Some Vitriol for Pat Robertson

Originally posted by scherzo
Didn't he also say that a Gay Pride rally caused 9/11 and Ellen deGeneres caused Katrina?

Something along those lines.

Stupid is as stupid says and does. 😛

Dear Pat Robertson,

I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I'm all over that action.

But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I'm no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished.

Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth -- glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven't you seen "Crossroads"? Or "Damn Yankees"?

If I had a thing going with Haiti, there'd be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox -- that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it -- I'm just saying: Not how I roll.

You're doing great work, Pat, and I don't want to clip your wings -- just, come on, you're making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That's working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.

Best, Satan

(LILY COYLE, MINNEAPOLIS)

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/01/the_devil_writes_pat_robertson.html?sc=fb&cc=fp

Originally posted by johnchp3
You failed to mention that voodoo is very popular in Haiti and many people who profess to be "Christians" also are involved in voodoo which is satanic. Many people who profess to be Christians are not true Christians according to what the Bible teaches about God's gift of salvation and eternal life which is received by praying to God that he or she is a sinner, repenting of sin, and trusting Jesus Christ completely as Lord and Savior.

Isnt voodoo a synthesis of West African beliefs with Christianity? I seem to remember watching a tv documentary on it. Practioners pray to lesser spirits (similar to the way Catholics may offer a prayer to a particular saint) but do believe in the same God as Christians.

Originally posted by epiphinehas
Pat Robertson claims the Haitian earthquake is due to some obscure pact with the devil made hundreds of years ago, suggesting that Haiti is a 'heathen' country in need of a "great turning to God."

FYI: Haiti is 83.7% Christian.

Or, in other words, 83.7% more Christian than Pat Robertson.

Friday, January 15, 2010
The Origin of the Haitian "Pact with the Devil " Story

Solely in the name of full disclosure, I present the story that is an actual Haitian belief:
According to Haitian national history, the revolutionary war was launched on the eve of a religious ceremony at a place in the north called Bwa Kayiman (Bois Caiman, in French). At that ceremony on August 14, 1791, an African slave named Boukman sacrificed a pig, and both Kongo and Creole spirits descended to possess the bodies of the participants, encouraging them and fortifying them for the upcoming revolutionary war. Despite deep ambivalence on the part of intellectuals, Catholics, and the moneyed classes, Vodou has always been linked with militarism and the war of independence and, through it, the pride of nattional sovereignty.

The [Haitian] Pentecostal Church demands active rejection of such Afro-Creole traditions and regards them as satanic practice. Sermons and literature about Haiti urges missions to “pull down strongholds” and aim efforts at destroying working Vodou temples in various ways. In group rituals of prayer and fasting, the Pentecostals marched through public space performing exorcisms at spots considered sacred in Vodou and recast as satanic for Pentecostals.

One such “crusade” ceremony has had a lasting resonance for Haitian evangelicals in New York. A group of Haitian Pentecostal pastors based near Port-au-Prince launched a serious critique of the Haitian government and indeed of Haitian nationalist mythology, when they marched on August 14, to the reputed site of the original religious ritual in 1791 when the slaves of St. Domingue vowed to fight for freedom. The past ors intended to exorcise the Vodou spirits who still governed the site and “win” the space “for Jesus.” In a complicated view that blames the Catholic Church for blessing the slave market and racializing evil in terms of African’s skin, the leaders of the “Bois Caiman for Jesus” crusade blamed slavery for causing Africans to turn to Satan as their divine protector. In invoking African and Creole spirits to possess the religious leaders who had attended, Boukman had made a “pact with the devil” and dedicated Haiti to serve Satan. It was this unholy alliance that had been responsible for Haiti’s subsequent 200 years of misery. [Emphasis added.]The idea of the crusade was to undo Boukman’s pact with the devil and to halt Haiti’s economic and political downward spiral by turning Haiti into a “favored nation” of God. Video crews and reporters captured the spectacle and relayed the news of the exorcism to Port-au-Prince and into the diaspora

http://jeffords.blogspot.com/2010/01/origin-of-haitian-pact-with-devil-story.html

Originally posted by josephw
Friday, January 15, 2010
The Origin of the Haitian "Pact with the Devil " Story

Solely in the name of full disclosure, I present the story that is an actual Haitian belief:
According to Haitian national history, the revolutionary war was launched on the eve of a religious ceremony at a place in the north called Bwa Kayiman (Bois Caiman, in French). At ...[text shortened]... diaspora

http://jeffords.blogspot.com/2010/01/origin-of-haitian-pact-with-devil-story.html

As if this Boukman individual's invoking of Creole spirits to possess a few religious leaders 200 years ago could curse an entire country. The fact that Pat Robertson cites this urban myth as the reason why Haiti is so poor only demonstrates the fact that he is a dupe; his mental faculties obviously clouded, if not utterly crippled by the anti-intellectualism of the right-wing religious community he helped build. The reasons Haiti is poor are legion, and none have to do with either Voodoo or a supposed pact with the devil. Here is a useful article for anyone interested:

http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/misctopic/leftover/whypoor.htm