PAT Robertson has evidently abandoned his call to preach the Gospel.
Nobody ever said dedicated Christians shouldn't comment on world events. The televangelist has done plenty of that, having made some pretty outrageous remarks over the years on the Christian Broadcast Network. But his call for U.S. agents to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is especially foolish and dangerous.
Many Americans might agree that U.S. officials could save the country a lot of heartache and money by finding a way to remove Mr. Chavez without a war. But for the founder of the Christian Coalition of America, and a religious broadcaster, to call for the assassination of a political leader is startling and frightening.
Mr. Robertson said on his 700 Club TV program that America should keep Venezuela from becoming "a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism."
Americans know all about the extremists who occupy the fringes of an otherwise noble religion. But in his own way this presumed man of God has become an extremist himself.
Most people would agree that the country shouldn't spend another $200 billion or risk the lives of our young troops in a war to unseat another dictator. With the death toll of American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan creeping toward 2,000, engaging in another war would be abhorrent. But Mr. Robertson's statement to eliminate Mr. Chavez by having "some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with" is neither American nor Christian.While that's chilling enough, it's scary when added to his earlier bumbling follies. About two years ago he offered an outrageous suggestion to blow up the U.S. State Department with a nuclear device. There's more: His remark that feminism urges women to "kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians" sounded like the rant of a seriously delusional individual.
Young seminarians take note: This is not the way to persuade anybody to convert to Christianity. It would be one thing if the TV broadcaster's views prompted the public to give his ideas considerable thought. But that's not the case. Mr. Robertson isn't even getting support from the Bush Administration; the Bush White House has disavowed his statement.
This so-called preacher of the faith is sounding less like a Christian evangelist and more like the terrorists he claims to be so dead set against.
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