Pat Robertson never seems to miss an opportunity to make a horse's ass of himself, and the latest is his attempt to blame the disastrous Haitian earthquake on a "pact" he says a Haitian made with Satan in 1803, for which God has retaliated:
On the Christian Broadcasting Network's "700 Club" today, after a lengthy interview with a missionary who talked about helping the victims earthquake in Haiti, Rev. Pat Robertson had some interesting thoughts as to why the earthquake struck the impoverished nation:
"And you know, Kristi, something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it.
"They were under the heel of the French, uh, you know Napoleon the 3rd and whatever, and they got together and swore a pact to the Devil.
"They said, 'We will serve you if you'll get us free from the French.'
"True story.
"And so the Devil said, 'Okay, it's a deal.'
"And, uh, they kicked the French out, you know, with Haitians revolted and got themselves free.
"But ever since they have been cursed by, by one thing after another, desperately poor.
Actually, this particular crackpot meme is not unique to Robertson. A loopy WorldNetDaily writer named Janet Folger has also maintained that Haiti is "dedicated to Satan."
America was dedicated to God, and Haiti was dedicated to Satan. Then, rag-tag America conquered the most powerful nation in the world and went on to become the richest nation in the world. Haiti went from the very richest to the very poorest nation in the world.
The racist nonsense at the site Folger linked is appalling, and IMO unworthy of more discussion. (As is the notion that God would punish people today for something allegedly done by a general in 1803 -- which makes about as much sense as calling all Jews "Christ killers.")
The problem I have with Robertson and his ilk is that every time a disaster strikes, they appear out of the woodwork and opportunistically plug in their favorite villains for blame. When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, it was of course God's punishment directed at the homos. (Never mind that the French Quarter escaped with minimal damage...)
Inevitably, San Francisco will have another large earthquake. I don't think it takes much imagination to guess who will be to blamed for "God's wrath."
If only these people could become Democrats! Global Warming would be a perfect outlet for their nutty theories.
posted by Eric on 01.13.10 at 04:05 PM
Comments
Janet Folger, erstwhile of reparative-therapy-for-homosexuals fame? Wow. Got her hands in all kinds of scientific certainties, hasn't she?
I had read about this but I hadn't read the whole article or saw the quote you highlighted
"They were under the heel of the French... "And so the Devil said, 'Okay, it's a deal.'And, uh, they kicked the French out, you know, with Haitians revolted and got themselves free.
Ummmm, well, I guess.
But I don't know if I would say "under the heel", they were slaves.
The US colonies were "under the heel" of Britain, they weren't slaves. The Haitians were flat out slaves.
Field hands in the shacks while Massa lived in the big house slaves.
So in other words, he's saying that Satan was on the side of the only slave revolt to ever succeed.
That's interesting to say the least.
Scary and crazy, but interesting.
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
Don?t bang your head!
Janet Folger, erstwhile of reparative-therapy-for-homosexuals fame? Wow. Got her hands in all kinds of scientific certainties, hasn't she?