© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
Just as the bodies of the three American missionaries slain by an
Islamic terrorist in Yemen are laid to rest so, apparently, is the
news coverage of the atrocity, complains Southern Baptist minister and
WND
columnist Rev. Jerry Falwell.
The three were killed Dec. 30 when a lone gunman burst into the
Baptist hospital in Jibla cradling a rifle hidden inside his coat as
if it were a baby. He opened fire, shooting 60-year-old William Koehn
of Texas, 53-year-old Kathleen Gariety of Wisconsin and 57-year-old
Dr. Martha Myers of Alabama, each in the head. A fourth missionary,
49-year-old Donald Caswell of Texas, was seriously wounded.
On Thursday, Yemen authorities arrested Islamic militants Abed
Abdul Razak Kamel in connection with the missionaries' murder and Ali
al-Jarallah in connection with last week's slaying of Jarallah Omar,
deputy leader of Yemen's Socialist Party.
Security officials said the duo had plans to attack other
foreigners, journalists and Yemeni political leaders and gave police a
list of eight targets during their interrogation.
The missionaries are the latest Christians to be slain by Islamic
militants around the world.
Falwell questions why the national media are ignoring these
attacks.
"If a massacre were being conducted against people of color, God
forbid, or groups like gays and lesbians, there would be an
understandable outcry that would demand change," Falwell told Baptist
Press. "It is a tragedy that Christian lives do not seem to have the
same value to the national media."
As an example, he pointed to the more than 2 million Christians in
Sudan who have been killed by the nation's militant Islamic regime in
recent years, and yet there has been little coverage of the killings.
Falwell said America in general, and Jews and Christians in
particular, have more to fear from radical Islam than from Nazism or
communism in the past.
This isn't the first time Falwell has thumbed his nose at the
politically correct.
As
WorldNetDaily reported, Falwell came under fire late last year for
asserting that "Muhammad is a terrorist."
On a "60 Minutes" broadcast Oct. 6, Falwell told CBS interviewer
Bob Simon: "I think Muhammad was a terrorist. I read enough, by both
Muslims and non-Muslims, [to decide] that he was a violent man, a man
of war."
Falwell told WND just before the interview was aired that his
intent
was not to attack Muhammad.
"I have avoided that. But [Simon] was pressing me on the issue of
Muhammad's behavior, his involvement in war, and I simply said what I
do believe, that Muhammad is not a good example for most Muslim
people."
Following the "60 Minutes" interview, a leading Islamic group in
Canada announced its intention to take legal action against Falwell
and the Canadian channels that broadcast the interview.
Canadian Islamic
Congress President Mohamed Elmasry told WorldNetDaily he believes
criminal charges could be brought against "the person who made the
statement and any accessories he used" under the country's hate-crimes
laws.
In a
June 15 column, Falwell also defended fellow Southern Baptist
pastor Dr. Jerry Vines for his controversial declaration that Muhammad
was a "demon-possessed pedophile."
Falwell pointed out that Vines was referencing the new book,
"Unveiling Islam: An Insider's Look at Muslim Life and Beliefs"
written by scholars Ergun and Emir Caner, who are Christian brothers
raised as Muslims, as well as the Hadith, considered a respected
source for Islamic teaching among Muslim clerics and followers
worldwide.
"If you want to raise the ire of the mainstream press and the swarm
of politically correct organizations in this nation, just criticize
Islam," Falwell mused. "If those in the media were doing their jobs,
Dr. Vines would never have felt it necessary to point out these
disquieting elements of an enigmatic religion."
