Pat Robertson: Religous Scumbag or Crazy Old Man?

I'm glad I set up this blog.

For those of you who read it, I usually write on other blogs and websites about pop culture stuff. I write about music and comics and tv shows and movies. But every once and a while I feel the urge to write about something that doesn't fit into any of my other web writing commitments.

Which brings us to Pat Robertson.

For those of you who kind of recognize the name, he is the eighty year old leader of the Christian Coalition and host of the 700 Club.

He has also ran for President on a few occasions.

And despite not having any formal church position (due to his running for various government positions) Pat is a very strong name in the Christian Right.

And apparently either ignorant or well into senility.

Haiti's current major earthquake troubles, poverty and a whole ton of issues are due to a pact with the devil.

No one in public position such as his would say something that dumb right?

Not only did he say it, he said it on tv.

Take a look.



Now what I assume he is referring to is Bois Caiman Vodou (yes Voodoo) ceremony held in 1791. Napoleon was not in power at that point but he, he's 80, I'll give him the little details.

Now that ceremony was part of what started the Haitian revolution against their oppressors. What Robertson may be referring to is the following prayer that is usually attributed to that ceremony.

"The god who created the earth; who created the sun that gives us light. The god who holds up the ocean; who makes the thunder roar. Our God who has ears to hear. You who are hidden in the clouds; who watch us from where you are. You see all that the white has made us suffer. The white man's god asks him to commit crimes. But the god within us wants to do good. Our god, who is so good, so just, He orders us to revenge our wrongs. It's He who will direct our arms and bring us the victory. It's He who will assist us. We all should throw away the image of the white men's god who is so pitiless. Listen to the voice for liberty that speaks in all our hearts."

Now I am a Christian. I have identified myself as such for years. I don't go to church on Sunday, I don't read the Bible everyday, I just happen to believe in an Almighty and I think that Jesus had some really good ideas and if not the son of God, was definitely sent here to teach us something.

I am fully aware of the Bible being filled with a whole bunch of things that don't make any sense.

That being said, being the believer that I am... I don't see this as a prayer to the devil, Satan, Beelzebub, Legion, the little girl from the Exorcist, Ozzy Osbourne, Marylin Manson or any number of other possible demons in this world.

Nope, I look at that prayer and I see:

1) We're mad.
2) We can not believe that God is giving them the power to keep us down.
3) We believe in a God that wouldn't do this to his creations and we believe that he will help us prevail.

Now if you want to choose the route that "All gods but my God are not gods and blasphemy" alright, I can maybe see that. It's bigoted, generally retarded but it is your right.

And that seems to be the way Old Pat sees things. What bothers me is he is telling this story without any context other then his which is historically inaccurate.

Like let's take The Dominican Republic. They occupy the other half of the island and they used to be Haiti during the period in question. They seem to be doing alright and they would have been part of "deal with the devil".

As far as my research goes, I can't see any point where the Dominican Republic renounced their side of the deal.

No I think years of depots, dictators and shoddy construction practises are to blame for the wide spread destruction.

Especially the construction practises. Haiti is poor and they make due with what they got, and when you don't have much you tend to skip a lot of corners. Had general contracting rules from the West been implemented, the death toll would probably be a lot less.

So who's to blame?

I couldn't really tell you precisely but as I previously stated years of government corruption is the start. If the government had not been corrupt there might be more money. More money, less faulty construction, etc etc.

I am certain it has nothing to do with the Devil, unless the Devil you're speaking of is greed.