posted on March 12, 2001 05:28:55 PM
"On Islam: I think the Moslem faith teaches hate. I think there’s clear evidence that the Islam religion, wherever it has majority control--and I can name a dozen countries--doesn’t even allow people of other faiths to express themselves or evangelize or to exist in their presence.... I think that when persons are clearly bigoted towards other persons in the human family,they should be disqualified from funds. For that reason, Islam should be out the door before they knock. If you’re not going to minister to blacks, whites, all colors and religions,and you're not going to allow freedom of expression in every circumstance...you should not be allowed to dip into the pork barrel. Islam is growing among African American young people.
It’s growing in the prisons. And whenever Islam, God forbid, ever gets a majority in the United States--like Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya, all the Moslem countries--free expression will disappear. I applaud Mr. Bush for including everyone, include Islam [in his presidency]. We should not respond to the Moslems the way they respond to us. If I were president of the United States, I would include Moslems in my presidency. And I would do my best to change them. I’m simply saying their track record worldwide, outside the U.S., is not good. If anybody questions what I’m saying, I would challenge them to send a Christian minister into any predominantly Moslem country and apply for a permit to build a church.
posted on March 12, 2001 05:54:52 PM
xar- nice link, I had not read that angle on this travesty.
I guess at first blush I really don't mind using faith based institutions to deliver social services, but I think it is impossible to stop the recruiting and it is a mistake for any church to accept govt. funding. Even if the govt doesn't have specific control, the right to withdraw the funding is enough to control the churches. That is how the Feds control states.
posted on March 12, 2001 06:09:28 PM
I have read excerpts from the Koran that would seem to indicate that tolerance of other beliefs and religions is a part of the Islamic belief system.
Fundamentalist extremism when applied to almost any religion is dangerous to a free society.
posted on March 12, 2001 07:37:01 PM
I guess everyone knows that Jerry Falwell speaks someone's mind, and isn't stingy about his words.
He went on to specify:
"On handling minority religions applying for the federal money: Criteria should be established which make only seasoned veterans in the ministry to the poor and imprisoned even eligible to apply. Among the criteria should also be a requirement that no religious teaching, preaching, or ministry is funded at all. That doesn’t mean they cannot do it their way, but they cannot add something of a religious nature just because the money is there. Whatever they have been doing before federal money was available is all they should be permitted to do after
money is available. I think that there has to be some group, some body in the federal government who, not because of their philosophy, their convictions, their beliefs, but because of their behavior, determines that these people don’t qualify. For example, the Aryan Nation movement could consider themselves a religion. That’s why they burn crosses. They’re religious people. But I don’t think we should have any problem at all determining they’re not qualified, because they hate black people and Jews. I just think...if we’re going to give money away,we have to be willing to be objective and controversial in saying, “You don’t qualify.”"
posted on March 12, 2001 07:40:01 PM
A couple years ago reporter here let his beard grow a couple days - dressed really poor and went to see how he would be treated by various groups if he needed help. He found that if he was just down on his luck and between jobs but did not fit the defining parameters of some federal program because he was not mentally ill - minority - drug addicted - handicapped they did not want anything to do with him. The man he spoke to at the Salvation Army said " We don't really deal with people like you anymore."
posted on March 12, 2001 09:19:54 PM
To me it sounds like Falwell's trying to cut down the competition for funds, and doing it by his usual finger waving at evil means. But this: "For example, the Aryan Nation movement could consider themselves a religion. That’s why they burn crosses. They’re religious people."is quite a reach, even for him. Admittedly I don't know all the ins and outs of any of the Aryan Nation/brotherhood groups, but I've never heard them described as religious. If they really are, what religion is it that burns crosses? I would think that that indicates a lack of religion. I have run across a few people who were members of prison white aryan 'protective societies' who were also self described Born Again Christians. Even though their 'prison religion' seemed somewhat bizarre none of them indicated any set of beliefs that would require the burning of crosses as expressions of faith.
Where DOES Jerry get that stuff? From Whole Cloth?
He isn't restricting himself to pointing out faith systems that he feels are not qualified for funds either. He goes so far as to warn good baptist and/or Christian churches against it, or at least to exercize extreme caution in accepting monies, as well as stipulating that churches newly formed should not be qualified:
"I have deep concerns about the faith-based initiatives--but I am in support. Mr. Bush has thought this out. What they have in mind is totally valid and acceptable. My problem is not with the intentions of the Bush presidency. My problem is where it might go under his successors. I have pastored the same church 45 years, and I’ve served as chancellor of Liberty University and was the founder for the past 30 years and...we have never accepted any government grants or funding, whether federal, state, or local. We have done that by design so we could never be challenged regarding our philosophy and our practices. It is doubtful that we will ever apply for any assistance under the faith-based initiatives, as Mr. Bush has proposed them. I may change that once I have seen enough years of safety and consistency with no strings attached, but at the present moment I would not want to put any of the Jerry Falwell Ministries in a position where we might be subservient to a future Bill Clinton, God forbid. It also concerns me that once the pork barrel is filled, suddenly the Church of Scientology, the Jehovah Witnesses, the various and many denominations and religious groups--and I don’t say those words in a pejorative way--begin applying for money--and I don’t see how any can be turned down because of their radical and unpopular views. I don’t know where that would take us. And third, I maintain faith-based [grants]should be restricted to those organizations that have already been doing a measurable, qualitative work among the poor, in the prisons, and in the inner cities. I don’t think religious groups should be allowed to apply for federal funds to start new ministries they have not been doing before the funding was available."
"we have never accepted any government grants or funding, whether federal, state, or local."
Like, it's been offered?
posted on March 13, 2001 11:50:28 PMXardon: You are right in what you say. While I am not a muslim, many of my friends are. And they are angry friends, too. They are angry because they follow the teachings of Jesus and His platform of Tolerance and radical Fundamentalists take the teachings of the Koran out of context (as do Christian Fundamentalists quite often). 95% of Islaam is Suni: sorta like the Catholics: they are not supposed to drink, swear, or chase after women other than wives: but they do. They apply such rules to the Real World as best they can. But no where in the Koran does it tell you to kill your neighbors or to destroy other religions.
Jerry Falwell, and not for the very first time either, is dead wrong!
