Jerry Falwell, televangelist and pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., has apologized for recent remarks about the prophet Mohammed being a “terrorist” after the statement prompted a riot in India.
“I sincerely apologize that certain statements of mine made during an interview for… CBS’s ’60 Minutes’ were hurtful to the feelings of many Muslims,” Falwell said in a statement issued Oct. 12. “I intended no disrespect to any sincere, law-abiding Muslim. Unfortunately, I answered one controversial … question … which I should not have answered,” he said. The interview aired Oct. 6.
Ron Godwin, president of Jerry Falwell Ministries, said Falwell’s decision to not appear at the Christian Coalition’s “Road to Victory Conference” on Oct. 11 had “nothing to do” with the controversy. Rather, Falwell had to help with a funeral.
Some Muslim leaders welcomed Falwell’s apology, the Associated Press reported.
Ayatollah Hussein Mousavi Tabrizi of the Iranian city of Qom, said “A person courageous enough to apologize for his errors is worthy of praise.”
But Sheik Zuheir Jaaec, deputy head of the Islamic Ulama Gathering, an association of Sunni and Shiite Muslime scholars in Lebanon, said, one “cannot insult the prophet then apologize.”
An Iranian cleric called for Falwell’s death, and a strike in Bombay, India, protesting Falwell’s comments led to a riot in which five people were killed.
(RNS)
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