Falwell's rhetoric is hateful and inciting

Looks like that purple Teletubby, Tinky-Winky, is finally off the hook. In an interview on 60 Minutes, Reverend Jerry Falwell indicated that his attention was no longer on closet homosexual aliens, nor the various liberal groups that he tried to blame for the Sept. 11 attacks, when he announced that Muhammad, the founder of the Islamic faith, was "a terrorist."

A terrorist? I had certainly never heard the spiritual and political leader referred to by such a term, so I asked a Muslim friend, Zainab Cheema, about the life of the Prophet. What did I learn? Muhammad believed strongly in the importance of treating every race equally, and he felt that it was important to know and appreciate our differences. He called for the right of self-determination within his territories, allowing people of other religions to practice in peace. Perhaps most striking were Muhammad's laws for warfare. His soldiers were told not to harm civilians, livestock, crops or trees and to protect women and children. Does this sound like a terrorist to you?

In fact, on Falwell's own website, http://www.falwell.com, the only charges he appears to make against Muhammad pertain to his sexual behavior. Some of the Bible's most prominent men were practicing polygamists -- does Falwell think they were terrorists, too?

What's more, his false implication, which has been echoed by other vocal fundamentalists like Pat Robertson and Franklin Graham, will only help to incite radical Muslims against the United States. Already, Islamic fundamentalists have broadcast Falwell's statement and others like it throughout the Muslim world. It may ultimately bring more moderate Muslims toward fundamentalist doctrine, as an attack on the Prophet is tantamount to an attack on Muslims worldwide.

It is not the blatant inaccuracy of Falwell's statement that bothers me so much as the general lack of response by the more tolerant majority of Christians. I've always sympathized with the moderate Muslims, who have struggled to dissociate themselves from the fundamentalist minority. As a Christian, however, I never expected that I would be faced with a similar challenge.

It is vitally important that members of the various Christian denominations respond publicly and unconditionally to Falwell's hate-speech. Surely Christian leaders do not believe that God was speaking when Falwell tried to blame the events of Sept. 11 on "the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians." While Christians may not agree with Muhammad's religious beliefs, certainly they can agree that he -- along with the vast majority of Muslims today -- was not a terrorist. Failure to contradict the radical fundamentalists is the equivalent of tacit acceptance of their opinions.

In church this Sunday, the reverend spoke about this very topic, saying that he thinks all Christians should be "extremists," that is, extreme in their faith in Jesus Christ. He differentiated, though, between being an extremist for hate or an extremist for love. If Falwell hopes to bring more people to the Christian faith, he should be speaking about Jesus' love to the Muslim people, not condemning Muhammad with inflammatory and false allegations.

Christian leaders should be telling Falwell to hit the books; the Bible has a few things to say about his hateful speech. In Luke 6:37, Jesus tells his disciples, "do not judge and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned." Even if Falwell is convinced that Muslims are the "enemies" of Christians (which most Christians do not believe), he should heed God's teaching: "Love your enemies?" (Luke 6:27).

Christian leaders should be telling the world that Falwell's doctrine of hate is contradictory to the Christian doctrine of love. So often the non-Christian world sees violent Christian extremists bombing abortion clinics, assaulting homosexuals and making grossly inappropriate and unsubstantiated attacks on other religions and non-believers. Couple this with recently publicized corruption within the church, particularly the molestation of young boys by Catholic priests, and it's a wonder that the word "Christian" hasn't become a derogatory term.

It is time to challenge the haters who claim to be advocating the Christian faith and to, with extreme love, reclaim Christianity for the majority of true believers. Falwell's assertion dealt a serious blow not only to interfaith relations, but also to public perception of the tenants of the Christian faith. Christian leaders must break the silence before the damage becomes irreparable.