Pat Robertson: The Passing of a Hate Merchant

Besides the late Jerry Falwell, perhaps no one bears more responsibility for the transformation of the Republican Party into a sectarian party where ignorance is celebrated and hatred towards everyone other than white evangelicals became the norm than Pat Robertson, a long time embarrassment to the Hampton Roads area of Virginia.  Robertson's "Christian Coalition" aided by hate groups like The Family Foundation took over the local GOP and spread its tentacles throughout the national party.  Spreading Christ's gospel message was never part of Robertson's real agenda.  Power and self-enrichment were always the goal and like so many scamvangelists Robertson fleeced the ignorant and gullible and lived a lavish life of wealth, totally ignoring Christ's message to the rich man to give away all his possessions and to follow Christ.  Along the way Robertson denigrated women, gays, non-whites, non-Christians and embraced all kinds of lunatic conspiracy theories.  While his family may mourn his passing, the region should be happy that his toxic influence is now decreased.  A piece in Huffington Post looks at the hate and insanity Robertson peddled:

Through his years as a Christian broadcaster, Robertson proved himself to be anything but welcoming of those with beliefs different than his own.

The televangelist repeatedly called non-Christians “termites” akin to “a virus,” attacked Hindus as “demonic” and claimed Islam is inherently violent and not a real religion. He called feminism an “anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.” In the aftermath of the destruction and devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, Robertson suggested it was a result of God’s wrath over abortion.

Robertson was also staunchly anti-LGBTQ, comparing gay people to murderers and rapists and suggesting that LGBTQ orientation was a result of “demonic possession.”

When it was revealed during Trump’s presidential campaign that the candidate had joked about sexually assaulting women and grabbing them “by the pussy,” Robertson brushed off the comments as “macho talk.”

These and other dangerous and bizarre comments earned Robertson the occasional moniker of “Christianity’s crazy uncle.”

“What he lacks in self-awareness, he makes up in confidence,” Christian writer Jonathan Merritt said of Robertson in a 2016 article. “But somewhere along the line, Robertson seemed to completely detach from reality, exhibiting bizarre behaviors and making strange statements. ... forcing [Christians] to qualify their faith to friends and neighbors: ‘Yes, I’m a Christian. But I’m not a Pat-Robertson-kind-of-Christian.’”

 A piece at CNN looks at Robertson's toxic impact on the Republican Party.  Here are excerpts:

Robertson’s influence on right-wing politics didn’t end with his presidential bid. The Christian Coalition, which he founded in 1987, became a powerful political force after absorbing the leftover funds of the Robertson campaign — and the millions of names and addresses Robertson had collected while he ran for president. According to historian Neil J. Young (with whom I co-host a history podcast), by 1992, 300 of the 2,200 delegates at the Republican National Convention were Coalition members, as were a third of the platform committee members. When told he would need to be prepared for questions about whether the Coalition was trying to take over the Republican Party, Robertson shrugged, “What is there left to take over?”

Robertson also became a vector for vivid conspiracy theories on the right. His bestselling book “The New World Order,” published in 1991, played off Bush’s use of the phrase in a speech a year earlier. But rather than simply bash Bush, the book covered every internationalist conspiracy imaginable. Apocalyptic, paranoid and popular, Robertson’s conspiracy tract tapped a rich vein of right-wing religion and politics, one that continues to feed the party today.

Because Robertson was first and foremost a religious figure, one who occupied a world that seemed quite distant from politics, his impact as a presidential candidate has often been overlooked. But his candidacy, born of media and celebrity, set the stage for much of what would follow in the Republican Party. No assessment of the party’s march away from democracy and into demagoguery can be understood without understanding Robertson’s role.

Good riddance!!