DATE: Saturday, November 8, 1997            TAG: 9711080296
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A11  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   52 lines

MUSLIMS ASK ROBERTSON TO APOLOGIZE BROADCASTER SAID ISLAM WAS THE RELIGION OF THOSE WHO ENSLAVED AFRICANS, HIS CRITICS SAY.

Muslim leaders demanded an apology Friday from religious broadcaster Pat Robertson for saying on his television program that converting to Islam ``is nothing short of insanity'' because it means embracing ``the religion of the slavers'' who sold Africans into servitude.

The comments were made Oct. 27 on Robertson's ``700 Club,'' which airs on his Virginia Beach-based Christian Broadcasting Network.

``Mr. Robertson's hate-filled remarks fit a pattern of demonization of Islam and Muslims we see growing in strength in this country,'' Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said at a news conference. He said Robertson had ``insulted'' U.S. Muslims and had previously expressed anti-Muslim prejudice.

Robertson's remarks, according to a transcript provided by CAIR, were made following a report about the persecution of Christians in some Middle East countries.

``To see Americans become followers of, quote, Islam, is nothing short of insanity,'' the group quoted Robertson as saying. ``The Islamic people, the Arabs, were the ones who captured Africans, put them in slavery, and sent them to America as slaves. Why would people in America want to embrace the religion of the slavers?''

Patty Silverman, spokeswoman for Robertson, said in a statement that his words ``were taken out of context and unfairly misrepresented his views. His comments were in reference to a story we did on a Muslim faction group and their actions in the Middle East, not the entire Muslim population.'' Robertson, chairman of the Christian Coalition, ``has great love for the Arab people'' and ``has always spoken out in support of religious freedom'' for all faiths, Silverman said.

At the news conference, the Rev. Clark Lobenstine, executive director of the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, singled out Robertson's reference to Muslim slave traders. He said, ``Virtually all slave holders in this country were Christians.''

Awad also claimed that in a July 1994 ``700 Club'' program Robertson said, ``There is tremendous fatalism in Islam. . . . You've got flies in your face, it's the will of Allah. A child is hungry, it's the will of Allah.''

Silverman declined to discuss any earlier remarks made by Robertson.

American Muslim Council media coordinator Fahhim Abdulhadi demanded an apology. ``As a convert myself,'' he said, ``I would like to quickly say that the last time I checked, I was not insane.'' ILLUSTRATION: A spokeswoman for Pat Robertson said the religious

broadcaster's comments were taken out of context.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu