Anderson Cooper is a tough interview. So far this year, everyone from the birthers to the new CEO of BP has found this out the hard way, and last night, Republican Congressional candidate Renee Ellmers from North Caroline became the latest notch on Cooper’s belt. Ellmers is the name behind the “Victory Mosque” ad, which puts the proposed Islamic center in the context of Sultan Suleyman, and she was none too happy that, in her framework, Cooper suggests the Vatican is a “Victory Church.”

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The Victory Mosque ad educates the viewer about past traditions in the Middle East. For example, it was common for Muslim Turkish sultans, Suleyman et al, to build mosques in areas they had conquered. In the same vein, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is attempting to consummate his victory against Burlington Coat Factory. This, she argues, is of great concern to her constituents in North Carolina, which is why it is a bedrock issue of her platform.

Ellmers suggests that the people behind the Islamic center may or may not be terrorists (“We don’

t even know who is [sic] the donors to that”), and that Muslims have a bad history of conquering other peoples and putting religious centers where they stake their claim. Cooper, a bit of a student of history himself, wonders, “Don’t all religions do that?” and, looking at Ellmers’ religion, Roman Catholicism, asks whether Ellmers is comfortable with the Crusades, the conquest of America, and, among other things, the takeover of Rome, in what amounts to the thirty-second version of Roman Catholicism 101. He concludes, “Is the Vatican a victory church?”

“No, you are incorrect, sir,” she rebuts, and accuses him of being “anti-religion” for his remarks. Cooper could only muster that “that is, like, the lowest response I’ve ever heard from a candidate.” She continues: “I have history to back me up. We are talking about the possibility of a mosque being built on Ground Zero,” to which, again, Cooper objects. “You do know it’s not on Ground Zero, it’s two blocks away from Ground Zero; it’s actually not just a mosque, it’s an Islamic center, and it’s actually being built on a Burlington Coat Factory?” She agrees that he is correct but that the fact that the building was once a Burlington Coat Factory does not mean it isn’t also “hallowed ground.”

The

interview lasts about eight minutes and Cooper, apparently still flabbergasted at Ellmers’ suggestion he was anti-religion, added an epilogue that he has not and will not take a stand on whether the Islamic center should be built, but that he was merely making a statement of fact when he questioned the Catholic Church’s history. Regarding Rome, it is quite possible that Cooper is not entirely correct on this front– Constantine converted to Christianity without being invaded, after all.

Update: via Wikipedia:

In 326, the first church, the Constantinian basilica, was built over the site that early Roman Catholic apologists (from the first century on) as well as noted Italian archaeologists argue was the tomb of Saint Peter, buried in a common cemetery on the spot. From then on the area started to become more populated, but mostly only by dwelling houses connected with the activity of St. Peter’s. A palace was constructed near the site of the basilica as early as the 5th century during the pontificate of Pope Symmachus (reigned 498–514).

So to answer Cooper’s point of information, the first Christian place of worship in Rome was built by a Roman emperor, not conquerors. Though that doesn’t count as a point in Ellmers’ favor, as it has little to do with the practices of Muslims at the time (or now).

The full explosive interview via CNN below:
Tags: Anderson Cooper, CNN, Ground Zero Mosque, North Carolina, Renee Ellmers