Partial transcript of comments from the
September 13, 2001 telecast of the 700 Club

JERRY FALWELL: And I agree totally with you that the Lord has protected us so wonderfully these 225 years. And since 1812, this is the first time that we've been attacked on our soil and by far the worst results. And I fear, as Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, said yesterday, that this is only the beginning. And with biological warfare available to these monsters -- the Husseins, the Bin Ladens, the Arafats -- what we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be miniscule if, in fact -- if, in fact -- God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve.

PAT ROBERTSON: Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven't even begun to see what they can do to the major population.

JERRY FALWELL: The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this.

PAT ROBERTSON: Well yes.

JERRY FALWELL: And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and 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."

PAT ROBERTSON: Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government. And so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do. And, the top people, of course, is the court system..

JERRY FALWELL: Pat, did you notice yesterday the ACLU and all the Christ-haters, People For the American Way, NOW, etc. were totally disregarded by the Democrats and the Republicans in both houses of Congress as they went out on the steps and called out on to God in prayer and sang "God Bless America" and said "let the ACLU be hanged". In other words, when the nation is on its knees, the only normal and natural and spiritual thing to do is what we ought to be doing all the time - calling upon God. ~~~

PAT ROBERTSON: > Amen

see scenes of disaster in New York City >>>

Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell are fundamentalist Christians and like fundamentalist Muslims, Hindus, and Jews, fundamentalist Christians are known by their "urge to purge." They believe they are called to "cleanse" society of all they find "unclean" and by cleansing society they will "save it."

Osama bin Laden is a Muslim fundamentalist. He believes that Allah wills him to destroy America, "the Great Satan." He is convinced that his war against our nation is Jihad ("holy war"). The terrorists who hijacked the planes and flew them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were convinced that Allah will reward them for their sacrifice.

Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell are fundamentalist Christians. They believe that they are called by God to cleanse this nation of sexual minorities (and pagans, feminists, abortionists, etc.) and thus to save it. They believe that those who advocate the acceptance of sexual minorities (and other liberal causes) are an "abomination in God's sight" and must be converted or purged. And though Pat and Jerry have never called for violence against
these "enemies of God" at least one of the biblical verses they misuse regularly to condemn sexual minorities states clearly that we are "worthy of death and should be executed, (Leviticus 20)."

And though I am convinced that their extremist remarks are isolating them from the American mainstream, I am still deeply concerned about the consequences of the antigay jihad or holy war that Robertson, Falwell and the other spiritual extremists (Christian terrorists) are waging against us. Their daily misuse of a handful of Biblical verses to condemn sexual and gender minorities still confuses good people of faith across the nation. Those good people of faith who have been convinced that homosexuality is a sickness, a sin, and a threat to the nation, are now waging war against us in and through their mainstream Roman Catholic and Protestant churches to deny us our religious and our political rights and protections.

-- by Rev. Mel White

New York Times, September 14, 2001, http://www.nytimes.com

U.S. 'Secular' Groups Set Tone for Terror Attacks, Falwell Says
By GUSTAV NIEBUHR

The Rev. Jerry Falwell said yesterday that the American Civil Liberties Union, with abortion providers, gay rights proponents and federal courts that had banned school prayer and legalized abortion, had so weakened the United States spiritually that the nation was left exposed to Tuesday's terrorist attacks.

Mr. Falwell, a Baptist minister who is chancellor of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., said that "the A.C.L.U.'s got to take a lot of blame for this," according to a partial transcript of remarks he made on "The 700 Club," Pat Robertson's religious program.

In the transcript, distributed by the liberal organization People for the American Way, Mr. Falwell described the A.C.L.U. as "throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools." Referring to the attacks, he said he would point a figurative finger at those "who have tried to secularize America" and say, "You helped this happen."

According to the transcript, Mr. Robertson said, "I totally concur."

Asked about his remarks in an interview last night, Mr. Falwell said he was making a theological statement about how various groups had so offended God that the attacks could occur. He said he did not intend to shift blame from the terrorists. "I sincerely believe that the collective efforts of many secularists during the past generation, resulting in the expulsion from our schools and from the public square, has left us vulnerable," he said.

He said he did not believe God "had anything to do with the tragedy," but that God had permitted it. "He lifted the curtain of protection," Mr. Falwell said, "and I believe that if America does not repent and return to a genuine faith and dependence on him, we may expect more tragedies, unfortunately."

On "The 700 Club," Mr. Falwell also said that liberal groups were "totally disregarded by the Democrats and Republicans in both houses of Congress as they went out on the steps and called out to God in prayer and sang 'God Bless America' and said, 'Let the A.C.L.U. be hanged.'"

Asked to comment on what Mr. Falwell said, a spokesman for the civil liberties union said, "We are not are not dignifying it with a response." In a statement, People for the American Way did not address Mr. Falwell's remarks, but said it grieved for the victims.

Bill Leonard, dean of Wake Forest Divinity School, said Mr. Falwell's remarks were "a mistaken effort to sound prophetic." "God created the world with terrible freedom, and part of that freedom," Mr. Leonard said, is the freedom humans have "to do terrible evil."

Washington Post, September 14, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28620-2001Sep14.html

God Gave U.S. 'What We Deserve,' Falwell Says
By John F. Harris, Washington Post Staff Writer

Television evangelists Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, two of the most prominent voices of the religious right, said liberal civil liberties groups, feminists, homosexuals and abortion rights supporters bear partial responsibility for Tuesday's terrorist attacks because their actions have turned God's anger against America.

"God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve," said Falwell, appearing yesterday on the Christian Broadcasting Network's "700 Club," hosted by Robertson.

"Jerry, that's my feeling," Robertson responded. "I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven't even begun to see what they can do to the major population."

Falwell said the American Civil Liberties Union has "got to take a lot of blame for this," again winning Robertson's agreement: "Well, yes."

Then Falwell broadened his blast to include the federal courts and others who he said were "throwing God out of the public square." He added: "The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and 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 â·" all of them who have tried to secularize America â·" I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.'"

People for the American Way transcribed the broadcast and denounced the comments as running directly counter to President Bush's call for national unity. Ralph G. Neas, the liberal group's president, called the remarks "absolutely inappropriate and irresponsible."

Robertson and others on the religious right gave critical backing to Bush last year when he was battling for the GOP presidential nomination. A White House official called the remarks "inappropriate" and added, "The president does not share those views."

Falwell was unrepentant, saying in an interview that he was "making a theological statement, not a legal statement."

"I put all the blame legally and morally on the actions of the terrorist," he said. But he said America's "secular and anti-Christian environment left us open to our Lord's [decision] not to protect. When a nation deserts God and expels God from the culture . . . the result is not good."

Robertson was not available for comment, a spokeswoman said. But she released a statement echoing the remarks he made on his show. An ACLU spokeswoman said the group "will not dignify the Falwell-Robertson remarks with a comment."

THIS JUST IN:

Conservative leader blames gays for Iraqi prison abuse
Knight decries ‘decadence’ of gay weddings

By ADRIAN BRUNE     reporting website
Friday, May 21, 2004

A conservative leader has pinned blame for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib and the subsequent beheading of businessman Nick Berg on gays getting married and serving in the military, among other acts of American “decadence.”

Writing for WorldNetDaily.com, a site for religious conservatives, Robert Knight of the Culture & Family Institute said the United States has arrived at the “perfect storm” of cultural depravity, which has come to a “deadly nexus in Iraq.”

He specifically targeted the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, the recent enactment of gay marriage and the promotion of homosexuality in schools as policies that are putting Americans all over the world at risk for terrorism, along with the presence of women in combat roles in the military.

The comments by Knight, a longtime foe of gay rights, hearken back to the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, when Rev. Jerry Falwell ascribed the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center to “the pagans, the abortionists, and the feminists and the gays and lesbians.” Falwell also frequently contributes to WorldNetDaily.com.

Knight also blamed increasing tolerance toward gays in his column about the Iraqi prison abuse and Muslim hatred of the U.S.

“We were told homosexuality is harmless and normal, and the military should live with a ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy that allows homosexuals to stay in the barracks. We were told that men ‘marrying’ men and women ‘marrying’ women is inevitable not only for America, but for the world,” wrote Knight, whose Culture & Family Institute is part of Phyllis Schafly’s Concerned Women for America.

“Imagine how those images of men kissing men outside San Francisco City Hall after being ‘married’ play in the Muslim world. We couldn’t offer the mullahs a more perfect picture of American decadence. Businessman Nick Berg, who was beheaded by a group claiming revenge over the prison abuses, is the first victim, and we can only pray he will be the last,” Knight wrote.


White House mum
“Robert Knight is way off base,” said Steve Ralls, a spokesperson for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a litigation group that assists personnel under investigation for being gay. “This is not about gays, integration of women or pornography. This is about a few soldiers in Iraq who committed deplorable abuse toward the prisoners entrusted to their care.”

President Bush acted swiftly to criticize Falwell’s post-9/11 remarks on Rev. Pat Robertson’s “700 Club” remarks in 2001, calling them “inappropriate” and saying the president did not share Falwell’s views. However, at press time, the White House had not returned repeated calls for comment on Knight’s editorial, which also addressed at length Americans’ duty to ask God for forgiveness and guidance in how to restore moral order.

Like Falwell, Knight did not limit his criticism to gays. He also censured the military for putting women into combat areas, saying the photo of an American female soldier leering at naked Iraqi men stimulated recruitment for the suicide-bombing training camps. Then, he charged the porn industry with providing soldiers with the idea to engage in the “sadomasochistic activity” at Abu Ghraib.

“None of this happened by accident,” Knight said. “It is directly due to cultural depravity advanced in the name of progress and amplified by a sensation-hungry media.”

In addition to encouraging “normal Americans to get on their knees and asking for God’s forgiveness for letting it get this bad,” Knight recommended they demand governments enforce the military’s ban on homosexuality, withdraw all female personnel from combat areas and stamp out the open use of pornography in the military.

Knight also called for the strengthening of state and federal marriage laws and the cessation of civil unions and domestic partnerships.

Before coming to Washington, Knight wrote for the Los Angeles Times for seven years and was a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He has also worked for the Maryland Gazette and the Annapolis Evening Capital as a reporter.