The Weekly Reader

WHAT IN GOD'S NAME?

"There is no such thing as separation of church and state in the Constitution. It is a lie of the Left and we are not going to take it anymore."

Pat Robertson

Pat Robertson is without a doubt the most outspoken member of the religious right elite. For nearly 40 years, as the host and founder of the daily Christian talk show, "The 700 Club," a conservative Presidential candidate, and the founder of the two million member strong Christian Coalition, Robertson has been the source of extremely controversial remarks – ranging from disparaging women's rights to advocating the detonation of a nuclear bomb in Washington D.C. While outlandish, hateful, and often laughable remarks are a common characteristic of religious right leaders, Robertson's stand out both because of their particularly aggressive tone and because his remarks go further than just the last row of the local megachurch.

ED NOTE: I have hesitated before posting this, as it could be construed as an attack on a particular belief system. That said, keep the following quotes in mind the next time someone accuses Moslems of being extremist!

Follow up:

Since 1966 Robertson has hosted the daily Christian talk show "The 700 Club." In 2004, the show averaged a daily audience of 863,000. That is 100,000 viewers more than CNN receives during its primetime programming, and more than three times the number of people who tune into MSNBC during the same timeslot. Robertson uses his show and its influence to unabashedly promote the religious right's agenda. Below find some of the finer examples of Robertson's vision of God, women, liberals and the state of our nation.

The Gospel According To Pat:
"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." Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," January 14, 1991

"I know this is painful for the ladies to hear, but if you get married, you have accepted the headship of a man, your husband. Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that's the way it is, period." Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," January 8, 1992

"(T)he 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, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians." Pat Robertson, 1992 Fund Raising Letter

(Talking about apartheid 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." at Robertson, "The 700 Club," March 18, 1992

"There is no such thing as separation of church and state in the Constitution. It is a lie of the Left and we are not going to take it anymore." Pat Robertson, November 1993 during an address to the American Center for Law and Justice

"Many of those people involved with Adolf Hitler were Satanists, many of them were homosexuals--the two things seem to go together." Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," January 21, 1993

"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." Pat Robertson, 1993 interview with Molly Ivins

"[Homosexuals] want to come into churches and disrupt church services and throw blood all around and try to give people AIDS and spit in the face of ministers." Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," January 18, 1995

"[The National Organization for Women] is saying that in order to be a woman, you've got to be a lesbian." Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," December 3, 1997

"Maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off on Foggy Bottom (home of the State Department) to shake things up." Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," June 2003

"I think George Bush has the favor of heaven …He's a godly man. He prays on a daily basis. He wants to do what's right before the Lord, and I think God has honored him." Pat Robertson, FOX News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes," November 4, 2004

"Well, the Lord has some very encouraging news for George Bush ... What I heard is that Bush is now positioned to have victory after victory and that his second term is going to be one of triumph, which is pretty strong stuff. ... He'll have Social Security reform passed. He'll have tax reform passed. He'll have conservative judges on the courts. And that basically he is positioned for a series of dramatic victories which I hope will hearten him and his advisers. They don't have to be timid in this matter because the wind is blowing at his back, and he can move forward boldly and get results." Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," January 3, 2005

"But I do know that there are going to be vacancies on the Supreme Court, and I think, as far as I can tell, on the circuit courts. The Democrats have filibustered a number of wonderful people, a black woman, a Hispanic immigrant, etc.-- brilliant lawyers, and the Republicans need to break that filibuster. And if they call it the nuclear option-- constitutional option, whatever it is -- get those people confirmed. But the Supreme Court has got to change. They have asserted power never given them under the constitution, and we've got to get back to constitutional democracy, which is what our country was built on." Pat Robertson, "Fox News," March 31, 2005

"Lord, give us righteous judges who will not try to legislate and dominate this society. Take control, Lord! We ask for additional vacancies on the court." Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," August 2, 2005

"You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if [Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela] thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war... We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with." Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," August 22, 2005

"Wait a minute, I didn't say 'assassination.' I said our special forces should, quote, "take him out," and "take him out" can be a number of things including kidnapping. There are a number of ways to take out a dictator from power besides killing him." Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," August 24, 2005

"I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: if there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city… And don't wonder why He hasn't helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I'm not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that's the case, don't ask for His help because he might not be there." Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," Nov. 9, 2005