Last night, as I was updating my Facebook status, I briefly considered a post wondering how long it would take before Pat Robertson made some monstrous insinuation about the earthquake in Haiti being God's will. I remember thinking, No, even Pat Robertson wouldn't exploit a tragedy of this magnitude--a tragedy that, as of this writing, has claimed over 100,000 lives.
Even Pat Robertson would have seen the pictures of the broken and mangled bodies of children, their limbs bloodied, crushed by fallen concrete. Even Pat Robertson, T-1000 Pharisee though he might be, would have a vulgarity threshold even he wouldn't cross. Surely a natural disaster in one of the poorest countries on earth would be beyond the pale, even for him, especially given Christ's edicts relating to the blessedness of the poor.
As it happens, I should have taken bets on "when" instead.
On the 700 Club today, Robertson did what he does best: he perverted a tragedy to suit his religious agenda. In his best creepy Evangelical wizard voice, he intoned that the people of Haiti had brought this catastrophe on themselves by compacting with the Devil.
"Something happened a long time ago in Haiti and people might not want to talk about. They were under the heel of the French, you know Napoleon the Third and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the Devil. They said 'We will serve you if you will get us free from the Prince.' True story. And so the Devil said, 'OK it's a deal.' And they kicked the French out. The Haitians revolted and got something themselves free. But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after another."
In the aftermath of 9/11, CBN aired a dialogue between Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell in which Falwell asserted that the ACLU, abortionists, feminists, gays, and the People For the American Way, were responsible for the devastating attacks on the Twin Towers. Robertson concurred with Falwell, and offered up a prayer flagellating Americans for--you guessed it--bringing 9/11 on themselves.
"We have sinned against Almighty God, at the highest level of our government, we've stuck our finger in your eye. The Supreme Court has insulted you over and over again, Lord. They've taken your Bible away from the schools. They've forbidden little children to pray. They've taken the knowledge of God as best they can, and organizations have come into court to take the knowledge of God out of the public square of America."
Robertson would say something similar when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. He proposed that then-Supreme Court nominee John Roberts "could be thankful" that the tragedy had "done him some good" by providing a backdrop that would intimidate Democratic senators who might otherwise question Justice Roberts' views on abortion and other conservative deal-breakers.
Haiti is one of the poorest countries on earth, and its heroic survival in the face of horrors--the likes of which Pat Robertson could only imagine enduring in his worst nightmares--has been nothing short of awe-inspiring. Haiti was the site of the only successful slave revolution in human history. Between 1791 and 1804, Haiti's slaves threw off the shackles of French rule, a rule whose barbarous cruelty shines even in the historical annals of slavery. Their history, in the two hundred-plus years since they were emancipated from France has been fraught with extreme poverty and extreme internal political turmoil.
The estimated death toll from the magnitude 7.0 quake that rocked the country on Tuesday continues to soar even as I write this. It's reported that the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Joseph Serge Miot, is among the dead, as reportedly is the chief of the UN mission in Haiti, Hedi Annabi. Aid organizations, both religious and secular, have mobilized the world over, recognizing this as a human catastrophe on par with the tsunami of December 2004. Most people of genuine faith are turning to prayer at this moment, and hopefully to their pocketbooks as well.
What's Pat Robertson doing? Writing horror stories in the blood of innocent victims of a monstrous natural occurrence--again. While women scream for their dead children, Pat Robertson is telling apocryphal tales about how the Haitians are suffering unimaginable pain and despair because they "swore a pact to the Devil" in order to be freed from the horrors of slavery under "you know, Napoleon the Third and whatever."
In the same way that social pundits have suggested that the revelations of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's unfortunate use of the word "Negro" in expressing his support of then-Senator Barack Obama's presidential candidacy might possibly herald an open and honest discussion on the reality of racism in America, perhaps we can hope that this latest obscenity from Pat Robertson might herald an open and honest discussion on the caustic effects of religion in America.
Perhaps in the aftermath of yet another grotesque pronouncement from this man who claims to speak for God, while blaming victims of a natural horror for their own misery, it might be time for America to take a long, hard look at the multi-billion dollar religion industry (which is largely tax-exempt) and ask itself if it still wants to invest people like Pat Robertson and his evangelical corporation with anything but jaundice.
It's too much to expect Robertson's millions and millions of followers to share the outrage we feel over his comments about Haiti. It's too much to expect them to immediately cease funding his enterprise and send their money instead to an aid organization. Imagine the many millions of dollars for Haitian aid that would generate.
It's too much to expect them to recall what their own Bible says about false prophets, or to see Robertson in the context of Isaiah 29:13: The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men."
But if those of us who are outraged by Robertson's foulness chose to give an extra ten dollars to Oxfam or the Red Cross as an expression of that outrage, perhaps some small good can come out of it.
Because now is not the time for anything but goodness.
And then, when we've really done all we can, perhaps we can finally have that honest discussion about religion, and the role of people like Pat Robertson in American popular culture. And perhaps then we can discover who's really made a pact with the Devil. Lets hope it isn't us.
Follow Michael Rowe on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rowemichael
Pat Robertson: Haiti 'cursed' by pact with devil
Pat Robertson: Haiti "Cursed" After "Pact to the Devil ...
Think Progress » Pat Robertson Cites Haiti's Earthquake As What ...
Pat Robertson says Haiti paying for 'pact to the devil' - CNN.com
YouTube - Robertson: Haiti had pact with devil
Robertson: Haiti 'cursed' since Satanic pact - Ben Smith ...
Predestination or Free Will?
By Robertson saying they (The Haitians) made a pact with Satan,
means they have/ they had free will and they exercised it. And the direct result of
this was the disaster.
And how would Robertson know about this contract?
Maybe it was a family history narrative passed down from eye witnesses?
(Making him part Black. 'Octoroon Robertson'? Catchy.)
Or maybe Ol' Scratch showed him the very same document. If so, then why
is he having intercourse with the Evil One?
Previously Sarah Palin said that it was God's Will that she be McCain's
running mate. God's Will bespeaks predestination.
Which is it? Free Will or God's Will? Is it a an odd day/even day thing?
Is it a coin flip thing? It is a M, W, Sr thing? If I were a Regent University grad,
would I know? Can send some one post the link? Thanks!
Religion and politics were created by man, corrupted by man and mis-used by man. Pat Robertson is polluting the airwaves with his version of preachy, self-righteous and damning religion.
How can he be so unbelievably stupid and mean, and call himself a man of God.
The real coup is that the rich white minority uses the above stooges to whip the ignorant masses into a fear-stoked frenzy in order to advance their greedy, tyrannical agenda.
Where do you think the phrase "war on terror" comes from?
Right-on!
"...Pat Robertson, Rush, Beck, Hannity, and O'Reilly all have one thing in common - they fine-tune their God-soaked hate-mongering messaging to the frequency of the great unwashed that is their fan base."
All of the above [including Palin & Limbaugh] have something else in common and that is
fear-mongering.
Fear, particularly the "fear of a wrathful god " is a powerful tool for controlling people.
The delusional belief in a god of wrath is perpetuated by organized fundamental religions that teach their followers to fear God, thus creating incalculable human suffering and a "hell" on earth. Fundamentalists live in constant fear.
This is why "Christian" televangelists like Robertson effectively ignore the New Testament's "Good News", the revelatory message of Jesus, that God is Love....only Love.
Essentially, what he said was that the Haitian slave revolution against the French was sparked off when a bunch of the leaders of the revolt participated in some voodoo ceremony ceremony that was like our Boston Tea Party. They apparently said things about casting off the white man's god and praying to their own...whatever...and then they drank blood.
Now since there's a lot of Catholics in Haiti his contention was that it's become sort of a myth of guilt that everything bad that happens is god's punishment for turning to voodoo to "cast off" the slave owners.
Now I think that's insane, but I think generally religion is sort of insane. But the in the context of the Bible god's done crazier stuff than curse an entire country, and poor people aren't often educated very well, and when you're not educated, you find ways of explaining things to yourself that you don't understand. That's probably how religion started in the first place...who created the world and all that.
But if you're already religious, I don't think it's that much more insane to believe that god could punish a country for something like that.
He's extracting as much money as he can from his faithful followers at every juncture he can.
But, either way, I think you missed my point. The news media gave Pat Robertson a lot of criticism but I didn't see anything that put the comment in context. And I feel this event is a very relevant to what he said. I would have preferred to have been informed of the history behind it, whether Robertson interpreted it right or not, rather than him be lambasted.
For this to have been a "cheap point," in my opinion, that would require Robertson having some agenda, and though knowing what he said wasn't true, saying it anyway to accomplish that agenda. I just happen to think it's likely that he said it because he literally, truly, really believes that's what happened because he's a religious kook.
And I'm saying, if it's true that people in Haiti believe what he believes, he's no worse for believing it than they are.
How can you not see how arrogant, hateful, inhuman, and bigoted what he said is? The nazis or the KKK could hardly do it better.
He is the OPPOSITE of anything Christian, that's for sure.
The man is a m0r0n clothed in a hood and a sheet.
In the wake of the tragedy unfolding in Haiti, Pat Robertson has once again managed to stumble onto the stage of this world and attempt to render God in his image. Evidently, Pat’s God is a malevolent, small-minded dictator with a penchant for stepping on his own… shoelaces. Frequently.
If Pat were right, then his version of God would probably superglue a set of ear-buds into Pat's ears, ratchet the volume to 'astronomic' and blast him with "I'm Not Jesus" by Apocalyptica for eternity, for being so bold as to speak for Him.
Their was no sense of compassion or kindness. Only condemnation and judgement. Pat has forgotten only God can judge.
He needs to be quiet and repent for his callous words. If he is so holy, he needs to add humility and compassion to the list of attributes he seems to be missing to his character. Funny enough, he made almost the same statements about hurrican Katrina victims
Wise as a serpent -- what was that lesson, again?