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Your letters - posted August 25, 2005

Posted in Q & A on Aug 25, 2005

Posted August 25, 2005

WE INTERRUPT OUR REGULAR CONTENT FOR IRSHAD’S TAKE ON THE (LATEST) PAT ROBERTSON CONTROVERSY…

Like the Reverend Pat Robertson, I was saved. Almost.  In 1975, at age seven, I attended Rose of Sharon Baptist Church near Vancouver.  My parents sent me for free babysitting services.  But I wound up winning the “Most Promising Christian of the Year” Award. 

Mum and Dad didn’t approve.  We were Muslims, for God’s sake.  They promptly plucked me out of the pews and kept me busy until the local Islamic school opened its doors.

Still, I’ve never forgotten the power of the gospel – its ability to inspire and incite.   Which is why I can say with authority that Pat Robertson is one blessed fellow.  On his daily Christian broadcast, “The 700 Club,” he evangelized the U.S government to assassinate Venezualan president Hugo Chavez.  For this, the reverend has received a windfall of publicity.

But what his comments haven’t yet attracted is a public endorsement from President George W. Bush.  Only a wink from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who described Mr. Robertson as a “private citizen” — and, hey, private citizens say the darndest things.

Surely that’s not good enough for a core constituent of this administration. I say Reverend Robertson demand face time with the President.  My suggestion is no jab at Cindy Sheehan, the bereaved mother and anti-war activist who’s lobbying to see Mr. Bush at his Crawford, Texas ranch. After all, Ms. Sheehan first came to Crawford without fanfare. Mr. Robertson knows enough to re-locate his entire show there. 

Cindy Sheehan set up Camp Casey, named for her soldier-son. Mr. Robertson could set up Camp Crazy, named for his state of mind.

He might then deliver his Sermon from the Set — complete with custom lights, cameras and commandments. Having already put a bullet through commandment number six - “Thou shalt not kill” - he would replace it with “Thou shalt blame all this uproar on the Liberal, Feminist, Lesbian Media.”  Being surround by journalists of that ilk, can you imagine what he’ll find in his collection plate?

The only hitch is a survey just conducted by Newsweek magazine and the spirituality website, Beliefnet. It found that the vast majority of evangelical Americans don’t swallow all this talk about non-believers going to hell. Which suggests Mr. Robertson has a credibility problem — with his own flock.  That’s not going to help President Bush. 

In the end, Pat Robertson may be turned away for tea with the Commander-in-Chief. But he’ll make Cindy Sheehan look less threatening by comparison.  And nobody, not even Hugo Chavez, will have had to die in that campaign. Pass the collection plate, please.