Ministers criticize Falwell, Robertson remarks on attacks
___By Bob Allen
___Associated Baptist Press
___LYNCHBURG, Va. (ABP)--Terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania are signs that God has removed divine protection because of America's sin, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson said Sept. 13 on Robertson's "700 Club" television program.
___Falwell, a longtime Independent Baptist who led his 22,000-member Thomas Road Baptist Church into the Southern Baptist Convention in 1997, concurred with earlier remarks by Robertson that abortion, pornography and the removal of prayer from public schools have "insulted" God.
___Noting that God has "protected" the United States from direct attack by a foreign power since the War of 1812, Falwell called attacks from enemies "probably what we deserve."
___"The ACLU has got to take a lot of blame for this," Falwell said. He blamed the civil-liberties group for "throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools" with the help of the federal court system.
___"I really believe the pagans, the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say 'You helped this happen,'" Falwell said.
___Moderate Baptists quickly condemned Falwell's comments.
___Bill Leonard, dean of Wake Forest University Divinity School, called Falwell's remarks "a mistaken effort to sound prophetic," according to the New York Times. "God created the world with terrible freedom, and part of that freedom," he said, is "to do terrible evil."
___Jim Baucom, moderator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, said in a statement he "was shocked and embarrassed by such a spirit of condemnation, especially at a time like this."
___"No minister--especially of national stature--should hurl such judgments at the citizens of our great nation without days and weeks of introspective forethought," said Baucom, who, like Falwell, ministers in Lynchburg, Va.
___"Even if they believe that the terrorist attacks America has suffered are a sign of God's wrathful judgment, which is a problem in itself, how can they be so certain that they are not among those being judged?" the pastor of Lynchburg's Rivermont Avenue Baptist Church continued. "Jesus himself addressed this sort of pharisaical posture with the words, 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.'"
___David Currie, executive director of Texas Baptists Committed, termed Falwell's comments "not an example of healthy Christian theology but an example of sick bigotry and opportunism for his own agenda."
___"His remarks reflect an understanding of the character of God which is not biblical or Christian and should be condemned by all compassionate and thinking Christians," Currie said. "To think he is now a prominent Southern Baptist is an embarrassment to all Baptists."
___Robert Parham, executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics, quoted a verse from the New Testament in his response. "Falwell's comments are another shameful example of the biblical truth that the tongue 'is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison,'" Parham said, citing James 3:8.
___Later Sept. 13 in a phone call to CNN, Falwell said he didn't mean to blame lesbians and gays for terrorism.
___"I would never blame any human being except the terrorists, and if I left that impression with gays or lesbians or anyone else, I apologize," he said.
___Falwell also issued a statement after major newspapers reported his comments Sept. 14.
___"I sincerely regret that comments I made during a long theological discussion on a Christian television program yesterday were taken out of their context and reported, and that my thoughts--reduced to sound bites--have detracted from the spirit of this day of mourning," Falwell said.
___ "Today, I join millions of people throughout this nation and around the world in remembering all those who died, and praying for our nation, the victims of this travesty, and their loved ones," he said.
___Conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh said on his Sept. 17 national broadcast that Falwell's backtracking was not enough to mitigate the reality of what he and Roberton had said.
___ It is people like Falwell and Robertson, Limbaugh said, who give conservatives a bad name.
___No SBC leaders have yet issued public comments either supporting or opposing the statements by Falwell and Robertson.
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