Mideast Falwell Apologizes for Calling Mohammed 'Terrorist'
One Iranian cleric said the Baptist preacher should be killed. This cleric will not be apologizing,you can bet that.
Conservative U.S. Baptist minister Jerry Falwell has apologized for calling the prophet Mohammed a "terrorist" during a recent television interview.
In a statement issued late Friday in Lynchburg, Virginia, Rev. Falwell says his remarks were "hurtful to the feelings of many Muslims" and that he "intended no disrespect to any sincere, law abiding Muslims."
Rev. Falwell says he made a "mistake" when answering what he describes as a "controversial and loaded question" at the end of an hour-long interview. In the television program (called "60 minutes" and aired by CBS) a week ago, Rev. Falwell said he thought Mohammed was a "terrorist." He said he had read enough texts written by Muslims and non-Muslims to conclude that the prophet of Islam was "a violent man, a man of war."
The remarks angered Muslims around the world and also brought sharp criticism from non-Muslims.
Leading Muslim clerics in Lebanon and Iran condemned the remarks. One Iranian cleric said the Baptist preacher should be killed. The minister's comments also triggered Muslim-Hindu clashes in Bombay, India, that left at least seven people dead.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called Rev. Falwell's emarks "outrageous and insulting" to Muslims and Christians.
In Beirut, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the former spiritual leader of Lebanon's anti-Israeli Hezbollah guerrillas, claimed Rev. Falwell's remarks reflect White House thinking and that of America's pro-Israeli, right-wing Christians.
An Iranian cleric, Mohsen Mojtahed Shabestari, said Rev. Falwell and two other conservative U.S. clergymen, Pat Robertson and Billy Graham, Junior, should be killed. The daily Abrar newspaper said the cleric made his comments in Tabriz at Friday prayers, but insisted the threat was directed only at the three clergymen, not U.S. Christians in general.
Sounds like the Arab Fundamentalist Wackos want to use the same Arab/Muslim perversion techniques they have already been using on Muslim youth for many years. |
