when he came into power, which allowed the art of the depictions of Christ, the icons, the mosaics to be displayed. Jordan Sekulow has actually been there.

At the end of last week, Turkish President Erdogan converted it back from a museum, where visitors could see the icons and the mosaics which tell the entire story of Christ and the entire story of the Gospel, into a mosque. Now those mosaics and icons are covered. Their covering, I will tell you this, is just the beginning. This has been established as a world heritage site by the U.N. It has been a big site of tourism for Christians all over the world.

This is of course an attack on Hagia Sophia – “holy wisdom” – the church. It’s an attack on Christianity. But it’s also an attack on all people of faith. I want you to think about this for a moment. This is a historic world heritage site that the government of Turkey has now come in and the first phase of what they’re doing is covering up mosaics of Jesus, the Disciples, Mary, and Christian symbolism including the cross. That’s what they’re doing.

The question is what are we going to do? What we have to do is once again urge international pressure be placed on Turkey at an incredible level. Turkey must be given notice that the world will not tolerate the eradication of a religious faith, here Christianity, at the whim of a hostile government. The world will not tolerate the destruction of a Christian church based on a decree that is not enforceable under international law.

That’s why we’ve mobilized our resources at that ACLJ to fight back.

The full broadcast is complete with much more in-depth discussion by our team of this stunning development that Turkey has converted an iconic Christian church into a mosque. You can also read our new legal memo and blog post regarding what actions we’re taking at ACLJ.org.

Watch the full broadcast below.