Posted on 01/04/2003 1:25:16 AM PST by JohnHuang2
Just as the bodies of the three American missionaries slain by an Islamic terrorist in Yemen are laid to rest so, apparently, is the news coverage of the atrocity, complains Southern Baptist minister and WND columnist Rev. Jerry Falwell.
The three were killed Dec. 30 when a lone gunman burst into the Baptist hospital in Jibla cradling a rifle hidden inside his coat as if it were a baby. He opened fire, shooting 60-year-old William Koehn of Texas, 53-year-old Kathleen Gariety of Wisconsin and 57-year-old Dr. Martha Myers of Alabama, each in the head. A fourth missionary, 49-year-old Donald Caswell of Texas, was seriously wounded.
On Thursday, Yemen authorities arrested Islamic militants Abed Abdul Razak Kamel in connection with the missionaries' murder and Ali al-Jarallah in connection with last week's slaying of Jarallah Omar, deputy leader of Yemen's Socialist Party.
Security officials said the duo had plans to attack other foreigners, journalists and Yemeni political leaders and gave police a list of eight targets during their interrogation.
The missionaries are the latest Christians to be slain by Islamic militants around the world.
Falwell questions why the national media are ignoring these attacks.
"If a massacre were being conducted against people of color, God forbid, or groups like gays and lesbians, there would be an understandable outcry that would demand change," Falwell told Baptist Press. "It is a tragedy that Christian lives do not seem to have the same value to the national media."
As an example, he pointed to the more than 2 million Christians in Sudan who have been killed by the nation's militant Islamic regime in recent years, and yet there has been little coverage of the killings.
Falwell said America in general, and Jews and Christians in particular, have more to fear from radical Islam than from Nazism or communism in the past.
This isn't the first time Falwell has thumbed his nose at the politically correct.
As WorldNetDaily reported, Falwell came under fire late last year for asserting that "Muhammad is a terrorist."
On a "60 Minutes" broadcast Oct. 6, Falwell told CBS interviewer Bob Simon: "I think Muhammad was a terrorist. I read enough, by both Muslims and non-Muslims, [to decide] that he was a violent man, a man of war."
Falwell told WND just before the interview was aired that his intent was not to attack Muhammad.
"I have avoided that. But [Simon] was pressing me on the issue of Muhammad's behavior, his involvement in war, and I simply said what I do believe, that Muhammad is not a good example for most Muslim people."
Following the "60 Minutes" interview, a leading Islamic group in Canada announced its intention to take legal action against Falwell and the Canadian channels that broadcast the interview.
Canadian Islamic Congress President Mohamed Elmasry told WorldNetDaily he believes criminal charges could be brought against "the person who made the statement and any accessories he used" under the country's hate-crimes laws.
In a June 15 column, Falwell also defended fellow Southern Baptist pastor Dr. Jerry Vines for his controversial declaration that Muhammad was a "demon-possessed pedophile."
Falwell pointed out that Vines was referencing the new book, "Unveiling Islam: An Insider's Look at Muslim Life and Beliefs" written by scholars Ergun and Emir Caner, who are Christian brothers raised as Muslims, as well as the Hadith, considered a respected source for Islamic teaching among Muslim clerics and followers worldwide.
"If you want to raise the ire of the mainstream press and the swarm of politically correct organizations in this nation, just criticize Islam," Falwell mused. "If those in the media were doing their jobs, Dr. Vines would never have felt it necessary to point out these disquieting elements of an enigmatic religion."
Then, when a couple yahoos brutalized and killed a sodomite in Wyoming, the media made us all believe that the sky was falling -- and that Fundamentalist Christians were pretty much to blame.
Exactly, thanks for making my point.
(sigh)
And you were doing so well up to here.
Someone else brought that into the conversation. Last paragraph, post #16.
Now go take a reading comprehension course and leave the adults to talk.
I would never wave a pom-pom for the mainstream press, so please don't misunderstand.
So, who do we deport first? The Jews, the Muslims or the Christians who don't agree most the Old Testament is obselete?
You're running in circles and you're trying to use broad brushes and blanket statements to persecute innocent people and trash our constitution.
If you can declare Islam a "cult" today, and unworthy of constitutional protections then tomorrow Christians and Jews will share the same fate.
Make all the stupid arguments you want, but the precedent will be set.
And I am not asking you silly questions.
Shreading the first amendment is the answer to this?
All that pestering me, for this?
(Actually, that's about what I expected from FR's romper room.)
We have laws against this.. You can't conspire to blow stuff up.
Punish them for that and bear the burden of proof. That's the right way to target them.
We have been doing it since 9/11. It's the constitutional way to go about it.
Forgive me if I misunderstood/misrepresented your position.
What, then, exactly IS your point about the silence of the media in the face of literal world-wide wave of Islamic violence against non-Muslims -- and its completed contrast with their treatment of anti-black or anti-gay violence?
Yes, and he's very devout.. Lamonte is a good guy and to persecute him or deny him constitutional protections because of what Osama and the dirty underwear gang did on 9/11 is unthinkable.
Forest Park can be a rough area, believe me.. I worked there for years.
If your car broke down there you would welcome a devout muslim like Lamonte stopping to help.
(Unlike much of the surrounding community, druggies, wanna be gang bangers, general criminal types.. etc.)
IMO?
Falwell is 100% right about the media bias.. Just like I said in my first post.
He hit it right on the money.
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