Just days after the September 11 attacks, Jerry Falwell declared that abortionists–among many others–were responsible for the planes slamming into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. After a relentless pounding that lasted almost a week, Falwell was forced to apologize. Well, at least one pastor who carries on Falwell’s tradition apparently didn’t get the memo. While speaking at the university that Falwell founded, one of the most prominent religious right pastors, Robert Jeffress, declared that the 9-11 attacks were God’s way of saying that he is not pleased with legalized abortion in this country.
Jeffress is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, and a leading member of the Southern Baptist Convention’s conservative wing. On Tuesday, he was the speaker at Liberty University’s weekly convocation–the same stage where, just a week earlier, Ted Cruz officially launched his presidential campaign. Well, for the second week in a row, Liberty’s students were served another dose of red meat. Jeffress declared that this nation’s collapse was “inevitable” because of several “explosive decisions” by the Supreme Court. Those decisions banned organized prayer and Bible reading in public schools, banned the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools, legalized abortion, and struck down laws against sodomy. Watch the whole thing–if you can stand it–here.
This screed started out as a boilerplate religious right tirade–how this was a Christian nation and that those evil, evil libruls had twisted the First Amendment. However, it shifted to just outright offensive at around the 13:35 mark, when Jeffress discussed one of the “explosive decisions” by the Supremes–namely, Roe v. Wade. He claimed that history has a hard lesson for any nation that “sanctions the killing of its own children.” The Israelites, he said, were handed to the tender mercies of Babylon and Assyria because they sacrificed their children to Moloch, the god of the Ammonites.
Jeffress said he got a lot of questions from people who think the 9-11 attacks happened because God didn’t protect this country. His answer? “Just read the Bible! God will not allow sin to go unpunished, and he certainly won’t allow the sacrifice of children to go unpunished.” People for the American Way got a clip.
So riddle me this, Robert. You mean to tell me the CIA and FBI were asleep at the switch but because God made them fall asleep? You mean to tell me that the Bush White House didn’t act on a daily brief entitled “Bin Laden determined to strike in U. S.” because God told him to ignore it? That’s what you’d have to believe if you can say with a straight face that 9-11 was caused by abortion. I wonder if Jeffress is willing to say this to the face of anyone who lost a loved one that day, rather than from the comfort of Liberty’s Vines Center or his church in Dallas.
Jeffress is best known as the guy who introduced Rick Perry at the 2011 Value Voters Summit by indicating that Mitt Romney was part of a cult because he’s a Mormon. He also thinks that the First Amendment’s protections of religious freedom would bring down “the anger of God” on this nation. But even allowing for this, suggesting 9-11 is divine judgment is patently offensive. Didn’t these people learn from the backlash that ensued when Falwell said essentially the same thing? Or when several fundies suggested that Sandy Hook happened because we didn’t force kids to pray in school? Apparently not.
Tell Jeffress what you think of this on Facebook or on Twitter. But please, be civil. Unlike Jeffress, we have to show that we have some decency.
