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Yes. Around the 12th century, Spain was
conquered by the Moors and the people were forcibly converted from Christianity
to Islam. In the 16th century, the Christians recovered the whole of Spain
from the Moors. The Muslims in the country were given three choices -
reconvert to Christianity, leave the country along with the Moors, or
be killed. All the Muslim places of worship were converted back to Christian
churches. This re-Christianisation was also done with force.
In Warsaw, at the end of the first Russian
occupation of Poland (1614-1915), one of the first things that the Polish
people did was to bring down the Russian Orthodox Christian Cathedral
that was built by the occupiers in the centre of the town. This was done
despite the fact that Christ, whom the Poles worshipped, was being honoured
in the destroyed Cathedral. The Poles took this action because they considered
the cathedral not to be a religious monument, but a political one.
Recovery of vandalised sites, particular
where political monuments were erected, is a common feature for a newly
independent state. |