PAT'S BACK!

Pat Robertson warns town of disaster after election
Voters turned against God, broadcaster says
11:01 PM CST on Thursday, November 10, 2005
Associated Press
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town Thursday that disaster may strike there because they "voted God out of your city" by ousting school board members who favored teaching intelligent design.
All eight Dover, Pa., school board members up for re-election were defeated Tuesday after trying to introduce "intelligent design" – the belief that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power – as an alternative to the theory of evolution.
"I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God. You just rejected him from your city," Mr. Robertson said on the Christian Broadcasting Network's 700 Club .
Later Thursday, Mr. Robertson issued a statement saying he was simply trying to point out that "our spiritual actions have consequences."
Mr. Robertson made headlines this summer when he called on his daily show for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
In October 2003, he suggested that the State Department be blown up with a nuclear device. He has also said that feminism encourages women to "kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."

Puh-leeze. I think it may be time for Pat to step away from the microphone. Way past time, actually. The tragedy is that for many people in this country and throughout the world, Pat Robertson is still the public face of American evangelical Christianity. While I have quite a few issues with evangelicals, the fact is that they deserve better. The parade passed Pat by years ago, yet he still receives the air time and the press coverage. Which ever side you come down on on the issue of "intelligent design" is not the issue here. What is truly troubling is Pat's view of a capricious, vengeful God who pursues his aims by a conservative political agenda, turning his back on municipalities based on their voting records, while deciding just which natural disaster he can hurl their way as punishment. Sad, sad, sad.