Falwell calls Mohammed 'terrorist'

NEW YORK -- The Rev. Jerry Falwell said "I think Mohammed was a terrorist" in an interview to be broadcast Sunday on the CBS program 60 Minutes.

The conservative Baptist minister told correspondent Bob Simon he has concluded from reading Muslim and non-Muslim writers that Islam's prophet "was a -- a violent man, a man of war."

"Jesus set the example for love, as did Moses," Falwell said. "I think Mohammed set an opposite example."

CBS released a partial transcript Thursday. Falwell's comments were in a segment about conservative Christians' political support for Israel.

Falwell stood by his opinion in a phone interview. He said that Simon asked if he considered Mohammed a terrorist and that he tried to reply honestly.

"I've said often and many places that most Muslims are people of peace and want peace and tranquility for their families and abhor terrorism," Falwell said. "Islam, like most faiths, has a fringe of radicals who carry on bloodshed wherever they are. They do not represent Islam."

Other conservative Protestant clergy have made sharply critical remarks about Islam and Mohammed in the past year. They include Franklin Graham, Billy Graham's son and successor, TV evangelist Pat Robertson and Southern Baptist Convention leaders.

In response to Falwell's remarks, Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relation in Washington, said: "Anybody is free to be a bigot if they want to. What really concerns us is the lack of reaction by mainstream religious and political leaders, who say nothing when these bigots voice these attacks."

Hooper noted that Falwell and Robertson will speak at next week's Christian Coalition convention in Washington alongside House Majority Whip Tom DeLay and other politicians. "How can these elected representatives legitimize this kind of hate speech by appearing on the same platform with Islamophobes and Muslim-bashers?"

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