Pat Robertson: Haiti Made Pact With the Devil
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Evil vile horrid Pat Robertson said
[S]omething happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon the third, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you will get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it’s a deal.
And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other…
Yes, during the colonial period, many Haitian slaves–who were owned by Christians-practiced a faith that was syncreticisec West African religions and Catholicism, Voudou. And the slaves revolted in 1791 . The slaves revolted! It was only successful slave revolt in history and it resulted in the free nation of Haiti. And some historians credit a Voudou ceremony performed in August 1791 as the catalyst to that revolution.
Today the official religion of Haiti is Catholicism, though there is a large Protestant presence. When the Duvaliers were in power, they tried to utilize voudou to control the populace through fear, kinda like oh certain sect of Christianity and Islam today.
But to claim any faith that is not Pat Robertson’s faith as satanic is vile. And to say that disasters, natural or manmade, are God’s wrath’s is to deny a loving Jesus. Haiti’s problems are tied to racism and politics, not faith.
Fuck you, Pat Robertson.
Oh, it’s even better than that, Lisa.
According to Luke’s gospel, Jesus was asked about exactly this kind of thing, and not only did he *not* react like Robertson, but he called out the folks who did (Luke 13:1-5):
A little context/explanation:
The crowd sees these Galileans who were killed by the Roman governor, who then compounded the violence by pouring the blood of the dead all over their worship space and the blood from the animals that had been sacrificed by them (thus literally adding insult to injury). The crowd then asked Jesus “did the dead deserve this?” with the implied answer behind their question of “yes.”
Replies Jesus: “No, and anyone who thinks they are better than victims like these better give up that nonsense damn quick” (i.e., repent). He doesn’t leave it there, but pulls out another disaster story from the news: “And those folks killed when the tower fell on them? Same deal — they’re no better or worse than anyone else, but if you think *you* are better because they must have done something to deserve to die like that, you better lose that attitude right now.”
In my professional opinion, Pat Robertson’s problems are also tied to racism and politics, as well as a strong dash of homophobia.