Pat Robertson has declared that Haiti is suffering because it swore a pact with the devil. [Video here.]
Way to be remarkably unhelpful, Pat.
Two hundred years ago, the Haitians supposedly made a deal with Satan to get rid of the French. Never mind the French Revolution, interference from Great Britain and Spain, sugar plantations, the diminishing slave trade, violent gangs of runaway slaves and the mixing of Roman Catholicism with African traditional religions. You can overlook all the different international, historical factors involved because (according to Pat Robertson) the Haitians (as a group?) made a deal with the devil!
Robertson may not realize that this kind of easily-dismissed rhetoric undermines Christian efforts to free Haitian people from their animistic, occult superstitions and traditions. By connecting the dots between a devastating earthquake and events in history, he makes Christians look like simpletons batting at bogeymen, when there is actually a serious spiritual obstacle here. Did God tell Robertson these two events were connected?
Natural disasters happen to everyone, good and bad. Many good Christians are suffering or have been killed because of this disaster. My suggestion is that Pat Robertson should stop trying to rationalize random tragedy.
No comments:
Post a Comment