PeterDavid.net

I wonder what Mr. Robertson will say when something happens to him...

God's troll.

heh.

I'm just waiting now for Robertson to look up at the sky and see the words forming: "Follow the rules of the place, or find somewhere else to put out your stuff..."

Pat Who?

Sorry, I had to Google to find out who the guy was. Evangelism never really plays too well over here in Limeyland...

Pat Robertson might like to think he's God's troll. I think he's just a troll, period.

Amen!

It's easy for armchair critics to sit back and mock. Mock mock, they mock! But maybe they would hold their tongues if they knew just how familiar Mr Robertson was with the stern hand of God.

Failing the bar exam--God's will.

Getting caught lying about his military record--God's will.

Abandoning a lawsuit againt a congressman over statements regarding his military record and having to pay for court costs--Gods will.

Doing so poorly in his presidential nomination run--God's will.

Knocking up his wife before their marraige--God's will.

I don't wish ill on the man because, as I said in another post, I think he's a drinker and deserves at least some measure of pity (plus, I don't want to stoop to that level) but I do have to wonder how Pat will be able to reconcile himself to his views should he or any close family member be struck down with a cruel affliction, as Sharon has.

OK, can we put together a T-shirt? Pat Robertson: Holy Troller! With accompaning illustration, of course!

Pat Robertson is the ultimate disaster of religion: someone so self-absorbed in his beliefs that he views everything in terms of his interpretation of religion. Everything bad that ever happens -- from Sharon's poor health to the 9/11 attacks -- must be because someone offended God. And when bad things don't happen -- Pennsylvania wasn't destroyed for rejecting intelligent design, California hasn't been dumped into the ocean for having so many homosexuals -- he says nothing. Heck, even objective facts don't stand up to his Holier-Than-Thou view: Robertson doesn't like the separation of church vs. state, so he says "the portion of the U.S. Constitution that pertains to the separation of church and state was not in the original Constitution and was forged onto it by a Communist spy sent to Washington, DC, by the Russians in the late 1920s." [quote courtesy of the Internet Movie Database]

The sad thing is that he would be funny -- a truly goofy fanatic -- if he wasn't so influential. He leads the religious right (Religious Reich?) that currently guides Bush by the nose, and he makes millions every week from the fanatical followers who take his every utterance as though it came directly from God.

Oy.

James--that's a hell of a quote...I can't find it anywhere on the web though. IMDB is not the greatest source of info. Is there anything that actually backs this up?

If there is, I take back the suspicion that he's drinking. he must be huffing Armor All.

"I don't wish ill on the man because, as I said in another post, I think he's a drinker and deserves at least some measure of pity..."

Bill: Alcoholism should never be considered an excuse for being an asshole. Nor should it be considered an excuse for promoting hatred and intolerance. He does both. I've no inside info as to whether or not he's an alcoholic (which is what I assume you mean by 'drinker' as I, myself, am a 'drinker' but I'm no alcoholic), but I believe that most of us on this board can confirm that he is both an asshole and a promoter of hatred and intolerance.

PAD: 'Trolling for God/God's Troll'. Perfect.

Knuckles, in no way would Robertson's drinking or (my second theory) nerological malfunctions due to aging in any way excuse him from being an asshole. But one can certainly pity someone who is not in full control of his facilities which, one must begin to suspect, describes Mr. Robertson.

I mean, just look at what the folks on the right are saying about him:

Scrappleface:--- Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson, who yesterday told viewers that God’s wrath spurred Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s massive stroke, today said his own “ignorant remarks are another manifestation of God’s anger.”

"If Christians would read the Bible, instead of just watching TV, they would understand that people who claim to know exactly why God does what He does are usually false teachers,” said Mr. Robertson. “God disciplines American Christians for their willful ignorance of the Scriptures by having me embarrass them every 60 days or so with another ridiculous remark.”

Instapundit: -- "PAT ROBERTSON OFFERS US ANOTHER REMINDER of why he was one of the original models for the term "idiotarian:"

Mark Gandelman:-- What can you say about these people? They've been mentally brain-washed due to their political hatred, religious hatred or, in Robertson's case, belief that he alone knows more than any other mortal on this earth what God is thinking. I get a sneaking suspicion that God is hearing Robertson's comment and is now waving his hand, creating a large roll of duct tape.

Mark Steyn:-- As for Pat Robertson, he sounds as nutty as these Imams, who say it's the will of God. I don't subscribe to this equivalence between, you know, Wahabi Imams and Christian fundamentalists. But I'm prepared to make an exception for Pat Robertson.

John Podhoretz:-- WHEN WILL PAT ROBERTSON FINALLY JUST SHUT HIS STUPID MOUTH?
What a pernicious and sickening creep to suggest that God has punished Ariel Sharon by hitting Israel's prime minister with a massive stroke. Robertson believes that his prayers can save communities from hurricanes. If he's really that powerful, maybe he ought to pray for Sharon's complete recovery and return to office as penance for spewing such repugnant, self-satisfied and evil bile.

Whatever influence he might have had is rapidly dwindling away. For a supposed "leader of the religious right" he seesm to have very very few defenders. He will end his days powerless, a figure of scorn and pity. For a supposed "leader of the religious right" he seesm to have very very few defenders. Sad. Well deserved, but sad.

I think Sharon just had a few too many knishes washed down with some nice veal chops and oreo's. :)

Pat Robertson has been a moron for years. I don't know why people listen to these trolling television beggers. All the TelEvangilists are of his ilk.

" Give me a $500 donation so we can reach our goal of 1.2 million this hour or God will take me home! "

The door shouldn't hit him in the ass as he's leaving is my opinion. ;D

Bill - the problem is, it's not the religious conservatives online that he's leading. It's the ones in the middle of the cornfield in Kansas who watch the 700 Club religiously (heh) that he's leading, and that's still a very big number of people. That big number of people give him more money than anyone should ever feel okay about taking, and that money is what makes him a mover and shaker in Republican politics; as with just about anything else in politics (for either side), it's the money with the influence, and the point of view behind it is less important.

When Roberston says these things that get picked up and circulated everywhere, he comes back - as he has on the Christian Broadcast Ministries website - saying that you shouldn't shoot the messenger, God does say these things, that he wishes well for Sharon (or whatever) but you have to realize when you defy God you pay the price, etc. This is exactly what his followers want to hear; you will be punished if you deviate from the Scripture. He's not alienating anyone who wasn't already alienated by him to begin with, he's merely strengthening and continuing to deliver what his (very large) core of followers want to hear.

-K

I must defend Pat Robertson.

This is a wonderful example of interfaith dialogue. The first time Christian fundementalists, Jewish fundementalists, and Muslim fundementalists are in consensus that Sharon is being punished by god.

He will end his days powerless, a figure of scorn and pity.

Heh. Just like Cerebus. ;)

RE: JamesLynch's quote - I've heard this one before also, but can't find another source for it. But I have found another, similar quote from Robinson:

“That (separation of church and state) was never in the Constitution, however much the liberals laugh at me for saying it, they know good and well it was never in the Constitution! Such language only appeared in the constitution of the communist Sovi”

I don't wish ill on the man

I do.

There's a special place in Hell reserved just for Roberson, Falkwell, and their ilk.

What Robertson doesn't realise is that Sharon was actually scheduled for a stroke in 1998. It was God's intervention that delayed it until now.

I've said many times before that I'd love to go to hell just to see the look on ole' Pat's face when he gets there. Too bad age and idiocy will likely claim him before I go.

I don't know if he's a drinker, that looks like pure specualtion on Bill's part (Much like the imagined pyschological projection problems he has claimed that I am afflicted with), but either way, he's an asshole and the sooner the media starts ignoring his idiotic statements, the better.

As for Oral "God will kill me unless I raise $500 million" Roberts, I'm going to go with what Mike Royko wrote about it. If he was truly serious about converting the heathens, he should have deliberately blown the deadline and then keeled over dead in a press conference. Imagine how many people would have dropped to their knees and begged for forgiveness if he had!

Imagine how many people would have dropped to their knees and begged for forgiveness if he had!

Imagine how many more would have dropped to their knees in thankfulness!

----------------

I don't wish ill on the man

I do.

There's a special place in Hell reserved just for Roberson, Falkwell, and their ilk.

Same here. It's amazing how many people are (or act) shacked when someone admits to wishing ill on those who deserve it.

Of course, shacked = shocked, and the top 3 lines were supposed to bold, not just the first one.

Oh I freely admit that my speculation that Robertson takes more than a few nips at the bottle is speculation, as might have been picked up by the savvy reader who saw me say "I think" "theory" and "suspicion". Just a hunch. He has the look of a boozer. As someone once said regarding Richard Burton's performance in The Klansman "I can't say for sure that Burton was drunk when he made this film. I only HOPE he was drunk."

More comments coming in-- (from wikipedia)The remarks drew criticism from all sides, even from among other evangelicals. For instance, Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said that Robertson "ought to know better" than to say such things. He added, "The arrogance of the statement shocks me almost as much as the insensitivity of it." Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, said that "any doctor could have predicted (Sharon's) going to have health problems" and that his illness was medical, not divine retribution. The White House called Robertson's statement "wholly inappropriate and offensive."

Not much of a puppetmaster though I can hardly blame those who oppose the religious right from holding him up as one.

Yet---not a word from Robertson about the Fires of Hell that are threatening to destroy Texas, the home base of the most corrupt and evil administration ever.

Same here. It's amazing how many people are (or act) shacked when someone admits to wishing ill on those who deserve it.

Oh, I'm not shocked. And I won't say I never wish ill on anyone. Mengele deserved a much worse fate than he got. Pol Pot should have been staked to an ant hill. If fred Phelps picketed the funeral of one of my family I suspect my car might experience some brake failure as I drove past him.

But overall I don't think that those kinds of thoughts are particularly ennobling. For purely egotistical reasons I would prefer not to wish harm on those who like to wish harm on others. It makes me better than them with very little effort on my part. Plus, and I can't emphasize this enough, wishing is fine for children but really a bit silly as an adult course of action. Time will take care of Mr Robertson and nothing I think or say or how many candles I blow out will alter that fate. Better to spend the time writing letters to editors or posting on blogs or doing other activities that might actually do some good.

From conservative (and how!) John Derbyshire:

THE COVENANT
Speaking of Pat Robertson... I happened to be reading Charles Pellegrino's book Return to Sodom & Gomorrah and thought the following footnote on p.220 might be of interest to Pat: "When God elaborates on his covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15:16-21, he promises more than Canaan to his descendants. If one decides to read the Bible uncritically as a historically accurate account of a God-given inheritance of land, and then to act upon it as law, there can be no end to four thousand years of bloodshed, for "the Lord made a covenant with Avram [Abraham], saying, To they seed I have given this land, from the river of Mizrayim [the Nile of Egypt] to the great river, the river Perat [the Euphrates of Iraq]."

So Pat should be calling for the annexation of large chunks of Egypt and Iraq. A tough sell, sure, but who are we to argue with God?

But overall I don't think that those kinds of thoughts are particularly ennobling. For purely egotistical reasons I would prefer not to wish harm on those who like to wish harm on others. It makes me better than them with very little effort on my part.

That's certainly valid enough, though I'll be the first to say that I'm personally not able to be that noble much of the time. It's something to strive for, of course.

Plus, and I can't emphasize this enough, wishing is fine for children but really a bit silly as an adult course of action. Time will take care of Mr Robertson and nothing I think or say or how many candles I blow out will alter that fate. Better to spend the time writing letters to editors or posting on blogs or doing other activities that might actually do some good.

Here I'm going to disagree, however. First, I seriously doubt that anybody here is seriously wishing Robertson harm to the extent that you're discussing. (If anyone here HAS blown out candles or done some other legendary form of wishing while wishing harm on PR, I stand corrected.) My own "wishes", such as they are, are more along the lines of thinking "would'ja hurry up and move on to your next life already?" whenever he opens his mouth.

Second, and more importantly, by saying "spend the time doing X' you're assuming that said wishing actually takes some significant amount of time. Unless somebody here is far more obsessed with Pat Robertson's health than anybody seems to be, I think that assumption is pretty heavily false. It's like saying "don't daydream" -- sure, you don't want to spend a significant chunk of your daily life doing it, but there's nothing wrong with it in moderation.

Just a data point, since everyone seems to be agreeing that Pat Robertson is a dick extraordinaire.

TWL

Yeah, that's fair enough.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know just how many viewers the 700 Club actually has?

I suppose "700, of course" is too glib. :-)

TWL

does anyone know just how many viewers the 700 Club actually has

863,000 last year according to Neilson.

http://alendalux.blogspot.com/2005/08/how-irrelevant-is-pat-robertson.html

836,000??? That's IT?

There are probably that many people who speak Klingon. When do one of THEM get to go on Meet The Press?

There are probably that many people who speak Klingon.

I don't know that I'd go that far. I suspect I'd know more than I do were that the case. :-)

When do one of THEM get to go on Meet The Press?

When Tim Russert gets to wear bat'leth-proof armor?

TWL

I'm trying to picture the (statistically improbable, but possible) one or two people where the 700 Club viewership and Klingon speakers overlap...

"God has shown his mighty wrath once more! Qapla!"

-Rex Hondo-

Pat Robertson is apparently jealous of all the press "Pastor" Fred Phelps of Topeka, KS gets. Maybe Pat will be joining the good pastor soon at one of his regular protests -- you know the ones, they occur outside funerals for soldiers killed in Iraq. And why were they killed?

Because it's God's punishment upon us for allowing rampant homosexuality (that's Phelps's hot button; he even devotes a website to it that you'll have to look up for yourself. Methinks the man protests too much, myself.)

Its hard to tell the difference between a fundamentalist preacher and a Klingon.

They both shout a lot.
They are both bald in front with great masses of hair piled in back.
They both love to quote Proverbs.
They are both misunderstood by civilized beings.
They both believe in a Glorious Afterlife where they will be glorified while all others suffer.
They are both merciless to their enemies.
They are both power hungry.
They both tend to marry insanely ugly people.

I could go on a while....but there is one glaring difference. Klingon's have honor!

Re Oral Roberts and his plea for money, lest God kill him, there was a skit on Saturday Night Live set in Oral Roberts' office, at that time. The guest host was Charlton Heston.

"Mr. Roberts. Mr. Roberts," his secretary said. He's here!"

The doors burst open, and Heston, as God, stands there.

"Oral, the check bounced."

There was more to the skit, I'm sure, but that's all I remember.

Then, of course, there was the scam Bill the Cat was running in _Bloom County_. Calling himself "Fundamentally Oral Bill", his gimmick was that if people sent his money, God would "call home" all the _other_ televangelists.

Rick

i am always wary of "men of god" who are in favor of war.

Hell, I'm wary of anyone claiming to have special knowledge of God's mind, regardless...

-Rex Hondo-

Posted by Brian Woods at January 9, 2006 01:45 AM

i am always wary of "men of god" who are in favor of war.

Especially "men of God" who are in favour of war who used family influence to get themselves yanked out of a combat assignment at the last minute, leaving some other poor junior officer to take their place...

Somebody was wondering how many viewers the "700 Club" has -- that's irrelevant. The cable channel it's on is required, with no options -- by the terms of Disney/ABC's purchase of the channel -- to carry it, no matter what. They CANNOT cancel the "700 Club". (They have changed the post-"700 Club" graphic from "The proceeding program was brought to you by CBN" to "The preceding CBN telecast does not reflect the views of ABC Family".)

And apparently even the FCC can't do anything about Robertson spewing hate speech from his bully pulpit.

Ah, well. As to wishing ill -- some years back when Robertson or one of his ilk (as Jubal Harshaw remarks, "I'm colorblind in that spectrum.") was making noises about AIDS and "divine retribution", an acquaintance remarked that were *he* God, there would be a form of AIDS spread by haircare products that would only afflict white televangalists.

But, unlike *their* harsh unforgiving Gawd, HIS version of AIDS would be 100% curable.

The cure would involve large, vigourous young black men...

"There's a special place in Hell reserved just for Roberson, Falkwell, and their ilk."

and for people who talk during movies.

"There's a special place in Hell reserved just for Roberson, Falkwell, and their ilk."

IIRC, it's in one of the bolgias of the Eighth Circle, where they'll be consigned to wear robes made of molten gold with a lead lining. And here Niven and Pournelle thought simony was an obsolete sin...

And apparently even the FCC can't do anything about Robertson spewing hate speech from his bully pulpit.

To be honest, as much as I think Robertson deserves a nice scorching case of antibiotic resistant syphilis, I would be opposed to any effort to censor his idiocy by the government. I guess I'm one of the few people left in this world who believes that freedom of speech means freedom for everyone, even those with advanced dementia.

You never know what he's going to say next. That guy is always good for a laugh. At least, until you realise that there are people out there that take him seriously.

So, should we ask Pat what Dick did to piss off God now?

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/01/09/cheney/index.html

1 I LOVE PAT ROBERTSON. He's like a Saturday Night Live Sketch. We use to watch him for fun cause he was soooo bad and would say the craziest things! He was talking about women serving in Combat Military situations once and was totally dishing on the women and turned to his woman co-host and tried to get her to agree with him about the lack of strength women have and that it would not be wise to have them in a fox hole next to you if you get wounded and needed to be carried out...she just sort of stuttered out a half hearted ..uh..ah..ya. hahahaha

Oh-boy, the Governator got hurt in a motorcycle. God must really be pissed at politicians.

In other news, Ted Kennedy is writing a children's book, which makes me wonder why God suddenly hates children.

In other news, Ted Kennedy is writing a children's book,

Other Children's Books That Didn't Make It

You Are Different and That's Bad

The Boy Who Died from Eating All His Vegetables

Fun Four-letter Words to Know and Share

Hammers, Screwdrivers and Scissors: An I-Can-Do-It Book

The Kids' Guide to Hitchhiking

Kathy Was So Bad Her Mom Stopped Loving Her

Curious George and the High-Voltage Fence

All Cats Go to Hell

The Little Sissy Who Snitched

Some Kittens Can Fly

That's It, I'm Putting You Up for Adoption

Grandpa Gets a Casket

The Pop-Up Book of Human Anatomy

Strangers Have the Best Candy

Whining, Kicking and Crying to Get Your Way

You Were an Accident

Things Rich Kids Have, But You Never Will

Pop! Goes The Hamster… and Other Great Microwave Games

(from Ray Merriam)

"Whatever influence he might have had is rapidly dwindling away. For a supposed "leader of the religious right" he seesm to have very very few defenders. He will end his days powerless, a figure of scorn and pity. For a supposed "leader of the religious right" he seesm to have very very few defenders. Sad. Well deserved, but sad."

I truly hope you are right, Bill, but I'm not convinced of that yet.

Ted Kennedy is writing a children's book???

What's the title? "London Bridge is MORE TO THE LEFT!"?

"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires."
-- Susan B. Anthony 1896

True then, so very true today.

--------------------

I would be opposed to any effort to censor his idiocy by the government. I guess I'm one of the few people left in this world who believes that freedom of speech means freedom for everyone, even those with advanced dementia.

Same here. Although it might be woeth it to see if Robertson's head explodes from the irony.

Well, Knuckles, it's hard to believe it sometimes in this era of shameless arrogance, but apparently Pat Robertson has managed to say things that have embarrassed even the most loopy of republicans.

Pat used to have a great deal of influence in the GOP, but his jump to cable seems to have been his downfall. He got a lot more attention when the 700 Club was in syndication. Now, I think he's getting desperate for attention. That's why he's making so many outrageous statements lately.

More proff of Robertson's hypocracy - He's the head of a group that's going to be given 125 acres to build a theme park.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1677557,00.html?gusrc=rss

I don't know that the theme park is a hypocritical idea...though I have a hunch it will turn out to be something like what Ned Flanders would come up with. Jesusland. With the Walk On Water Rides, John The Baptist Wave Pool, chariot races and stuff like that. Lame. Though a Dante's Inferno Spookhouse would rule.

Didn't Ned Flanders once build "Prayerland" or something like that in honor of his dead wife?

Pat's actually tried to build a theme park in the US before.

Of course, nothing beats defending African dictators who help him mine for silver with slave labor.

It's hypocritical because Robertson is condeming Sharon for giving away Isreal land while he (Robertson) is receiving Isreal land being given away.

IIRC, Flanders opened Praiseland, which was based on his late wife's drawings.

Well, I don't think that they are actually GIVING him land. They are letting him build on it--not quite the same.

Back to teddy Kennedy for a moment. You know, the funny part about the whole thing isn't that he's writing a book for kids. The funny thing isn't even that the book is from the point of view of his dog. The funny thing is the name he gave the dog.

Splash.

He's either oblivious or just doesn't give a damn.

Praiseland. Yeah, that was it. I remember every falling down and having visions when they walked up to Maude's statue. Turns out there was a leaking natural gas line running right in front of it.

Hmm. Maybe there's a natural gas leak at the 700 Club?

Teddy's book looks pretty pathetic. Didn't Barbara Bush already write a book from the point of view of her dog?

Yeah and I think that Hillary Clinton wrote one from the point of view of her cat.

Someone needs to tell Teddy that the jokes over. Move along.

And apparently even the FCC can't do anything about Robertson spewing hate speech from his bully pulpit

Would you really want to live in a country where they could do something about that?

I'm quite happy to live in a country where he's free to blather on all he wants, and we're free to mock him all we want.

Of course, maybe the FCC SHOULD step up, since ol' Pat is a bigger boob than Janet Jackson could ever show us.

-Rex Hondo-

I didn't read through all the comments so this may be a repeat, but it's interesting in an ironic sort of way:

The use of the word "stroke," to indicate a cerebrovascular acccident or infarction of the brain, comes from the phrase "stricken by the hand of God." This goes back to when medical school was a one-minute process: all illnesses were a punishment from God, all cures involved penitence. Really simplified those MCATs. But strokes were scary, because they hit suddenly and inexplicably, and they generally did creepy things like rob people of the ability to talk, or paralyzed them on one side--stuff that was pretty damn hauntingly spooky at the time. So, such people were deemed to have been struck down directly by God's hand, and had their faculties ripped from them in the process.

Cool, huh? So basically, Pat Robertson is correct in some ways--at least in terms of primitive, pre-scientific medicine...

...but he's still an asswipe.

But then we stopped treating all diseases with bloodletting and drilling holes in people's heads to let the demons out.

Pat needs an updated medical dictionary.

Would you really want to live in a country where they could do something about that?

When you're getting into the realm of hate speech (blaming 9/11 on gays, etc) and wanting political assassinations, well, there has to be limits.

Personally, I also would be among those against censoring Robertson, despite these instances of revolting psycho-ness. The danger of allowing the expression of ideas to be repressed for being "repulsive" just creates too much of a window for abuse, too dangerous a slippery slope. Now, if it could be proven that he was actively committing a crime during his rants - directing people to commit a specific attack on someone, for instance .... But creating the power to censor "disturbing" talk is too dangerous, as some people's definition of "bad" expression will be far more wide-ranging than others ....

On a lighter note, reading this thread, especially when the theme park came up, has reminded me of the spoken lines near the end of the live version of Genesis' song "Jesus He Knows Me". The whole song is a swipe at dirty televangelists - the members of the band claim that the first time they came across a televangelist show, on American TV, they thought it was a comedy for several minutes before realizing that it was intended to be serious - but these lines, added to the song on the '92 tour, seem particularly apropo. (Quoting from the "Genesis Live: The Way We Walk Volume One: The Shorts" album)

Now I believe, that the Lord came to me,
and He said - get me 18 million dollars by the
weekend! So that I can build that theme park
to the Lord! So that I may put gasoline into
all of my limousines - for the Lord! Would I
lie to you??

:)

When you're getting into the realm of hate speech (blaming 9/11 on gays, etc) and wanting political assassinations, well, there has to be limits.

I think the limit should be between words and deeds. If all he does is spout off about how he thinks we should "take him out" or babble nonsense about gays and witches causing 9/11, then the only punishment should be public ridicule. When he starts making overt moves towards an actual assassination or burning witches at the stake, then we can talk about charging him with a crime.

Oops - that should have been "CAN put gasoline into all of my limousines"; should've re-read again before I posted .... :)

It's funny. Our church's Sunday Bible class is currently studying the Book of Job, and one of the big themes of Job is that it is wrong to interpret tragedy and misfortune as Divine Retribution for some sin or other. Our pastor has repeated that over and over again in the course of our study.

I was tempted to bring up Pat last Sunday but decided against it. The last time Pat made that kind of a pronouncement our pastor got so mad he almost said "darn." He's conservative in a lot of his views, but he really dislikes Pat Robertson and especially hates Robertson's theology.

The Book of Job does not offer a clear answer to the question of why God allows bad things to happen, but one thing it makes perfectly clear: Anyone who says your suffering is God's punishment for something, is stupid.

Ironically enough, talking to a co-worker today who just received a crucifix that was apparently blessed by the Virgin Mary(appernetly She's appearing somewhere in Europe)and then in my camera tower watched Indy and the Last Crusade, it kinda started me thinking. (Not much else to do in a camera tower between races) Anyways, started me thinking, and I wondered among the Christians you've got Catholics, Lutherans, Protestants, Evangelicals, etc. etc. so on and so forth. And they all follow THE Holy Bible. And each interpretation is THE Interpretation, straight from the Mouth Of God. So, how can there be so many different kinds of Christians, let alone those of the Jewish faith, my Pagan friends, that wierd atheist guy who gets on everyone's nerves at work, and any others that I just haven't thought of? And Pat Robertson has a direct line to God. I can see it now, a red translucent phone under a cake glass that beeps, Pat picks it up, talks a minute, then rides down the fire poles behind a bookcase and rides around in the Popemobile....

And of COURSE Pennsylvania rejected intelligent design. Anyone who has ever tried to drive anywhere in the Eastern part of the state would doubt the intelligence behind ANY design...

I was listening to Bob & Tom on the way home from work this morning and they had an "advertisement" for the Pat Robertson version of the Bible. My favorite line had to be the part about how Jesus had been misquoted, and the actual Golden Rule is, "Do unto others, then find a made-up religious reason to justify your actions."

-Rex Hondo-

Well, among Christians the Bible is generally considered to be the inspired word of God, as interpreted and transcribed by men. So there is room for disagreement and interpretation. Ditto Judaism, so there is nothing strange about wise Jewish scholars arguing over the meaning of a single word.

One problem that Islam has is that the Koran is believed to be the direct word of God, with Mohammad acting as a stenographer. This is why you are only supposed to read it in Arabic--if God writes in Arabic you'd damn well better learn how to read it.

The problem then is that unlike Judaism and Christianity, it will be much more difficult for people to modernize Islam. An Islamic Luther will have a very tough time, to say the least.

As for the different interpretations of the Bible, consider. Assume, just for a moment if it isn't your belief already, that God exists. Imagine the difficulty inherent in so unimaginable an entity communicating with a lifeform so primitive. There's no analogy that works but imagine explaining advanced astro physics to a group of kindergarten kids. You'd have to make it pretty basic and simple and when you were done if you asked all of them to repeat what you said and what it meant, the answers would be all over the place.

So if God exists and He/She/It saw fit to pass on some words of wisdom to the clever monkey boys of planet Earth it should come as no surprise that their grasp of the concepts has been a bit slippery.

Well, among Christians the Bible is generally considered to be the inspired word of God, as interpreted and transcribed by men. So there is room for disagreement and interpretation.

Not among the fundamentalists groups. Their central tenet is that the Bible is the literal word of God.

As for differing interpretations of Islam, well, we do have the Sunnis, the Shi'ites, the Wahabbists and several other sects in Islam.

Structurally, Islam today is more like Eastern Orthodoxy, with numerous regional religious leaders, but no single central authority like the pope is to Roman Catholicism for a rebellious monk to challenge. Realistically, the only unifying factor for all of the Islamic sects is their mutual desire to be rid of Israel and all western influences. Take those away and they'll go back to fighting among themselves.

Rat:
"...that wierd atheist guy who gets on everyone's nerves at work, "

Hey, when did you start working with me?

Seriously, although I don't believe in God, The Gods, The Devil, Gaia, David Koresch (sp) or even Herman the Wonder Cabbage I find that the word athiest doesn't apply to me. I guess I'm just too damn stuborn to attach myself to a group that is so narrowly defined. After all a religious position (no, not the missionary position. You Perv.) is but one facet of an individual.

However, the best to annoy a christion co-worker is to say, "How very christian of you," when you catch them committing a misdeed. Especially if they are particularly pontificous.

As for Pat Robertson, well, he's an ass. Fortunately for me being an ass is not a crime. Mom always said I should excel at something...

Hats off,

Mitch

PAD,

Talk about an easy target. Robertson's recent string of comments are without excuse. (Probably old ones too -- I never paid attention to him.) Not sure why the media even wastes their time quoting him. I would almost guess a certain percentage of those who watch the 700 Club do so just to wait for the latest "train wreck."

While you may not be sure about an after life, I am. He will give an account for what he has said.

Iowa Jim

Not among the fundamentalists groups. Their central tenet is that the Bible is the literal word of God.

If so that's dumb. God wrote Paul's letter to the Corinthians? And Paul took credit for it? Who did he think he was, Molly Ivans?

If so that's dumb.

And this would be a revelation wrt fundamentalists? :)

I would think the general purpose of religion and religious texts is literal interpretations of the supposed "word of God".

But then, literal or otherwise, most pick and choose which parts of their religion they want to believe and follow anyways.

"Seriously, although I don't believe in God, The Gods, The Devil, Gaia, David Koresch (sp) or even Herman the Wonder Cabbage I find that the word athiest doesn't apply to me."

Do not use our Lord Herman's name so lightly, infidel!

Seriously, although I don't believe in God, The Gods, The Devil, Gaia, David Koresch (sp) or even Herman the Wonder Cabbage ...

What about The Flying Spaghetti Monster?

(http://www.venganza.org/ if anyone doesn't know who FSM is)

/rAmen

Looks like Robertson's words have finally come back to bite him in the ass. Isreal won't give him the land because of his comment about Sharon.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3198541,00.html

(insert picture of Nelson here)
HA-HA

Hmmm... reports indicate that "Sharon is showing signs of coming to life". Does this mean that God changed his mind?

Okay, for the record, I "corrected" the correct word in my Jesus He Knows Me quote. In both lines he says "so that I MAY ...". That's what I get for quoting lyrics from memory without double-checking, I guess ...

"While you may not be sure about an after life, I am. He will give an account for what he has said.
Iowa Jim"

See, I'm not as lazy as you, I don't beleive in or expect some being that doesn't exist to meet out justice after its too late to do anyone any good.

meet should've been "mete"

I must admit, initially, I laughed my ass off on this. But after actually seeing the clip from his TV show someone sent me on ifilms (http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2686955), I gotta say, I don't think what he said was that outrageous.
Much more polite about it than our religious fundamentalists (I live in Israel). And, I mean, he IS a religious fundamentalist, afterall.
As far as he's concerned, reading the bible very literaly, God has been quite consistant in interfering with local politics in this region, so it make a lot of sense to him. Looking at that piece, I honestly don't think he was trying to be provocative or inflamtory at all, just reading his honest beliefs out loud. Can't really blame him for that, even if it is backwards.
But then, US constitution protects people's right to be backwards.

Me? I don't beleive in God, but if he does exist, I'd gather that
A) He doesn't care if I eat kosher, or if I eat at all. Maybe he generally cares what I've been doing with my life. Maybe.
and
B) He isn't an interventional 'personal' deity. That seems to stand in contradiction to the notion of omniscience and omnipotence. Lowering him to our level, as it were.

On a completely different note, kinda excited to see the new Fallen Angel next week..! *sw00n*

Just to show that people never learn---here's someone else who talks to God and gets the signals mixed up: http://www.nbc13.com/news/6153685/detail.html

New Orleans Mayor: God Wants City To Be Mostly Black

In a Martin Luther King Day speech to a crowd at City Hall, Mayor Ray Nagin said, "It's the way God wants it to be." He said you can't have New Orleans any other way.

Also: http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/16/D8F61AV80.html

New Orleans Mayor Says God Mad at U.S.

"Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it's destroyed and put stress on this country," Nagin, who is black, said as he and other city leaders marked Martin Luther King Day.

Words fail...I wonder if this will provoke any outrage or calls for an apology. I'm guessing probably not.

Words fail...I wonder if this will provoke any outrage or calls for an apology. I'm guessing probably not.

I'm curious. Why do you believe that?

Is it because he is a Democrat and black, and therefore safe from those who critise Robertson the loudest? Or simply because he's not as big a name, and therefore unlikely to attract as much attention?

Not a trap question, honest, just wondering at what brought you to that conclusion.

For what it's worth, I tend to agree with you. My personal feelings tend to fall more into the second explanationas to the 'why' behind it.

A bit of both, actually. I probably lean a bit more to the first explanation though. I mean, imagine if the white Mayor of some city said something similar--even if he was not a big name I think it would get major press.

There's also a thrid explanation that may make the most sense--nobody expects much better from Nagin, given his sorry performance during the crisis.

Or a fourth explanation -- people might be a little inclined to give Nagin some slack, given the stresses he's been dealing with ever since Katrina.

I suspect that overall you're right, but I think the reasons for it are going to be a mix of the four possible explanations that have been brought up.

Doesn't change the fact that I think the statement is deeply stupid, though.

TWL

Agreed Tim. My first inner response was that this guy has been at ground zero throughout the entire event, something that Robertson can't use as an excuse for his remarks. Both statements from these individuals scare me, though I wonder if Nagin hesitated to consider some of the repercusions that may follow from his statements to the disenfranchised.

Nagin's a dope, but he did apologize today:

http://www.kplctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4373165

Only a day later. It took Pat, what? A week?

Only a day later. It took Pat, what? A week?

And losing out on a choice financial oppourtunity...

I'm surprised Pat didn't try to advertise his beauty cream with holy water, while apologizing for his remarks! He's such an "enlightened soul"! As for Nagin. It was HIS city "God" was attacking. He is mayor, if nobody else wanted to help, he should have! There were plenty of buses just sitting there, which he should have used to transport people out of New Orleans. It's interesting that nobody seems to care about the people in the smaller towns of Mississippi and Louisiana, who were just as affected. Many people in Mississippi didnt' have any buildings left to hide in!

SEX TOYS now -

Almost spit my cofee out of my nose looking at the comments section only to see SEX TOYS,/b> on Pat Robertson, Holy Troller. Wow, THERE'S an image...

I think the end of Pat Robertson and his like are nigh if new material circulating the web turns out to be authentic.

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