wfn.org | Falwell's words on Islam are 'not Christian,' NCC says

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 8, 2002	  News media contact: Linda Bloom7(212) 870-38037New York
10-21-71B{461}
 
NEW YORK (UMNS) - The Rev. Jerry Falwell's "hateful and destructive"
statements about Islam and the Prophet Muhammed do not represent the views
of most Christians, according to the National Council of Churches.

The council's executive committee, meeting Oct. 7-8 in New York, voted
unanimously to "condemn and repudiate" statements made by Falwell during an
interview with CBS-TV's "60 Minutes," broadcast on Oct. 6. The leader of the
conservative Moral Majority group labeled the Prophet Muhammed a
"terrorist."

Such inflammatory remarks have put the lives of Christians around the world
at risk, the executive committee declared. "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," said committee members in a
resolution. Such remarks "create ideal conditions for breeding terrorism
among those who may not understand that he does not represent the majority
of Christians or Americans."

The executive committee said Falwell also implied in the interview that he
and his constituency control President Bush's policies toward Israel and
Palestine. The NCC group called upon the president to "repudiate and condemn
Falwell's remarks."

Representing 36 church bodies and more than 50 million U.S. Christians, the
NCC leaders declared that Falwell's words were "not Christian and shockingly
uninformed." 

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United Methodist News Service
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