The religious fanaticism that killed thousands at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon is not confined to Muslims or to distant lands. America has its homegrown extremists and religious fundamentalists who brazenly displayed their intolerance and disbelief in the fundamental principles upon which our government is founded.
In a breathtakingly stunning display of bigotry, Rev. Jerry Falwell and televangelist Pat Robertson tried to lay responsibility for the terrorist attack at the feet of gays and political liberals with who they disagree. It came during the Sept. 13 edition of the The 700 Club broadcast on television and cable outlets across the country.
“I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way…all for them who have tried to secularize America…I point the finger in their face and say, ‘You helped this happen,'” said Falwell.
“Well, I totally concur,” said Robertson, “and the problem is we have adopted the 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.”
Falwell went on to praise a unified Congress for singing “God Bless America.” He continued, “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 of the time…calling upon God.”
Falwell did not note it, but the song is a relatively recent addition to the pantheon of American musical standards. It was written in 1938 by a secular Russian-Jewish emigre, Irving Berlin.
When pressed by the Washington Post, Falwell was unrepentant. He said that he was “making a theological statement, not a legal statement … [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.”
Pundit Ann Coulter wielded her crusading hatchet in an early column. “We know who the homicidal maniacs are. They are the ones cheering and dancing right now. We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.”
Reactions to the statements were swift. Lorri Jean, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said that Falwell’s intolerance “has its roots in the same fanaticism” that led the terrorists to launch their attack.
Writing online in Salon, its news editor Joan Walsh called the pair “America’s counterpart to the Taliban. If they had their way, this would be a Christian state. They’d make common cause with the Taliban to strip women of many rights, persecute gays and punish godless infidels. The only silver lining of this tragedy is that it brings out the invidious agenda of the Christian right, where it can be repudiated.”
“Don’t forget for a moment that the only thing preventing our American fundamentalist Christians from following exactly the same theocratic road here that is being followed in the Middle East is a less fertile cultural and political soil,” said Frank Kameny, who many consider to be the father of the modern gay movement.
“They are fully as much moral fascists as are the Taliban, whom they would gladly emulate if they thought that they could get away with it, and whom they will emulate to the extent that they can,” he continued.
“To blame blindly, based on prejudice and rage, represents an ominous part of our world and we must work to overcome it wherever we find it,” said Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign.
“That Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson would exploit this tragedy in an effort to demonize gays and lesbians is irresponsible and sad,” said Joan Garry, executive director of GLAAD. “We hope that media outlets will not offer Falwell, Robertson or others like them additional platforms to spread these divisive messages of intolerance.”
Others like activist and civil libertarian Bill Dobbs criticized Garry for her implicit call for censorship. He emphasized that this is the very time that we must be most protective of free speech and individual liberties, even if one does not like the message.
But the preachers’ message was not sitting well with at least one portion of their conservative constituency. Syndicated talk show host Neal Boortz said the fundamentalists’ comments echoed those of Osama bid Laden.
David Scoven, executive director of the gay group Virginians for Justice, said, “In their single-mindedness and self-absorption, they missed the message that true Americans gave in response to the attack: zero tolerance for religious extremists whose lives are devoted to proliferating hate and profiting from it. Jerry Falwell has now exposed himself and his organization clearly to all Americans, and there is no doubt that the backlash from his pathological statements will be overwhelming.”
The White House quickly disassociated itself from Falwell’s remarks. “The president believes that terrorists are responsible for these acts,” said spokesman Ken Lisaius. “He does not share those views and believes that those remarks are inappropriate.”
“I am proud that the White House immediately disassociated itself from such hateful statements,” said acting Episcopal Bishop of Washington Jane Holmes Dixon. “It is beyond shameful to seek to divide us by alleging that some of us are culpable because we hold beliefs different from those of Robertson and Falwell.”
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Zay N. Smith wrote about Falwell”s comments: “For those wondering what a Christian Osama bin laden might sound like.”
Mike Thomas, writing in the Orlando Sentinel, a city warned by Robertson in 1998 that flying rainbow flags would cause God to strike them with hurricanes, cited Falwell’s remark that God “lifted the curtain of protection” from the U.S. “What does this mean?” asked Thomas. “God chose not to alert the FBI?”
“If God is the terrorist they portray him to be, then Middle Eastern zealots are the least of our worries. But I don’t believe in infecting supreme beings with the worst human emotions.”