What do these four have in common? They said some things about Haiti that brought derision and rightly so. [Ed. note – any bolding below is my own]
Pat Robertson, the evangelical Christian who once suggested God was punishing Americans with Hurricane Katrina, says a “pact to the devil” brought on the devastating earthquake in Haiti.
…
The Haitians “were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever,” Robertson said on his broadcast Wednesday. “And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.’ True story. And so, the devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal.’ “
Besides being mean and hurtful, it shows Robertson’s lack of Biblical knowledge. Any one who has even a cursory knowledge of Scripture knows that sometimes good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people.
There’s another problem. It may not be true.
Part of the revolution mythology is that one of the revolution leaders sacrificed a pig in Bois Caïmin in a voodoo ceremony and made a contract with Petwo [Haitian voodoo spirits]. It may or may not be true, but to call that a pact with the devil is a gross misrepresentation of what voodoo is. It’s about anything but the devil. He’s imposing an evangelical religious order on a much more sophisticated practice, and he’s turning it into a cheap invocation of Satanism.
Some evangelicals, especially the charismatics, of which Robertson is one, would contend that these types of ceremonies are a pact with Satan.
Robertson’s spokeman denied that Robertson claimed God was punishing Haiti,
Dr. Robertson never stated that the earthquake was God’s wrath. If you watch the entire video segment, Dr. Robertson’s compassion for the people of Haiti is clear. He called for prayer for them. His humanitarian arm has been working to help thousands of people in Haiti over the last year, and they are currently launching a major relief and recovery effort to help the victims of this disaster. They have sent a shipment of millions of dollars worth of medications that is now in Haiti, and their disaster team leaders are expected to arrive tomorrow and begin operations to ease the suffering.
The only versions of the statement I saw was on YouTube which is blocked on my network so you’ll have to make your own decision.
Here’s my point: If Harry Reid can be forgiven an insensitive remark because of his years of action, why can’t Robertson’s insensitive remarks be forgiven for the same reason?
On to Rush:
Rush Limbaugh is not backing down from his claim that President Barack Obama is trying to score political points off the earthquake in Haiti.
Challenged by a caller during his show Thursday, Limbaugh said: “If I said it, I meant to say it, and I do believe that everything is political to this president.”
“Everything this president sees is a political opportunity, including Haiti, and he will use it to burnish his credentials with minorities in this country and around the world, and to accuse Republicans of having no compassion,” Limbaugh said in comments flagged by the liberal blog Think Progress. [links were already in the article linked to]
I take Rush with a grain of salt whenever I get the rare chance of listening to him. He says outlandish things. He says them to gain listeners. Listeners bring him money. If people don’t know that by now….
And the fact that a politician would do something for political gain is shocking! Shocking I tell you.
I think it was the wrong time to say it, but Rush really doesn’t care what I think.
Danny Glover, in contrast with Robertson, believes the earthquake was caused by global warming.
“What happened in Haiti could happen to anywhere in the Caribbean because all these island nations are in peril because of global warming,” Glover said. “When we see what we did at the climate summit in Copenhagen, this is the response, this is what happens, you know what I’m sayin’?”
Um, no, Mr. Glover, we don’t.
Finally, there is a petition circulating online, purportedly by “National Alliance for Liberty and Freedom, a coalition of national libertarian, tea party, objectivist, and Ayn Rand groups and written by Glenn Adamson (glennadamson78@yahoo.com)”. This petition wanted no public funds to go to help Haiti earthquake victims.
Who is this organization? A Google search only brought me back to the petition and some interesting tweets,
First – @owillis that petition looks fake … who is Glenn Adamson and the “national alliance for liberty and freedom”?
Second – @velvethammer [commetator Alan?] Colmes is blaming Freedom Works for a petition that clearly says it was written by “National Alliance for Liberty and Freedom”
Last – Hey [MSNBC’s Rachel] @maddow does The National Alliance for Liberty and Freedom exist? regarding Haiti petition by “Glenn Adamson” can’t find them on web.
Who is Glenn Adamson? An email to the address on the petition has brought no response thus far. Another Google search only gave me hits for an arts writer, or posts about this petition
So I regard this petition as fake until someone can give me some information on the organization and the author.
There.
Musings of a Thoughtful Conservative 