Jerry Falwell calls Islam's Prophet a "Terrorist"
Pat Robertson: "Islam preaches violence"
NEW YORK (AP) - The Rev. Jerry Falwell says "I think Muhammad was a terrorist" in an interview to be broadcast Sunday on the CBS program "60 Minutes."

The conservative Baptist minister tells correspondent Bob Simon he has concluded from reading Muslim and non-Muslim writers that Islam's prophet "was a -- a violent man, a man of war."

"Jesus set the example for love, as did Moses," Falwell says. "I think Muhammad set an opposite example."

CBS released a partial transcript of the interview Thursday. Falwell's comments occur in a segment about American conservative Christians' political support for Israel.

Falwell stood by his opinion in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. He said Simon asked directly whether Falwell considered Muhammad a terrorist and he tried to reply honestly. The minister said he would never state his opinion in a sermon or book.

"I've said often and many places that most Muslims are people of peace and want peace and tranquility for their families and abhor terrorism," Falwell said. "Islam, like most faiths, has a fringe of radicals who carry on bloodshed wherever they are. They do not represent Islam."

Other conservative Protestant clergy have made sharply critical remarks about Islam and Muhammad in the past year. They include Franklin Graham, Billy Graham's son and successor, TV evangelist Pat Robertson and leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention.

In response to Falwell's remarks, Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relation in Washington, said: "Anybody is free to be a bigot if they want to. What really concerns us is the lack of reaction by mainstream religious and political leaders, who say nothing when these bigots voice these attacks."

Hooper noted that Falwell and Robertson will speak at next week's Christian Coalition convention in Washington alongside House Majority Whip Tom DeLay and other politicians.

"How can these elected representatives legitimize this kind of hate speech by appearing on the same platform with Islamophobes and Muslim-bashers?" Hooper asked.

Falwell was widely criticized last year after he said on Robertson's TV show that pagans, abortionists, feminists, homosexuals and civil liberties groups had secularized the nation and helped the September 11 attacks happen. Falwell later apologized.

Pat Robertson Criticizes Islam Again, Says Osama Is True Follower of Mohammed
Despite much criticism for past comments on Islam being a violent religion, leader of the U.S. Christian Right Pat Robertson again this week stated that Islam preached violence, and said that Osama bin Laden was a true follower of the Prophet Mohammed, saying, "If you get right down to it, Osama bin Laden is probably truer to Mohammed than some of the others."

Quoting from the Koran, Robertson tried to show that Islam taught people to "Fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them. Seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them. Fight them. Allah will punish them." According to the Boston Globe, Robertson allegedly said on his "700 Club" TV program: "I have taken issue with our esteemed president in regard to his stand in saying Islam is a peaceful religion. It's just not. And the Koran makes it very clear: If you see an infidel, you are to kill him."

He criticized US immigration policies which he regards as being "skewed towards the Middle East and away from Europe that have introduced these people into our midst [so that they can] control, dominate, and then, if need be, destroy."

On February 24, he allegedly talked on CNN about "those people in Mecca" and stated that Osama bin Laden is a true follower of the Prophet Mohammed.

Robertson also insisted that Western leaders would benefit from reading the Qur'an just as earlier leaders would have benefited from reading of Hitler's "Mein Kampf" during World War II.

Referring to Robertson's statements, the Boston Globe commented: "It is that kind of hatred that created the Taliban oppressors in Afghanistan, that ended the life of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, that led to 'ethnic cleansing' in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, that drove the butchers in the Crusades, and that keeps the violence smoldering in the Middle East, Northern Ireland, and in so many other war-ravaged regions.

A religion does not create murderers. The twisted human psyche does that when it forgets that the bedrock of all faith is love."