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TV Preacher Blames Gays & the UCLA For US Attacks

Author: Skrufff
Monday, September 24, 2001
Right wing fundamentalist Christian preacher Jerry Falwell accused civil liberties groups, homosexuals and feminists of being indirectly responsible for last week's US terror attacks, telling a TV audience last Sunday (16th) that their actions have forced God to abandon America.

"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," he said, speaking on the Christian Broadcasting Network's 700 club show last weekend.

The Reverend Falwell was joined in his condemnation of the ACLU (America's Civil Liberties Union) by the show's host Pat Robertson, a prominent supporter of President Bush.

Falwell was initially unrepentant, the Washington Post said, though his claims drew an angry retort from Lorri L Jean, head of America's National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

"The terrible tragedy that has befallen our nation, and indeed the entire global community, is the sad byproduct of fanaticism," she told the Post. "It has its roots in the same fanaticism that enables people like Jerry Falwell to preach hate against those who do not think, live, or love in the exact same way he does."

Falwell later apologised in a subsequent phone call to CNN, saying "I would never blame any human being except the terrorists, and if I left that impression with gays or lesbians or anyone else, I apologize." However, he continued to link the attack to America's 'secular and anti Christian environment' adding 'When a nation deserts God and expels God from the culture. . .the result is not good.'

http://www.washingtonpost.com

Jonty Adderley
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