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Re: Jerry Farwell’s anti Islam statements
The Herald News, New Jersey. Published October, 9, 2002
Dear Editor:
In an interview on CBS' highly rated program "60
Minutes" which was broadcast on Sunday, Oct. 6th, the Rev. Jerry
Falwell called the Prophet Mohammed a "terrorist."
Falwell said, "I think Mohammed was a terrorist.
I read enough, by both Muslims and non-Muslims, [to decide] that he was a
violent man, a man of war."
This vicious attack on
Islam and the Prophet Mohammed is only the latest in an escalating
campaign of vilification emanating from right-wing Christian evangelical
figures. In the past, Falwell and other Southern Baptist leaders have
described the Prophet Mohammed as a "demon-possessed pedophile."
In a recent appearance on the Fox News Channel, the Rev. Pat Robertson
described the Prophet Mohammed as "an absolute wild-eyed fanatic. He
was a robber and a brigand. And to say that these terrorists distort
Islam, they're carrying out Islam. I mean, this man [Mohammed] was a
killer. And to think that this is a peaceful religion is fraudulent."
The Rev. Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham and head of Billy Graham
Ministries Inc. and who led the prayer at President Bush's inauguration
ceremony, has repeatedly described Islam as "a very evil and wicked
religion."
The
American Arab Anti – Discrimination Committee joins the Anti-Defamation
League and the National Council of Churches in strongly and forthrightly
condemning this sustained campaign of hatred, defamation and vilification
against Islam coming from the evangelical Christian right.
This is the kind of outright bigotry that lays the groundwork for hate
crimes and discrimination, and for the ugliest forms of intolerance. This
growing campaign of prejudice needs to be confronted and repudiated before
it can spread any further. It is hate speech pure and simple."
Respectfully,
Aref Assaf, Chairman
Media Committee
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