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Television evangelist Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which Robertson opposed.

"He was dividing God's land, and I would say, 'Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the [European Union], the United Nations or the United States of America,'" Robertson told viewers of his long-running television show, "The 700 Club."

"God says, 'This land belongs to me, and you'd better leave it alone,'" he said.

Robertson's show airs on the ABC Family cable network and claims about 1 million viewers daily.

Sharon, 77, clung to life in a Jerusalem hospital Thursday after surgery to treat a severe stroke, his doctors said.

The prime minister, who withdrew Israeli settlers and troops from Gaza and parts of the West Bank last summer over heated objections from his own Likud Party, was breathing with the aid of a ventilator after doctors operated to stop the bleeding in his brain.

In Washington, President Bush offered praise for Sharon in a speech on Thursday.

"We pray for his recovery," Bush said. "He's a good man, a strong man. A man who cared deeply about the security of the Israeli people, and a man who had a vision for peace. May God bless him."

Daniel Ayalon, Israel's ambassador to the United States, compared Robertson's remarks to the overheated rhetoric of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (Full story)

He called the comments "outrageous" and said they were not something to expect "from any of our friends."

"He is a great friend of Israel and a great friend of Prime Minister Sharon himself, so I am very surprised," Ayalon told CNN.

Robertson, 75, founded the Christian Coalition and in 1988 failed in a bid for the Republican presidential nomination. He last stirred controversy in August, when he called for the assassination of Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez. (Full story)

Robertson later apologized, but still compared Chavez to Hitler and former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in the process.

The same month, the Anti-Defamation League criticized Robertson for warning that God would "bring judgment" against Israel for its withdrawal from Gaza, which it had occupied since the 1967 Mideast war.

Robertson said Thursday that Sharon was "a very likable person, and I am sad to see him in this condition."

He linked Sharon's health problems to the 1995 assassination of Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin, who signed the Oslo peace accords that granted limited self-rule to Palestinians.

"It was a terrible thing that happened, but nevertheless, now he's dead," Robertson said.

Rabin was gunned down by a religious student opposed to the Oslo accords. The killer, Yigal Amir, admitted to the crime and was sentenced to life in prison.

Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, criticized Robertson's comments Thursday, saying the televangelist "has a political agenda for the entire world."

"He seems to think God is ready to take out any world leader who stands in the way of that agenda," Lynn said in a written statement.

"A religious leader should not be making callous political points while a man is struggling for his life," he said. "I'm appalled."

Ralph Neas, president of liberal advocacy group People for the American Way, said "it is astonishing that Pat Robertson still wields substantial influence" in the Republican Party.

"Once again, Pat Robertson leaves us speechless with his insensitivity and arrogance," Neas said in a written statement.

According to The Associated Press, Robertson spokeswoman Angell Watts said of people who criticized the comments: "What they're basically saying is, 'How dare Pat Robertson quote the Bible?'"

"This is what the word of God says," Watts told the AP. "This is nothing new to the Christian community."
 
Blogger Onanite said...
Good old Pat Robertson. Can you imagine what he REALLY wants to say? Pat Robertson blames everything bad that happens in the world on the person or group of people he dislikes.

Katrina? God's wrath against the ungodly, especially gays. His hatred goes on and on. Earthquakes, tsunamis, floods. God is always punishing in Pat's eyes. Robertson is simply a man of hate.

What a moron. Well he is 75, so he won't last too much longer, soon his God of hate will take him out too.

Onanite


Anonymous Jim Lee said...
Sharon is an old man who more than likely will die in the very near future or remain a living vegetable unable to function as a normal human being. The supposed Christian God has nothing whatsoever to do in the matter. It's a simple fact of life that we all die one way or another. All of the supposed Gods past and present are no more than legends. People who make claim that they talk to a supposed God, and this supposed God talks to them, should be in the looney bin. They have a mental health problem


Anonymous Dave8 said...
It would not surprise me if Sharon was helped to the grave. It also doesn't surprise me, that a christian leader, with over a million tv viewers daily, spreads hatred. Religion is politics beyond reason, it just takes one person with an agenda, Paul, Pat Robertson, etc., to stand up and make a claim, and have enough ignorant people to follow them to give them power.

Pat Robertson is nothing but a failed politician, who took his agenda to the religious arena. His arrogance is unbridled. He has probably made comments in the past regarding the end times and how the holy lands were to be effected. With Sharon doing his thing, it contradicts Pat's prophesy. Anything, that contradicts Pat's prophesies, he attacks. He uses tsunami's etc., as "signs" of god. Almost humorous, when one looks at parts of the same bible he uses, as it states that using "signs" to predict the future is evil.

Lev.19:26 - Neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/interp/astrology.html

Okay, don't play with magic and don't engage in astrology. But, I'm sure Pat is going to use another passage, so he can continue to spew hatred and ignorance.

Mt.2:1-2 - Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

Well, Pat has no problem predicting the future in his little crystal ball. However, his time is short and so is his hatred and fetish for power.


Anonymous Anonymous said...
But Israel is God's land, this leaves 999999.9% of the other land to Satan. Pat this is Satan's land and you better get the fuck off before God unleases his wrath upon you, you old babbling ignorant wretched fool.


Anonymous SpaceMonk said...
I think Pat Robertson must actually be part of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy. He's putting in such a great effort to make christianity look so stupid.


Anonymous slingshot said...
How many times can a man put his foot in his mouth in public anyway?


Anonymous chris said...
Apparently lots, if you have a big enough mouth.


Blogger Mike said...
Spacemonk, you hit the nail right on the head.

The bible has been quoted constantly, not to promote peace and love, but to condone violence and hatred. The so-called christians (I really need to come up with an abreviation for them) have done so much damage to christianity they must be evil underground spies working for the devil. It' funny, I have found more in common with the exchristians at this site than I ever had with bible thumpin' believers and I am a believer.

I gotta tellya though I am just sick and tired of the fundies making my God look bad.

The bible is absolutely NOT THE WORD OF GOD!!!!!
THE GOD OF THE BIBLE DOES NOT EXIST!!!!!!!!
but there is a God.


Anonymous Scottnogod said...
Mike - Thankyou for your comment. One question though. You say there IS a God. How on earth can you say you know something unknowable.


Blogger Rising_L said...
Scottnogod do you have a belief?? i.e. do you believe that your girlfriend or wife or partner is the most beautiful person in the world? I'd guess you would. That doesn't mean they actually are!

Beliving the is a God is OK it's something you have to believe. I'm sure Mike believes in one! I do, but I dont for one second believe that the bible or religion, any religion, is right cause it is all created by man.

If Mike believes in a God because of a book then it is concievable to question that belief, whereas if he just feels it then thats up to him and anyone else for that matter.

I understand what you getting at tho!


Blogger Mike said...
Scottnogod, you make a good point. perhaps I can explain it this way. I know there is a sun in the sky and I know that when I drop a stone from my hand it will fall and strike the ground. These things I know because they can be observed. But, for a very long time we knew there was a planet called Pluto even though we couldn't see it. We knew it because of the behavior of gravitational pulls on visible stars and planets in the area ( I know my astronomy leaves a lot to be desired, forgive me) We didn't see it but we knew it existed because of the evidence.

I believe in God not because the bible says so but because evolution needed guidence. I don't believe the primordial soup could have reached the awesome creations it has simply by random chance. An object a rest tends to remain at rest unless acted upon. this, I believe is the evidence of the existence of God. The catalist and the intelligent guide of natural selection.


Anonymous Anonymous said...
I don't believe in the Bible God, but Jay Leno made a funny joke, and a good point this evening about Pat Robertson. He said,"If Sharon was punished by God with a stroke for separating Israel, well Robertson had prostate cancer a few years back does that mean God punished him for being a pain in the ass? Oh the hilarity and irony is a bitch.


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