2001 - Religion

Religion

President Bush announces in January that he is establishing a White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (see 1996). He shrugs off complaints that the office violates the First Amendment's Establishment Clause separating Church and State, and that his "determined attack on need" does not have clear enough protections against proselytizing by religious organizations and discrimination in hiring. Bush authorizes faith-based initiatives in five Cabinet offices; the list will soon be expanded to include the departments of Justice, Agriculture, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Education, and the Agency for International Development, but although the initiatives will funnel federal money into Christian charities and schools they will exclude Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic and Jewish organizations.

Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar issues an order in May against non-Islamic graven images, and Afghan forces use explosives, tanks, and anti-aircraft fire to destroy two colossal statues of the Buddha 150 miles (230 kilometers) from Kabul in Bamiyan Province. Cut from sandstone cliffs, the statues have stood probably since the 3rd and 5th centuries in the mountain valley separating the Hindu Kush from Koh-i-Baba, one rising 175 feet (53 meters), the other 120 feet (36 meters), with copper faces and copper-covered hands. Buddhists have visited the place for centuries, and the "Bamiyan Massacre" draws worldwide condemnation.

Muslim religious fanatics exult in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, most Muslim leaders condemn the attacks and cite the Koran's promise of eternal punishment for those who kill innocent people, but evangelical Christian leader Rev. Jerry Falwell appears on Pat Robertson's 700 Club television show September 13 and says, "What we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be miniscule if, in fact, God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve." Robertson agrees, whereupon Falwell continues, "The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God really mad. 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.'" Robertson says, "I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted the agenda at the highest levels of our government." President Bush calls Falwell's remarks merely "inappropriate," blunders August 16 by asking for a "crusade" against Muslim terrorists, but visits a mosque and urges Americans to respect their peace-loving Muslim fellow-citizens.