02/02/2006: This morning, on Good Morning America, “Hurricane” Pat Robertson explained his recent cases of cerebral flatulence. His explanation: he tends to “ad lib”.
Funny…Billy Graham–even with Parkinson’s Disease–rarely suffers from cerebral flatulence. (In the 1970s, he made some remarks against American Jews, but has long-since apologized for them.)
Sadly, Robertson’s actions reflect a long-standing pattern of conduct. It would be one thing if he occasionally put his foot in his mouth. Unfortunately, it’s far worse than that: he has diarrhea of the mouth.
While I don’t know Pat Robertson personally, I’ve known ministers like him: they have forgotten that they are ministers. Pat Robertson has transformed himself from minister to political hack to enterpreneur to self-anointed prophet. He is a successful businessman with everything from a television show to a fully-accredited college with a law school to his own line of diet shakes. He even ran for President in 1988, making a strong showing in the Iowa Caucus.
His television program is all about Pat Robertson. What’s wrong with that picture?
Against that backdrop, is it any surprise that he runs off at the mouth on political matters, recklessly applying a warped brand of American evangelicalism–specially crafted for television–to current politics?
Pat needs to do more than apologize; he needs to ditch his business ventures, get out of the business of political activism, and back into legitimate ministry. If he does that, then he might actually convey a theology that is distinctly Christian.