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,
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