Michael L. Betsch, CNSNews.com
Monday, Jan. 13, 2003

Headlining a media event Wednesday for the anti-war protest group International A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop the War and End Racism), Clark referred to Christ in front of more than 20 international reporters and camera crews. CNSNews.com was the only news service to report on the former attorney general's comments.

"The Christian Church overwhelmingly - there are exceptions - who choose to call Muhammad a terrorist - they could call Jesus a terrorist too," said Clark. "I mean, he was pretty tough on money lenders a time or two."

The Rev. Lou Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition, scolded Clark for his comments and demanded an apology on behalf of Christians and Muslims.

"Mr. Clark has made a very serious error, and he needs to apologize both to the Christians and to the Muslims, because the Muslims hold Jesus Christ as a great prophet equal to Muhammad," Sheldon said Friday. "He has insulted and offended people on both sides of the Christian-Muslim line ... I hope he's forthcoming right away with an apology."

"Jesus never said, 'Kill your enemy.' He said, 'Turn the other cheek," Sheldon said. "It appears that Mr. Ramsey [Clark] does not know the New Testament."

"One cannot be a Muslim unless one believes in the miraculous birth of Christ and in his great mission of promoting love and brotherhood," said Sayyid Syeed, secretary general of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). "We consider him as a model. We consider him as a great prophet, a teacher and a comforter whose birth we believe was a great miracle."

The ISNA bills itself as an association of Muslim organizations and individuals that serve the diverse needs of Muslims in North America.

Syeed said Muslims have historically protested against those who insult the prophet Muhammad ... and the prophet Jesus Christ.

Syeed said the ISNA was one of numerous Muslim groups that demanded an apology from Christian leader Jerry Falwell when he declared Muhammad "a terrorist" and a "man of war" on a CBS television program last October. Muslims, he said, also protested when the controversial play "Corpus Christi" cast Jesus as a homosexual.

Asked to predict how Muslims would react to Clark's recent comments, Syeed told CNSNews.com: "Muslims would be angered, yeah. This is an insult to prophet Jesus."

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), agreed that any insult against the man Christians consider their savior is also an insult against Muslims, who consider a Jesus a prophet.

"As the prophet Muhammad said: 'All prophets are brothers. Their religion is one,' Hooper said. "So, we would object to any slur against the prophet Jesus, peace be upon him, the same way we would against the prophet Mohammed."

Hooper said Muslims believe that Jesus Christ is a prophet of God, "equal to" the prophet Muhammad. No distinctions are made between the prophets and no prophet is superior to the other, he explained.

International A.N.S.W.E.R. issued an alert Friday that Clark would be appearing on Qatar's Al-Jazeera satellite television network that day around noontime. Al-Jazeera has been the only network used by terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden to broadcast his cryptic messages to America.

Copyright CNSNews.com

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