You can hardly expect mainstream media outlets, given their
predisposition to caricature evangelical Christians, to stop giving
Pat Robertson a high profile every time he says something moronic.
But others can at least stop enabling him.
Robertson’s latest gaffe was to suggest that God was behind
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s suffering, as he hung onto
his life after his second stroke in a month.
“(Sharon) was dividing God’s land, and I would say, ‘Woe unto
any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease
the [European Union], the United Nations, or the United States,’”
Robertson said on his Christian Broadcasting Network program,
The 700 Club, last week. “God says, ‘This land belongs to
me, and you’d better leave it alone.’”
This after his embarrassing warning in November to the citizens
of Dover, Pa., whom Robertson said “had just rejected [God] from
your city” when voters threw out their school board, after they
overreached in their efforts to bring intelligent design into
science classrooms.
“I’d like to say to the good citizens of Dover,” Robertson said,
“if there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to God.” He said
in a later clarifying statement, “If they have future problems in
Dover, I recommend they call on Charles Darwin. Maybe he can help
them.”
Robertson obviously has forgotten the time-old (but not
necessarily Biblical) principle of enticing with honey rather than
vinegar. Not that that matters to him, for he has a history of
statements that push a rat-a-tat, bad news “Gospel” message that
seems to rejoice more in condemnation than salvation.
No problem with the damnation aspect of the message, by the way.
It’s just problematic when you proclaim that you are also God’s
mind reader, like when Robertson and Jerry Falwell agreed (since
retracted, but in doubtful sincerity) that America got what it
deserved in the 9-11-01 terror attacks on the U.S. I wish these
irrational doomsayers would get as worked up over the
secularization of the church as much as they do about removing God
from government.
Now certainly God is involved in contemporary events, either
shielding with or removing His protective “hand,” according to His
mysterious purposes. The problem is that most of what is going on
in current events has no outline in the Bible — at least with any
specificity. Consequences of personal sin are often obvious, but
the actions of Dover, Pa. or Ariel Sharon can’t be clearly
accounted for scripturally — no matter how distasteful to the
likes of Robertson.
But Pat’s proclamations are too irresistible for the mainstream
media to ignore. For them he serves a delightful dual purpose:
entertainment value, and he enables them to broad brush
Christianity with clown paint. Journalists do so by saying
Robertson “claims about one million viewers daily” for The 700
Club (look at all his followers!). He also started the
Christian Coalition. He led the founding of Regent University in
Virginia Beach, as well as the Christian Broadcasting Network. And
he ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988 (26,761
votes in Iowa — wow!).
Look closer, however, and his influence is easily ignorable.
Even if the viewership numbers are correct, I doubt most 700
Club viewers tune in to hear Pat’s next big insight. The
Christian Coalition is nigh dead. CBN is marginal. The fact that
Robertson has partially implemented a vision, with many
organizations that admittedly do some fine work, doesn’t mean he
personally has earned credibility worthy of instant media
attention. Those successes reflect the efforts of the rank-and-file
more than the figurehead.
Rather his long list of public utterances, claiming God’s
authoritative perspective, should render Robertson suspect. He
warrants the same amount of attention as Dennis Kucinich, Al
Sharpton, Jesse Ventura, and Pat Paulsen — that is, none. He
doesn’t stand for the mainstream evangelical Christian perspective
on world events, and shouldn’t be represented as such.
It would help if other media figures like Sean Hannity and Matt
Drudge, who usually exercise discerning news judgment, would stop
giving Robertson attention. They could promote a more intellectual,
thoughtful Christian identity by instead using pundits like Marvin
Olasky, Charles Colson, and Hugh Hewitt more regularly for takes on
current events.
And true believers in the public eye could also outwardly
disavow Robertson, so everybody knows his true place in Christian
thought. The mainstream media otherwise will place him in our
embrace by default.
Paul Chesser, a former editor of two Christian
newspapers in North Carolina, is an associate editor for the
John Locke
Foundation. Contact him at pchesser@carolinajournal.com.
