Difference between revisions of "Pat Robertson"

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'''Pat Robertson''' is a [[conservative]] [[American]] [[evangelist]], [[spiritual]] leader and [[politics|political]] leader, also owner and presenter of the [[TV]] show ''[[The 700 Club]]''. Robertson sought the 1988 [[Republican]] Presidential nomination and even managed to carry [[Washington]] State in the primary caucuses by mobilizing his supporters. He also ran in 1992 and helped in the initial formation of the [[Christian Coalition]].  Robertson attacks anti-Christian bias in America and around the world and sticks up for Christian liberties.
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'''Pat Robertson''' (born March 22, 1930)<ref>http://www.patrobertson.com/education/</ref> is a [[American]] [[televangelist]] who is the owner and presenter of the [[TV]] show ''[[The 700 Club]]''. Robertson sought the 1988 [[Republican]] Presidential nomination and even managed to carry [[Washington]] State in the primary caucuses by mobilizing his supporters. Thereafter, he helped in the initial formation of the [[Christian Coalition]].  Robertson attacks anti-Christian bias in America and around the world and defends some Christian liberties (He does not defend religious liberty when it comes to [[evolution]]ary indoctrination in public schools).  
  
Robertson has made millions of dollars from faith-healing.  Presentationally, he typically adheres to the "shotgun" method.  This involves announcing that God has relieved certain ailing believers of their various maladies without revealing enough concrete information about these fortunate people to allow independent observers to verify the claims.  The ambiguity of his presentation poses a serious health risk in itself.  For instance, when Pat Robertson proclaims that, say, God has cured a woman in Cincinatti of her cancer, he runs the risk that several such afflicted women in Cincinatti will miss their next chemotherapy session, each believing that they are the chosen beneficiaries of God's mercy.  Critics have repeatedly pointed out the obvious incongruity at play here: Why, if God has told Pat Robertson that he has ''cured'' a ''woman'' in ''Cincinatti'' of ''cancer'', wouldn't he tell him her name as well?  Robertson has failed to answer this criticism and, until recently, has continued performing these "shotgun" faith-healing displays frequently.
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Robertson graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1950, served in the [[Marine]]s during the [[Korean War]], then earned a law degree from [[Yale]] (1955) and a master's degree from the New York Theological Seminary (1959).<ref>http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/patrobertson.html</ref>
  
One would expect Robertson's vague pronouncements to stem, at least in part, from a deep inner conviction of the efficacy of faith-healing.  However, when Robertson himself was afflicted with prostate cancer, he immediately turned to secular medicine which has a proven track record of effectiveness.  At this time of writing, Robertson is cancer free.
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==Shift to the secular left==
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While Robertson holds theologically and politically conservative views overall, he has shifted toward [[liberal]] positions on certain issues:
  
Robertson graduated from Washington and Lee university in 1950, served in the [[Marine]]s during the [[Korean War]], then earned a law degree from [[Yale]] (1955) and a masters degree from the New York Theological Seminary (1959).<ref>http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/patrobertson.html</ref>
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*In November 2007, Robertson endorsed [[liberal]] Republican candidate [[Rudy Giuliani]] for U.S. President.<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,308997,00.html Fox News - Robertson endorses Giuliani]</ref><ref>Riley, Jennifer (November 8, 2007). [https://www.christianpost.com/news/pat-robertson-s-giuliani-endorsement-draws-mixed-reactions-30010/ Pat Robertson's Giuliani Endorsement Draws Mixed Reactions]. ''The Christian Post''. Retrieved February 21, 2018.</ref>
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*In 2008, Robertson appeared with [[Al Sharpton]] in a commercial urging people to fight [[global warming]].<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhmpsUMdTH8 The commercial on YouTube]</ref>
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*In November 2012, Robertson endorsed [[evolution]], arguing that by insisting on a Young Earth, Christians risked antagonizing younger voters.<ref>Multiple references:
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*Mitchell, Elizabeth (December 8, 2012). [https://answersingenesis.org/theistic-evolution/god-and-evolution/pat-robertson-revealed-science-word-of-god/ Pat Robertson Sticks to Revealed Science Over the Word of God]. ''Answers in Genesis''. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
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*Mitchell, Tommy (November 30, 2012). [https://answersingenesis.org/age-of-the-earth/pat-robertsons-word-or-gods-word-which-will-you-believe/ Pat Robertson’s Word or God’s Word: Which Will You Believe?] ''Answers in Genesis''. Retrieved February 21, 2018.</ref> In 2014, he called biblical creation a "joke."<ref>Golden, Steve (February 6, 2014). [https://answersingenesis.org/creation-vs-evolution/debate-reactions-mixed/ Debate Reactions Mixed]. ''Answers in Genesis''. Retrieved February 21, 2018.</ref> Robertson had been criticizing young Earth creation since at least 2002.<ref>[https://answersingenesis.org/days-of-creation/get-off-that-6-24-business/ “Get off that 6/24 business!”]. ''Answers in Genesis''. June 19, 2002. Retrieved February 21, 2018.</ref>
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*In February 2018, Robertson called for more federal [[gun control]] laws in the U.S.<ref>Manchester, Julia (February 21, 2018). [https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/374814-evangelical-leader-pat-robertson-calls-for-stricter-gun-laws Evangelical leader Pat Robertson calls for stricter gun laws]. ''The Hill''. Retrieved February 21, 2018.</ref> A month later, he praised young left-wing anti-gun protestors.<ref>Caralle, Katelyn (March 28, 2018). [https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/televangelist-pat-robertson-congratulates-young-people-for-participating-in-march-for-our-lives Televangelist Pat Robertson congratulates young people for participating in March for Our Lives]. ''Washington Examiner''. Retrieved March 28, 2018.</ref>
  
In November, 2007, Robertson endorsed [[liberal]] Republican Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani for President. <ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,308997,00.html Fox News - Robertson endorses Giuliani]</ref>  
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==Controversy==
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In early 2007, Robertson claimed that God had personally warned him of a major terrorist attack on the United States that would occur later that year, saying that it would happen sometime after September.<ref>http://www.nbcnews.com/id/16442877/#.UkhdXdKcvIc</ref>  Such an attack never took place.  There are also allegations that he supported [[Liberia]]n warlord [[Charles Taylor]].<ref>http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/pat-robertsons-gold-deal-african-dictator/story?id=9749341</ref>
In in 2008, Robertson appeared with [[Al Sharpton]] in a commercial urging people to fight [[global warming]].<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhmpsUMdTH8 The commercial on YouTube]</ref>
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A television viewer asked Robertson how to address a friend who was dating another woman while his wife has the medical condition [[Alzheimer's disease]]. Robertson replied, "I know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something he should divorce her and start all over again."<ref name="christianitytoday.com">[http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2011/september/pat-robertson-backtracks-on-divorce-alzheimers-comments.html?paging=off Pat Robertson Backtracks on Divorce, Alzheimer's Comments]</ref> He later claimed he was "misinterpreted".<ref name="christianitytoday.com"/>
  
 
== Quotes ==
 
== Quotes ==
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Robertson has a long history of being a prolific speaker appearing as the main host on the daily TV program The 700 Club.  Over those years quite a collection of quotes have been assorted by critics, among them:
 
Robertson has a long history of being a prolific speaker appearing as the main host on the daily TV program The 700 Club.  Over those years quite a collection of quotes have been assorted by critics, among them:
  
* "Just like what [[Nazi Germany]] did to the Jews, so [[liberal]] America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the [[liberal-based media]], and the [[homosexual]]s who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and [[discrimination]] and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history." <ref>Pat Robertson, interview with Molly Ivins, 1993.</ref>
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* "Just like what [[Nazi Germany]] did to the [[Jews]], so [[liberal]] America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the [[liberal-based media]], and the [[homosexual]]s who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and [[discrimination]] and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history." <ref>Pat Robertson, interview with Molly Ivins, 1993.</ref>
  
 
* "The [[Feminism|feminist agenda]] is not about equal rights for women. It is about a [[socialist]], anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, [[abortion|kill their children]], practice [[witchcraft]], destroy capitalism, and become [[Homosexuality|lesbian]]s." <ref>Pat Robertson, fund-raising letter, 1992</ref>
 
* "The [[Feminism|feminist agenda]] is not about equal rights for women. It is about a [[socialist]], anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, [[abortion|kill their children]], practice [[witchcraft]], destroy capitalism, and become [[Homosexuality|lesbian]]s." <ref>Pat Robertson, fund-raising letter, 1992</ref>
  
* "How can there be peace when drunkards, drug dealers, [[communist]]s, [[atheist]]s, [[Occult|New Age]] worshipers of Satan, [[secular humanist]]s, oppressive dictators, greedy money changers, revolutionary assassins, [[adulterer]]s, and homosexuals are on top?" <ref>Pat Robertson, The New World Order, p.227</ref>
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* "How can there be peace when drunkards, drug dealers, [[communist]]s, [[atheist]]s, [[Occult|New Age]] worshipers of Satan, [[secular humanist]]s, oppressive dictators, greedy money changers, revolutionary assassins, [[adulterer]]s, and [[homosexual]]s are on top?" <ref>Pat Robertson, The New World Order, p.227</ref>
  
 
* "You say you're supposed to be nice to the [[Episcopalian]]s and the [[Presbyterian]]s and the [[Methodist]]s and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense! I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the [[Antichrist]]. I can love the people who hold false opinions, but I don't have to be nice to them." <ref>Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," January 14, 1991.</ref>
 
* "You say you're supposed to be nice to the [[Episcopalian]]s and the [[Presbyterian]]s and the [[Methodist]]s and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense! I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the [[Antichrist]]. I can love the people who hold false opinions, but I don't have to be nice to them." <ref>Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," January 14, 1991.</ref>
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* "I think 'one man, one vote,' just unrestricted democracy, would not be wise. There needs to be some kind of protection for the minority which the white people represent now, a minority, and they need and have a right to demand a protection of their rights."<ref>Pat Robertson, The 700 Club television program, March 18, 1992</ref> (In regard to [[South Africa]])
 
* "I think 'one man, one vote,' just unrestricted democracy, would not be wise. There needs to be some kind of protection for the minority which the white people represent now, a minority, and they need and have a right to demand a protection of their rights."<ref>Pat Robertson, The 700 Club television program, March 18, 1992</ref> (In regard to [[South Africa]])
  
* "Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people may not want to talk about it.  They were under the heel of the French –you know, Napoleon III or whatever –and they got together and swore a pact to the devil.  They said, “We will serve you if you get us free from the French.”  True story.<ref> Napoleon III was not yet born, and [[Napoleon]] was not yet in power.</ref>  And so the Devil said, “Okay, it’s a deal.” … But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other … "<ref>http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/13/pat-robertson-haiti-curse_n_422099.html</ref> (In regard to the 2010 Haiti Earthquake)
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* "Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people may not want to talk about it.  They were under the heel of the French –you know, Napoleon III or whatever –and they got together and swore a pact to the devil.  They said, “We will serve you if you get us free from the French.”  True story.<ref>Napoleon III was not yet born, and [[Napoleon]] was not yet in power.</ref>  And so the Devil said, “Okay, it’s a deal.” … But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other … "<ref>http://nation.foxnews.com/culture/2010/01/13/pat-robertson-haiti-cursed-after-pact-devil</ref> (In regard to the 2010 Haiti Earthquake)
  
==References==
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* “You go back in time, you've got radiocarbon dating. You got all these things, and you've got the carcasses of dinosaurs frozen in time out in the Dakotas. They’re out there. So, there was a time when these giant reptiles were on the Earth, and it was before the time of the Bible. So, don’t try and cover it up and make like everything was 6,000 years. That’s not the Bible.”<ref name="houston">Berger, Eric. "Pat Robertson: 'If you fight science, you are going to lose your children.'" November 30, 2012. ''Houston Chronicle'', SciGuy blog. http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2012/11/pat-robertson-if-you-fight-science-you-are-going-to-lose-your-children/</ref>
  
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* "If you fight science, you are going to lose your children, and I believe in telling them the way it was."<ref name="houston"/>
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==References==
 
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Revision as of 19:02, September 26, 2018

Pat Robertson (born March 22, 1930)[1] is a American televangelist who is the owner and presenter of the TV show The 700 Club. Robertson sought the 1988 Republican Presidential nomination and even managed to carry Washington State in the primary caucuses by mobilizing his supporters. Thereafter, he helped in the initial formation of the Christian Coalition. Robertson attacks anti-Christian bias in America and around the world and defends some Christian liberties (He does not defend religious liberty when it comes to evolutionary indoctrination in public schools).

Robertson graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1950, served in the Marines during the Korean War, then earned a law degree from Yale (1955) and a master's degree from the New York Theological Seminary (1959).[2]

Shift to the secular left

While Robertson holds theologically and politically conservative views overall, he has shifted toward liberal positions on certain issues:

  • In November 2007, Robertson endorsed liberal Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani for U.S. President.[3][4]
  • In 2008, Robertson appeared with Al Sharpton in a commercial urging people to fight global warming.[5]
  • In November 2012, Robertson endorsed evolution, arguing that by insisting on a Young Earth, Christians risked antagonizing younger voters.[6] In 2014, he called biblical creation a "joke."[7] Robertson had been criticizing young Earth creation since at least 2002.[8]
  • In February 2018, Robertson called for more federal gun control laws in the U.S.[9] A month later, he praised young left-wing anti-gun protestors.[10]

Controversy

In early 2007, Robertson claimed that God had personally warned him of a major terrorist attack on the United States that would occur later that year, saying that it would happen sometime after September.[11] Such an attack never took place. There are also allegations that he supported Liberian warlord Charles Taylor.[12]

A television viewer asked Robertson how to address a friend who was dating another woman while his wife has the medical condition Alzheimer's disease. Robertson replied, "I know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something he should divorce her and start all over again."[13] He later claimed he was "misinterpreted".[13]

Quotes

Robertson has a long history of being a prolific speaker appearing as the main host on the daily TV program The 700 Club. Over those years quite a collection of quotes have been assorted by critics, among them:

  • "Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media, and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history." [14]
  • "You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense! I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist. I can love the people who hold false opinions, but I don't have to be nice to them." [17]
  • To Zambian President Frederick Chiluba, who in 1991 declared Zambia "A Christian Nation:" "Your country is a a standard for not only Africa but the rest of the world...Wouldn't you love to have someone like that as president of the United States of America?...The term 'Christian nation' seems to scare a lot of people in this nation of ours, but what Chiluba said is that it gives us a yardstick to measure the performance of the government. Otherwise, we have no yardstick." (As President of Zambia, Chiluba saw to it that public schools and state-run radio and television would conform to standards of Christian principles. Among his concerns was abolishing pornography; he called upon Christian ministers and missionaries to help him in this cause.)
  • "I think 'one man, one vote,' just unrestricted democracy, would not be wise. There needs to be some kind of protection for the minority which the white people represent now, a minority, and they need and have a right to demand a protection of their rights."[19] (In regard to South Africa)
  • "Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people may not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French –you know, Napoleon III or whatever –and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, “We will serve you if you get us free from the French.” True story.[20] And so the Devil said, “Okay, it’s a deal.” … But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other … "[21] (In regard to the 2010 Haiti Earthquake)
  • “You go back in time, you've got radiocarbon dating. You got all these things, and you've got the carcasses of dinosaurs frozen in time out in the Dakotas. They’re out there. So, there was a time when these giant reptiles were on the Earth, and it was before the time of the Bible. So, don’t try and cover it up and make like everything was 6,000 years. That’s not the Bible.”[22]
  • "If you fight science, you are going to lose your children, and I believe in telling them the way it was."[22]

References

  1. http://www.patrobertson.com/education/
  2. http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/patrobertson.html
  3. Fox News - Robertson endorses Giuliani
  4. Riley, Jennifer (November 8, 2007). Pat Robertson's Giuliani Endorsement Draws Mixed Reactions. The Christian Post. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  5. The commercial on YouTube
  6. Multiple references:
  7. Golden, Steve (February 6, 2014). Debate Reactions Mixed. Answers in Genesis. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  8. “Get off that 6/24 business!”. Answers in Genesis. June 19, 2002. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  9. Manchester, Julia (February 21, 2018). Evangelical leader Pat Robertson calls for stricter gun laws. The Hill. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  10. Caralle, Katelyn (March 28, 2018). Televangelist Pat Robertson congratulates young people for participating in March for Our Lives. Washington Examiner. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
  11. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/16442877/#.UkhdXdKcvIc
  12. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/pat-robertsons-gold-deal-african-dictator/story?id=9749341
  13. 13.0 13.1 Pat Robertson Backtracks on Divorce, Alzheimer's Comments
  14. Pat Robertson, interview with Molly Ivins, 1993.
  15. Pat Robertson, fund-raising letter, 1992
  16. Pat Robertson, The New World Order, p.227
  17. Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," January 14, 1991.
  18. Pat Robertson, The 700 Club television program, January 21, 1993
  19. Pat Robertson, The 700 Club television program, March 18, 1992
  20. Napoleon III was not yet born, and Napoleon was not yet in power.
  21. http://nation.foxnews.com/culture/2010/01/13/pat-robertson-haiti-cursed-after-pact-devil
  22. 22.0 22.1 Berger, Eric. "Pat Robertson: 'If you fight science, you are going to lose your children.'" November 30, 2012. Houston Chronicle, SciGuy blog. http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2012/11/pat-robertson-if-you-fight-science-you-are-going-to-lose-your-children/