Pat Robertson

Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson (1930–) is a founding member of the 700 Club, an ultra-authoritarian Christian extremist group that funds itself using old school TV telethons. He is also the founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network and Regent University, which operate on the same campus in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Pat Robertson (King of Stupid Statements)[1] claims to have a direct link with God like the prophets. He often uses that link on his show to tell God to "cure" people watching who have given him money. But the most famous use of his God talk is predicting disasters to strike against the United States and particular states or cities in response to their support of equal rights for homosexuals. Orlando was one place Pat said God told him would be hit by a meteor.[2] He also likes to get really personal, claiming for example that Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke due to his ungodly division of Israel (apparently Sharon being old and grossly obese couldn't have possibly been a factor).[2]

Pat showing off the one-finger victory salute.
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“”... make not my Father's house a house of merchandise.
—John 2:16

Robertson is an old earth creationist [3] and thinks that a 6,000 year old earth is "not in the Bible" but despite this his organisation sells Young Earth Creationist material.[4]

Fake war hero

Robertson served in the Marines during the Korean War and frequently claimed to have seen combat, including in his memoirs and numerous interviews. In 1981, Republican Congressman Pete McCloskey, himself a decorated Korean War vet, showed that Robertson had used family connections[5] to land a cushy posting to divisional headquarters in Japan. The controversy helped derail Robertson's presidential chances when Robertson repeated the claim in a campaign brochure.

Presidential candidate

Robertson ran a strong campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988, challenging Vice President George H.W. Bush, Senator Bob Dole and others. Robertson's hard right campaign scored a close second to Bush in the Iowa caucus and won the Nevada and Washington primaries, but flamed out by Super Tuesday. Robertson endorsed Bush, who won that year.

President Trump

Robertson thinks Democrats, Liberals, progressives who oppose Trump are 'revolting' against God's plan for America.

“”If the Lord’s plan involves a pussy-grabbing, thrice-married, narcissistic, megalomaniac carrying out His wishes… well, I finally get the point about how God works in mysterious ways.
—Hemant Mehta[6]

Robertson opposes Obamacare because despite the help affordable care gives to sick poor people.[7]

Armchair stormchaser and healer

Pat Robertson likes to play armchair stormchaser from his television studio by ordering hurricanes to change course in the name of Jesus, while blaming storms that do hit on people's failure to pray them away.[8][9][10] Hemant Mehta wants to know why Robertson did not pray Hurricane Katrina away.[11]

In addition to prophet of doom, TV faith healer, and media mogul, Robertson has recently broken into the market of infomercials. He has a range of products from juicers to diet regimes (who wouldn't want the strength and physique of a 90-year-old man?) to self-motivation guides that he hawks daily on his show.[12] He has also founded the Christian Broadcasting Network, the propaganda arm of his organization that likes to pretend it's a news show.

Blaming victims

Pat Robertson has often blamed the victims of natural disasters and terrorist attacks for being hit. For example, after 9/11, he agreed with Jerry Falwell that the ACLU, abortionists, etc were responsible for angering God.[13] More recently, he blamed the earthquake in Haiti on a 200-year-old pact with the devil for the country's independence.[14] The earthquake in the east USA is also clearly a sign that the second coming of Jesus is near.[15] Hurricane Katrina was a punishment from God.[16] The 2017 Las Vegas Strip shootingFile:Wikipedia's W.svg was caused by disrespect for Donald Trump and the national anthem.[17] Apparently both God's aim and his timing leave somewhat to be desired, if Pat is to be believed.

By the way, massive tornadoes that level entire towns in Oklahoma are not caused by God but by the insufficient understanding of people who just don't know where to build safely.[18][19] Tornadoes also happened because not enough people prayed.[16]

Pat just wanted to let you know...

Homophobia

In August 2013, Pat revealed his belief in a gay conspiracy theory about gay death rings. Basically, Robertson suggested that men in San Francisco wear very sharp rings that could cut you during a handshake and spread HIV. In July 2013, he had advised one 700 Club viewer to never "like" a social-media photo of a gay couple kissing because it would equate to condoning their relationship. Robertson denied he's antigay and said that he actually has "thousands" of gay fans who watch his show looking "to have a better way". He advised a parent whose son came out to investigate his sports coaches in case the son had been molested, because he believes that people turn gay because of child abuse. He advised a woman to be wary of letting her children meet a lesbian friend of hers: "You don’t want your children to grow up as lesbians."[20]

That was Pat Robertson loving the sinner, thank you very much.

Atheophobia

According to Pat, atheists are responsible for the Wisconsin Temple Shooting.[21] He also believes that atheists are unfit to raise children, asking a Christian grandmother to do anything to ensure that her grandson doesn't grow up as an atheist[22] and advocated corporal punishment for non-religious children until they respect Christian beliefs.[23] That'll teach 'em, all right, though you might not like the lessons they'll learn from abuse by a loved one.

Islamophobia

For Robertson, "Islam is not a religion but a military group bent on world domination" (he must've missed the bit about them praying and having a holy book and all that religious stuff). He also claimed that Muslims seek to “take over the world and murder those that do not convert to its political system”, while defending Christianity...while forgetting that crimes and murders were also committed in the name of Christianity, which have also destroyed the image of the religion he says to follow and the reputation of millions of true peaceful Christians around the world. Should we mention that Christian Dominionists are no better than Islamists?[Note 1]

Robertson also claimed that Obama attended an "Islamic madrassa"...which is "mostly false" according to PolitiFact.[24] He also said that "radical Islam is in the religion of Islam"[25], and that radical Muslims are “satanic”[26] (never mind that that's one of the few bad traits you can't pin on them). For him, Muslims are "worse than the Nazis,". For all his craziness, George W. Bush defended Muslims against Robertson's claims.[27]

Full on Taliban

When a viewer asked Robertson what to do about her friend who had a Buddhist statue, Robertson told her to "Break it. Destroy it".[28] Theft and vandalism FTW!

Demagogue much?

In the wake of the shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin in which 7 people (including the gunman, Wade Michael Page) were killed, Robertson was his usual deranged perceptive self when he proclaimed that the gunman (a known white supremacist[29]) attacked the temple because "people who are atheists, they hate God".[30]

Charity money used wrongly

From here, however, Robertson's crazy preacher mentality starts to take a more sinister turn. The 700 Club runs a charity called Operation Blessing which supposedly helps people in need in Third World countries. But it has been shown that Robertson uses it as a front group to push his own nefarious financial doings in Africa.[31][32] One terrible example was in the mid 90's when Robertson ran a telethon to pay for planes for Operation Blessing to remove refugees from camps in Rwanda. Instead, it was later discovered by a reporter from The Virginian-Pilot that Operation Blessing's planes were transporting diamond-mining equipment for the Robertson-owned African Development Corporation, a venture Robertson had established in cooperation with Zaire's then-dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, whom Robertson had befriended earlier in 1993.[32][33] According to Operation Blessing documents, Robertson personally owned the planes used for Operation Blessing airlifts.

Financial entanglement with dictators

Another example is his use of the the CBN propaganda wing to secure his financial entanglements with dictators. Robertson repeatedly supported former President of Liberia Charles Taylor in various episodes of his 700 Club program during the United States involvement in the Liberian Civil War in June and July of 2003. Robertson accuses the U.S. State Department of giving Bush bad advice in supporting Taylor's ousting as president, and of trying "as hard as they can to destabilize Liberia."[34]

Robertson was criticized for failing to mention in his broadcasts his $8,000,000 (USD) investment in a Liberian gold mine, and falsely claimed—just as he had in Zaire—that the planes he sent over with supplies for the mines contained aid for victims of the Rwandan genocide.[35] Taylor had been indicted by the United Nations for war crimes at the time of Robertson's support, and in 2012 he was sentenced to 50 years in prison for “aiding and abetting the widespread and systematic commission of crimes against the civilian population of Sierra Leone”. [36]

Failed prophecies of the Second Coming

Pat Robertson has made many prophecies over the years. None of them have come to pass.

  • 1980: "a year of sorrow and bloodshed that will have no end soon, for the world is being torn apart, and my kingdom[Note 2] shall rise from the ruins of it."
  • 1982: The Great Tribulation would begin in October or November 1982, following an invasion of Israel by the Soviet Union.
  • 1985: Worldwide economic collapse!
  • 1996: Jay Rockefeller (D-West By God Virginia) would be elected President of the United States in 1996. (Obviously he's a candidate for being the Antichrist, because, well, he's a Rockefeller.)
  • 2007: After his prophecy of 1982 failed to pass, he changed it to 2007, because 2007 is 40 years since the Six-Day WarFile:Wikipedia's W.svg and 400 years since the founding of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. Israel and the Six Day War often figure in date-setting attempts by End Times preachers, but what Jamestown has to do with it is anyone's guess (unless Pat thinks modern Virginia has a central role in the End Times due to his own inflated view of Virginia Beach-based CBN's importance in the overall scheme of things.)

For his failed efforts, he shared the 2011 Ig Nobel Prize for Mathematics with some other prophetic losers: Dorothy Martin, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Lee Jang Rim, and Credonia Mwerinde, and Harold Camping.[37]

So far his track record is 0 for 5, although to be generous one could say his 1980 prophecy was accurate inasmuch as the Iran-Iraq War and the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan both date from that year, with the consequences of both still playing out today with no end in sight.

It should be noted that Pat Robertson, unlike many evangelicals, does not believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. He believes the Second Coming of Jesus will be after a 7-year Great Tribulation (also known as the Obama administration by fundamentalists), during which the Antichrist will rise to power and the prophecies in the Book of Daniel and Book of Revelation will take place.

In addition, Pat is strongly under the impression that Jews must convert to Christianity for the End Times to kick in. Whether the lack of this precondition has anything to do with his current piss-poor track record as a prophet is left strictly up to the reader.[38]

On the other hand, it should be noted that Pat hates direct competition, calling other would-be prophets "nutty" and their prophecies originating "from the pit of Hell", among other things.[39]

Books

One of Pat Robertson's books is the 1992 book The New World Order. The book promotes the New World Order conspiracy. That book cites among its sources anti-Semitic author Eustace Mullins. In addition, Constance Cumbey has accused Robertson of plagiarizing wholesale passages from her 1983 book The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow in The New World Order.

Ol' Pat felt left behind after all the brouhaha over the Left Behind books and he decided to try his hand at an apocalyptic "end times" novel in 1996: End of the Age. The novel has civilization as we know it end from an asteroid impact and massive tidal wave in California. Sound familiar? It should - it's an obvious rip-off from Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's 1977 science fiction novel Lucifer's Hammer. Only this time the premise is Christian, so of course the Antichrist comes to power and becomes the President of the United States, who takes orders from a shadowy Middle Eastern worshipper of the Hindu god Shiva and makes the New Age the official state religion, along with the usual mark of the beast stuff, while the remaining Christians eventually gather in an isolated Colorado compound to fight back with, what else, a Christian television station. Doesn't that bit about an ingathering in Colorado sound familiar too? Really, it's not worth the bother. Read Lucifer's Hammer instead.

Spirit of Antichrist

Who is, according to Pat Robertson, the Antichrist?

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. [40]

The answer is a bit vague but certainly many Christian denominations that disagree with him are part of the Antichrist thing.

Pat Robertson, Hitman of The Cloth

In 2005, Robertson called for the assassination of a democratically-elected leader of an independent foreign nation, Venezuela, live on television.[41] Of Hugo Chavez, he said "if he 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." Unusually for a right-winger, Robertson soon apologised,[42] sort of, but not before he'd lost the support of the right-wing Christians he claimed to represent.[43] Fellow televangelist Jack van Impe called Robertson Osami (sic) bin Laden for his comments on Chavez.

Anonymous

Anonymous or some faction within Anonymous plans to target Pat Robertson and has called for a boycott of Christian Broadcasting Network and televisions stations generally that broadcast material from Robertson. It is claimed this is a first step with more to follow.[44] Wait for developments.

Speaking of Cloth...

Pat is fond of the strange idea that rebuking clothes and other inanimate objects with prayer will rid them of the demons that can attach to them. No, he really did say that.[45]

Claimed physical prowess

Robertson claims to have leg-pressed 2,000 pounds with the aid of his special protein shake.[46]

Reasonable stances

Pot legalization

One rare reasonable position Pat Robertson takes is his support for legalization of marijuana and the ending of mandatory prison sentences for possession of the drug, saying it should be "legal like alcohol."[47]

Age of the Earth

In another wonderful stopped clock moment, Robertson's commentary on the Nye-Ham debate of February 2014 is surprisingly reasonable.[48] He has also declared astronomer, old-earth creationist and Christian apologist Hugh Ross to be Regent University's "Scientist in Residence" as of 2019, despite Ross not performing any research at the university; the "residence" appears to mean a week-long speaking tour every semester or two and heavy promotion of his books to Regent's science faculty.

Trans people

When asked about dealing with transgender people, Robertson responded that transgenderism is real, sex change operations are not sinful, and that one should address a trans person by the gender with which they identify.[49] However, he also called the transgender bathroom issue "liberalism run amok" because he considered it petty compared to the threat of "thermonuclear annihilation".[50]

Other examples of how weird Pat can be
  • Robertson appeared with Al Sharpton in an environmentalist video for the We Can Solve it campaign in 2008 to stop global warming.[51][52] It didn't mean shit though because Robertson believes climate science (science about global warming) is a religion and does not understand it is evidence based.[53]
  • Pat thinks that marriage is a great thing, unless your wife has Alzheimer's. Then it's permissable to divorce her, ASAP.[54]
  • Pat also thinks that adoption is a great thing unless the kid is some damn furreigner or grew up "weird" due to sexual abuse or food deprivation, in which case it isn't.[55]
  • Pat's views on domestic battery are also a trifle insane incoherent unenlightened odd, to say the least.[56]
  • Pat's odd response to the French debate over legalizing same-sex marriage was a rambling screed that asserted that the Illuminati caused the French Revolution.[57] No shit.
  • Pat thinks Dungeons and Dragons will lead gamers onto the road of perdition[58] (no, not the movie), a tiresome old moral panic meme if there ever was one.[59]
  • Pat thinks that "XX-Rated" movies are a gateway to demonic possession.[60]
  • Pat thinks that since drugs exist, humanity is enslaved by vegetables, and only God can free us from our overlords. No, seriously.[61]
  • Pat believes that AIDS can be spread by towels in Kenya,[62][Note 3] completely ignoring modern medical science[63] — or even 80's science, for that matter.[64]
  • Pat thinks that houses can be demonically possessed and that the possession can be cured by dumping that house on some other sucker homeowner, despite the somewhat unethical nature of such an undertaking.[65]

And just plain dishonesty

Pat chastised the 2012 Republican Presidential candidates about being open about their positions.[66]

Notable quotes
  • "Feminism is a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."[67]
  • "When lawlessness is abroad in the land, the same thing will happen here that happened in Nazi Germany. Many of those people involved in Adolph Hitler were Satanists. Many of them were homosexuals. The two things seem to go together."[68]
  • "[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."[69][Note 4]
  • "You know what they do in San Francisco? Some of the gay community there, they want to get people. So, if they've got the stuff, they'll have a ring. You shake hands and the ring's got a little thing where you cut your finger. Really. I mean it's that kind of vicious stuff, which would be the equivalent of murder."[70]
gollark: No.
gollark: How steep is it?
gollark: What is the coefficient of friction of the slope anyway?
gollark: The slippery slope definitional confusion/fiddling slippery slope.
gollark: Slippery slope confusion → metaslippery slope?

See also

Notes
  1. Theodore Shoebat, anyone?
  2. We hope Pat is channelling God here and not referring to his own kingdom.
  3. This poor country. Always on the news for something
  4. Completely ignoring the fact that there are gays who are Christians. The Episcopalian Church in the US accepts gays and have ordained a gay deacon.

References
  1. Pat Robertson: Liberals Love Gays and Islamists; Conservatives Should “Let Them Kill Themselves”
  2. NPR story on crazy Pat
  3. PP - Old Earth
  4. Even Pat Robertson Denies that the Earth is 6,000 Years Old
  5. His father, Absalom Robertson, was a Democratic Senator from Virginia
  6. Pat Robertson: Democrats Fighting Donald Trump’s Agenda Are Revolting Against God’s Plan
  7. Pat Robertson (On Thursday): God Is “Going To Give Trump Victory” With the GOP Health Care Bill
  8. MSNBC: Pat Robertson blames tornadoes on failure to pray
  9. Pat Robertson's CBN Suggests God Moved Hurricane to Protect Republicans
  10. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pat-robertson-hurricane-florence_us_5b972c04e4b0cf7b0042d9c7
  11. Jim Bakker Praised Pat Robertson’s Ability to Control Hurricanes
  12. CBN's "health" page a plethora of pseudoscience that doesn't mention Evolution
  13. Falwell and Robertson on The 700 Club after 9/11
  14. Pat Robertson on Haiti Disaster
  15. Earthquake Sign From God - Pat Robertson
  16. Pat Robertson: If ‘Enough People Were Praying,’ God Would Have Stopped The Tornadoes
  17. Pat Robertson Blames Vegas Shooting On Disrespect For Trump, The National Anthem And God
  18. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rSp7fzgCuqI
  19. You Won’t Believe Who Pat Robertson Blames for Tornadoes, The Big Slice
  20. http://www.advocate.com/politics/2013/12/13/phobie-awards-13-worst-people-year?page=0,6
  21. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/06/pat-robertson-says-those-_n_1749532.html
  22. http://churchandstate.org.uk/2016/09/pat-robertson-atheists-are-unfit-to-raise-their-own-children/
  23. http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/01/05/pat-robertson-says-non-religious-children-should-be-beaten-until-they-respect-christian-beliefs-video/
  24. http://www.politifact.com/virginia/statements/2016/jul/05/pat-robertson/pat-robertson-misleadingly-says-obama-was-schooled/
  25. http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/pat-robertson-gays-islamists-are-allies-so-let-them-kill-themselves/
  26. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/11814608/ns/world_news-europe/t/pat-robertson-calls-radical-muslims-satanic/#.WvTO2eqrTIU
  27. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/novemberweb-only/11-11-42.0.html
  28. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suqPKlYAe-Y
  29. Alleged Sikh temple shooter former member of Skinhead band,Southern Poverty Law Center
  30. Pat Robertson: Sikh temple massacre because ‘atheists hate God’, The Raw Story
  31. ‘Mission Congo’ Alleges Pat Robertson Exploited Post-Genocide Rwandans For Diamonds
  32. Mission Congo - A 2013 documentary that examines whether a charity organized by Pat Robertson to aid Rwandan genocide refugees was a front for diamond mining.
  33. http://www.skeptictank.org/robem2.htm
  34. "Robertson Defends Liberia's President", Alan Cooperman, The Washington Post, July 10 2003.
  35. "Pat Robertson's Gold", Colbert I. King, September 22 2001, The Washington Post.
  36. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-24537834
  37. Winners of the Ig® Nobel Prize
  38. Robertson: Jews Must Convert To Christianity To Usher In End Times,Right Wing Watch
  39. Pat Robertson, Still Lacking Self-Awareness, Calls Disaster Prophecies 'Nutty' and 'From the Pit of Hell', Right Wing Watch
  40. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0149408/quotes
  41. Media Matters
  42. Apology
  43. The American View
  44. Anonymous Message To Pat Robertson YouTube video
  45. Robertson: Worth Praying Over Clothes to Rebuke Demons, Right Wing Watch
  46. CBN Leg-press explanation
  47. Pat Robertson Says Marijuana Use Should be Legal
  48. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I37wUKtX810
  49. http://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2013/07/29/watch-pat-robertson-says-being-transgender-not-sin
  50. www.rightwingwatch.org/content/pat-robertson-insane-discuss-transgender-rights-while-facing-thermonuclear-annihilation
  51. Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson: Strange Couchfellows by Sean Cronin (April 17, 2008 | 1:06pm) Westworld.
  52. Pat Robertson and Al Sharpton Commercial on Climate Change (Apr 17, 2008) YouTube.
  53. Pat Robertson Compared Climate Scientists to Religious Fundamentalists
  54. Robertson's Marital Advice: Divorce Your Wife With Alzheimers, Right Wing Watch
  55. More Solid Advice From Pat Robertson: Be Careful About Adopting Children, Right Wing Watch
  56. [Gawker.com: archive.is, web.archive.org Pat Robertson Tells Man To Move To Saudi Arabia So He Can Beat His Wife (Legally, of Course),] Gawker
  57. Robertson: Gay Marriage Advocates, Following In Steps of Illuminati, Out to Destroy God and Family, Right Wing Watch
  58. Robertson: 'Demonic' Dungeons & Dragons 'Literally Destroyed People's Lives', Right Wing Watch
  59. Back to the Future: Pat Robertson’s D&D Scare Flashback, Geekdad
  60. [Gawker.com: archive.is, web.archive.org "XX-Rated" Movies Are a Gateway to Demonic Possession]
  61. "Vegetables enslave us"
  62. Yep
  63. HIV Transmission
  64. Read section on battle with schools, specifically how AIDS is spread
  65. Robertson: Sell Demon-Possessed House, Dispatches from the Culture Wars
  66. http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-october-25-2011/indecision-2012---the-great-right-hope---the-180-club
  67. Feminism leads to infanticide, witchcraft and homosexual socialism - true story!
  68. Warning of the obvious link between Nazism and homosexuality
  69. Robertson explains why so many churches worldwide are attacked by blood throwing AIDS infected homosexuals
  70. Pat Robertson Claims Gays Deliberately Spread AIDS Using Sharp Jewelry, Talking Points Memo (NOTE: even The 700 Club refused to air this one. The learning curve, it seems, is sloping upward for once)
  71. Oh, the irony.
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