NCC BOARD REPUDIATES FALWELL'S '60 MINUTES' COMMENTS ON ISLAM
U.S. Newswire, 10/7/02
NEW YORK, Oct. 7 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Executive Board of the (U.S.)
National Council of Churches this afternoon (Oct. 7) voted unanimously to
"condemn and repudiate" the Rev. Jerry Falwell's statements yesterday on
CBS-TV's "60 Minutes" about Islam and the Prophet Muhammed, Islam's
founder, saying Falwell's statements endangered the lives of Christians
around the world.
Noting that "Falwell implied in his comments that he and his constituency
control President Bush's policies toward Israel and Palestine," the leaders
of U.S. Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican denominations called on President
Bush to repudiate and condemn Falwell's remarks.
Falwell's "hateful and destructive" statements - among others, that
"Muhammed was a terrorist" - "are NOT those of the majority of Christians
in this country nor in the rest of the world," said the governing body of
the NCC, whose 36 member denominations comprise 50 million adherents. "His
statements about Islam and the Prophet Muhammed are not only factually
untrue and offensive, but are dangerous to the national security of every
nation where Christians and Muslims are seeking a peaceful relationship..."
The full text of the statement by the NCC Executive Board is available at
http://www.ncccusa.org
---MUSLIMS PROTEST FALWELL'S COMMENTS Chicago Tribune, 10/8/02 http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0210080232oct08,0,4601215 .story
NEW DELHI, INDIA - Thousands of Muslims demonstrated in India's Jammu and Kashmir state Monday after a newspaper reported that conservative U.S. religious leader Jerry Falwell had called the founder of Islam a terrorist.
People shouted slogans, shops and businesses were closed, and protesters attacked vehicles as Islamic groups called for a daylong strike to protest Falwell's remarks, which were made in an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes" program. The Greater Kashmir newspaper quoted the region's main separatist alliance, the All Party Hurriyat Conference, as saying that Falwell's remarks about Muhammad were part of a "war against humanity" and that Christians are the "terrorists."
"They wreaked havoc in Vietnam, killed innocent people in Iraq and are responsible for the killings of Palestinians," the group said.
Activity Monday in several main towns, including Jammu and Kashmir's summer capital, Srinigar, slowed to a crawl. Falwell's comments were not broadcast in the state…
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EDITORIAL: FALWELL’S FALLACIES Arsalan Iftikhar, Al Jazeera, 10/8/02 http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/Oct%202002%20op%20eds/Oct%20 8,%202002%20op%20eds.htm#fal
Reverend Jerry Falwell is essentially proclaiming a political jihad against Islam in an effort to promote his apocalyptic worldview and lobbying power to the American public. History will vindicate or demonize us for the manner in which we react to such skewed and self-promoting rhetoric.
In the most recent installment of “60 Minutes”, Falwell began by smugly telling correspondent Ben Simon that the fringe element of the Christian Right dictates the policies to which President Bush adheres. He and some other evangelists proclaim to be stronger political saviors to the state of Israel than American Zionists themselves…
Islam was next in the crosshairs of the reverend. He self-righteously asserted that he thought “Muhammad was a terrorist. I read enough to decide that he was a violent man, a man of war. In my opinion, Jesus set the example of love, as did Moses, and I think Muhammad set an opposite example.” If I were to stoop to Falwell’s anachronistic level, I would cite Leviticus 20 in the Bible, where the prophet Moses proclaims the penalties for various crimes, including death for anyone who curses his father or mother, commits adultery, or engages in homosexual sex…
The scariest aspect of this debate is the undue influence people like Falwell have within the current Bush administration. Commenting on Falwell’s comments, a Washington Post editorial stated that “on [Falwell’s] noxious mix of religious bigotry and anti-Muslim demagoguery, Mr. Bush's silence is deafening.” Only when President Bush denounces and distances himself from duplicitous and conniving people like Falwell, will I ever be convinced that this “war on terror” is not an evangelical war on Islam.
Arsalan Iftikhar serves as Midwest Communications Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
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OPEN LETTER TO REVEREND JERRY FALWELL FROM CHRISTIAN IN THE HOLY LAND
I am a Christian from Jerusalem. My roots in the Holy Land go back one thousand years, so says my family tradition. Some would argue that our roots as indigenous Christians might go back further and link up to the early Church in Jerusalem. In this sense, we are a Christian fundamentalist family deep-rooted in the foundations of the Christian faith.
As a Christian from Jerusalem, I owe great debt to two monotheistic traditions: Judaism, on the one hand, because of the Old Testament which is the basis of my faith in the New Testament, and Islam, with whose adherents my family, for centuries, has shared the experience of living side by side. Thus, my fundamentalist Christianity is enlightened by the history of the Hebrews and by experiential sharing with Muslim neighbours.
As a Christian believer, I strongly adhere to the teaching of Jesus Christ and his message of compassion and forgiveness. This Christian message has taught me to accept others; not to judge lest I be judged and to consider every human being, irrespective of background, in the image of the Creator…
It is this comfort that my faith gives me that also causes me great spiritual and moral tribulation when I hear someone of your stature making statements of judgement on Islam and its Prophet. I find this offensive not only to Muslims and their religion but also to our Christian faith and practice…
Could I plead with you to return to the fundamentals of our Christian faith and to become a constructive force in our world and especially in our Middle Eastern region? Could you please bring hearts together instead of distancing them from one another? Could your faith and belief afford to accept others, irrespective of their backgrounds? Could you be a force of healing in our troubled world?
Is it much to expect these things from a person of your stature?
Dr Bernard Sabella, Executive Director, Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees, Middle East Council of Churches, Jerusalem
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