Pat Robertson opened his mouth and spewed his venom of hate all over those who are feeling disaster in Haiti today.
CBS has details
As Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said "well over" 100,000 people may have died in the national disaster, Robertson took to the airwaves Wednesday on his show and said that the country has been "cursed by one thing after another" since they "swore a pact to the devil."
"Something happened a long time ago in Haiti and people might not want to talk about," Robertson said Tuesday.
"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," Robertson said.
Let me just say for the record, the following:
1) Pat Robertson does a great job at making Americans look like unfeeling morons.
2) Catholics do not believe in divine retribution.
3) Shut up, you jackass.
If our God is the type of God who randomly smites innocent people then I'm not sure I'd want much to do with God. However, our God is not that kind of an awful, vengeful, hate mongering, vile spewing, sadist! Our God is the suffering savior and perhaps Mr Robertson should go back and get in touch with Jesus.
In case you missed Him, Pat, he's the one who is hanging on the cross...
And today, He has a Haitian face.
18 comments:
Well said, Mike! Haiti and her people once witnessed to me the depths of HOPE that must reside in all of us who claim to be Christian - and I hope to live this revelation for the rest of my days. May God bless these beautiful people and draw more of us to himself in a spirit of love, compassion, and justice.
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From Dave Wampach
Pat could be the biggest jackass on the face of the earth. I would love him to say those things to the people of Haiti who have lost loved ones. My parents' parish has a sister parish in Haiti. I had Haitan friends in high school and one of the kindest, gentlest students I ever had was from Haiti. There is nothing Christain in that man's soul.
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From Ann LaBeck
Pat Robertson will meet Jesus at some point, in disguise as a Haitian earthquake victim, and won't quite know what to say when Jesus tells him, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.' Oops.
I have a feeling Pat's response to me would be:
"Don't worry, you won't"
Speechless! I just read this over at the dotCommonweal page too.
What the &$?# is he thinking when he says that?
God have mercy on us all, Pat included and especially on the people of Haiti.
Fran
So, his take on the history of Haiti is that the devil was on the side of poor fighting for liberation, not the side of those who were perpetuating slavery? Interesting. Mr. Robertson would have been good friends with a certain Pharoah in Egypt...
Jeanne--
Line of the day.
Thanks!
Jane...sigh.
If you think that God kills poor people for the sake of killing them then I feel sorry for you.
And...as Jeanne mentioned above if Robertson thinks that God's wrath would strike the poor fighting for liberation over those who were perpetuating slavery then Robertson must have been good friends with a certain Pharoah in Egypt...
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From: Ann LaBeck
"But I forgot that Catholics really don't read the Bible."
Jane, that was un-necessarily snarky and untrue--not helpful to understanding, much less winning anyone over to your way of thinking. Broad generalizations like that only serve to create polarization.
The citations that you listed are, indeed, part of Scripture, but so are these, which you left out:
"There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land." Deuteronomy 15:11
"Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?" Job 30:25
"But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish." Psalm 9:18
Interestingly, you referenced nothing from the New Testament....
I've already cited Matt. 25 above.
But you could also read:
"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:17-18
"When Jesus heard this, he said to him, You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'" Luke 18:22
There are too many others to list from both OT and NT Scriptures. I'm Catholic, proud of it, and I do, indeed, read and teach the Bible---to lots and lots of Catholics.
Mother Teresa always spoke of the poor as "Jesus in distressing disguise." If I read the Matt. 25 part of the Bible correctly, Jesus said very specifically who God's wrath would come down on----those who refuse to help the poor--because, as Jesus said clearly, they are Him.
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From Joe Marotta
Mike, sigh doesn't even cover it! I guess when I was praying the Office of Readings this morning, Jane would say I wasn't I wasn't really reading the Bible. Psalms 18:2-30. In the Liturgy of the Catholic Church. On the day after the Haitian Earthquake.
"Chance is perhaps the pseudonym of God when he does not wish to sign his work" - Anatole France
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From Joe Howard
I think God made His position on divine retribution clear when He inspired the author of the Book of Job, about 7,000 years ago...
and as far as people who try to interpret God's actions:
"And it came to pass after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, 'I am angry with you and with your two friends; for you have not spoken rightly concerning me, as has my servant Job.'"
Job 42:7
so if Robertson were right about God's wrath, then he should watch out...
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From: Brett Loney
Has Pat Robertson ever actually read the Gospels? Interesting that he is one of the richest people in Virginia. Hatred and bigotry have certainly filled his wallet, at least in this life.
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From Scot Foley
Well said, Mike.
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From Joe Marotta
May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen!
Jane, that's not snarky...that's just good advice.
Whew---see what happens when I break for dinner. Wow! Thanks for all the comments today folks.
Ann and Joe Howard really spoke for me.
I'll add two final comments from me.
1) I love Jane and her passion. Don't agree with most of it but I love the fact that she's willing to talk with me.
2) I'm going to ask a Biblical Scholar to comment on God's wrath in the upcoming days. My sense is that people tried to explain much of the bad things that happened to them by attributing them to God's wrath. The psalms jane cited don't really mention that God ACTUALLY rained down fire but rather it's more wishful thinking. The author is suggesting or even pleading for a God of justice to act upon those who don't stand up for what's right.
As for Chronicles, I'll honestly admit that I don't know much about this book--but we has a scholar write about it on BustedHalo so here's a bit of what the book's about:
http://www.bustedhalo.com/googling-god/bible-boot-camp/old-testament/historical-books-1-2-chronicles
So Catholics have a great tradition of biblical scholarship that they often get no credit for. The bottom line is that studying the bible takes a lot of effort and we can't just take random quotes out of context. We (read all of us) should consult those who know far more than we do before we start throwing random quotes around from the good book.
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From hannah Floyd:
"I cannot believe what he said. Disasters occur. It happens, and it is horrible when it does. I find it despicable that someone is willing to just go and be so insensitive and offensive as to claim that the event is a result of a "deal with the devil." Newsflash, Pat Robinson... Haiti is situated on a fault line between two techtonic plates. That is why this happened. Instead of myaking the problem worse by adding insult to injury, be helpful and proactive. Donate money to relief funds and provide emotional support for those who have experienced such a horrible event and the losses associated with it. "
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From Mary Capers Bledsoe
"Honestly, I don't think we used to be like this. How is it possible that we have gotten to the point that our political, cultural, religious, ethnic, and national identities have become so polarized that everything - EVERYTHING - can be twisted into fodder to fan these sick flames? Good Lord. Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson made it very difficult for me to maintain my "we are all children of God" worldview today."
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