Pat Robertson's comment on the tragedy that has befallen the people of Haiti is shameful. This is exactly what is wrong with the religious right. The entire purpose of Jesus' ministry was to bring hope to the people that the temple left behind. His vision was to bring the word of God to everyone, to make people feel that they were worthy of the love that only God can provide. He surrounded himself with people who, at the time, were not considered to be the righteous according to the hierarchy at the temple. One of his apostles was a tax collector for Rome, not exactly a popular job. He helped the people suffering from leprosy who not only were dealing with physical illness but also were shunned from society at large. His short ministry was about making the people on the fringes of society to feel welcomed and loved. His forgiveness knew no bounds, nor did his love. It seems that Pat Robertson has forgotten that. He is saying that innocent children were killed while attending school because they deserved it. Innocent God fearing people have lost everything they own, which was not much to begin with. The country of Haiti’s problem is due to a corrupt and unstable government. A government that has let its people down at every turn.
During the Bush administration I was put into a situation that I felt that I had to defend him. Not because I was a big fan of his, but because of how low the dissent became. When Obama took office and I realized that I needed to become more active in the political system, I was determined to surround myself with people who wanted to bring about positive change and to not lower themselves to same level. Statements like this make that almost impossible. People who disagree with what I believe in will use these statements to lump me into a pack that believes this nonsense.
I have a good number of "friends" on facebook. Many of which I have never met, but believe in returning our country to our constitutional roots. I sometimes get very useful information from this source. When President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, the posts ”breaking news, Obama won the PBA and PGA championships with the same ball" had me laughing so hard that tears were literally running down my cheeks. Yesterday I was reading some comment streams about Haiti and Pat Robertson. I was embarrassed and ashamed that I have anything to do with people who made the statements that I was reading. Not only were some people agreeing with him, but expounding on his statement. I have de-friended some of these people.
I also was reading statements from people who have such a blind hatred of President Obama that they were saying how no one should be giving money to the fundraising that is being conducted on the White House site. The money goes to USAID, a program that has been in existence for a long time. The administration is trying to make it easy for Americans to give to people whose lives have been devastated. There is no evil intent. A friend of mine was being attacked for saying that it is ok for tax money to be used to help these people. She was being called a "liberal troll".
It is a sad statement of where our country is. I don’t agree with President Obama. I think his world view is wrong, naive, bad for Americans as well as bad for people in general. I don't want to live in quasi-socialist country like France. I truly believe that is what the President meant when he said "we are 5 days away from fundamentally changing America". His belief that regimes like Iran and North Korea will change their ways if we simply talk to them is not only wrong, but dangerous. His belief that Islamic terrorism can be solved by reasoning with the likes of Usama bin Laden is crazy. He and his followers have no intention of being reasoned with. It is quite plain and simple, they want us dead.
I believe that the facts are on our side. We can win these debates by using them. The American people are not stupid, they just need to be presented with the facts and ultimately will make the right choice. That is what I am hoping to do. Educate and empower people to get the facts in order to make an informed decision.
Mr. Robertson's comments just made that job that much harder. He has fed into the belief that people of faith and conservatives are narrow-minded bigots. I do not believe this to be the case for the majority of them.
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