Pat Robertson is trying to drum up folks to pray that some Supreme Court justices retire -- specifically the dastardly folks who made up the majority on Lawrence v. Texas.
"We ask for miracles in regard to the Supreme Court," Robertson said on the Christian Broadcasting Network's "The 700 Club."
Robertson has launched a 21-day "prayer offensive" directed at the Supreme Court in the wake of its 6-3 June vote that decriminalized sodomy.
[...] The same letter targets three justices in particular: "One justice is 83-years-old, another has cancer and another has a heart condition. Would it not be possible for God to put it in the minds of these three judges that the time has come to retire?"
Yeah, that's offensive prayer all right.
Perhaps he's trying to get his name in the news for something other than supporting Charles Taylor's bloody regime in Liberia.
What Robertson, 73, has not discussed in these broadcasts is his financial interest in Liberia. In an interview yesterday, he said he has "written off in my own mind" an $8 million investment in a gold mining venture that he made four years ago under an agreement with Taylor's government.
Yet, he added: "Hope springs eternal. Once the dust has cleared on this thing, chances are there will be some investors from someplace who want to invest. If I could find some people to sell it to, I'd be more than delighted."
I'll pray, all right. I'll pray that Pat Robertson has his wits about him when he finds himself called to account before his own Judge.
UPDATE: Upon reading this, let me clarify what I find offensive about Robertson's actions.
Specific, public, policy-based prayer I find offensive. Praying that God will soften the hearts of the obstinate, or provide consolation to the grieving, or comfort to the sick, or something like that is fine. Praying that God will convince Senators to vote for SB 247 is dubious -- it smacks of "God will listen to me, rather than those folks praying that the bill fails, because I'm righteous, y'know?" It's like folks who pray for victory in a football game. Arrogance.
Trying to get other folks to pray that God will convince Senators to vote for SB 247 is worse, since it's grandstanding, and compounding the error by getting other folks to assume righteousness.
Trying to get folks to pray that God will convince people to retire is, to my mind, only one step away from getting folks to pray that the Justices involved croak, or break a leg on the way to the next decision, or whatever.
I don't think God works that way. Maybe that's arrogance on my part, but ...
That leaves aside the whole question of whether Robertson is right or wrong on the merits of Lawrence. I think he's wrong in a multitude of ways, needless to say. And, "hegemonic rage" or not, I think he's also wrong to be trying to get folks to pray as to specifics of public policy in the US. At most, he ought to be praying that the Justices involved will be inspired by the Holy Spirit, and know and follow God's will -- not dictating, instead, what that will should be, or presuming that they weren't and don't.
Filed under :: Religion
Amen to that!
Pat Robertson manages to push my rage buttons pretty much without fail. It's a weakness of mine, I admit.
I'm not going to pray that he experience some unpleasant setback in his health, however. I'm not. Really.
Would it be okay to pray for his retirement? I suppose not.
Wasn't Pat the one who sat in his prayer tower, asking for $8 million back in the 80s? Or was that Baker?
Correction. It was Oral Roberts. SDB compares the two stunts in one of his posts today (I disagree with his contention that the GOP has in any way sufficiently distanced itself from fruitcakes like Robertson, though I agree that the Dems have their own analogous problems).
You think his mother would have warned him about making those kind of faces.
Why is it that the fine televangelists, like Robertson, pray for political decisions or money, but never (at least in my mind) for something like ending hunger or suffering?
Adam B...
Because if he prayed for ending hunger and suffering he would be out of a job (that is if hunger and suffering all of a sudden went away). At least he is being honest when he is praying for political decisions and money.
As a point of contrast see how the conservative PCA denomination dealt with this situation:
I remember that post. A wise course of action on the PCA's part. There is a delicate balance between the role of moral leadership and getting too immersed in "worldly" affairs. Robertson became "unbalanced" quite a while ago.