Listen: The Sound Of The Hagia Sophia, More Than 500 Years Ago

[MineralMan]

21. While in the USAF in the late 1960s, I was stationed

at a base in Samsun, Turkey. I spent one night in Istanbul on my way there. I saw the Hagia Sofia, but did not visit it. It's an impressive building, to be sure. I did learn a bit about its history while in Turkey, and that it had been a mosque before Kemal Ataturk secularized Turkey, at least in principle.

Now, it's going to return to being a mosque, which it has been in previous times, although it was originally built as a Christian church. I am indifferent about that decision, frankly. Turkey is a majority Muslim country, and I figure it can decide for itself what to do with its historic edifices.

My 15 months in Turkey, at age 20 and 21, were my first introduction to a society that was not like the society I grew up in. I found that fascinating, not threatening.

Islam is one of the world's most prominent religions. As an atheist, I pay little attention to religious beliefs, but I don't believe that any religion is better or worse than any other. All are based on beliefs that predate science. All are irrelevant to me.

If Turkey wants the Hagia Sophia to be a mosque once again, that is Turkey's business, it seems to me.