I have a certain amount of sympathy for most Christians. Because I believe that, no matter what they say and do, they aren’t really in full control of their thoughts and actions. Because of this powerful fear they’ve been taught, they’ve given over control of their lives to others, people they hope really understand how to live and act.
In fact, I feel this same way about great numbers of religious ministers. I can barely imagine how torturous it must be to not really know what’s true or not true, and to have to pretend to your flock that you know exactly what you’re doing and that you have every right to be there telling THEM what’s true and not true, what’s good and not good.
In other words, I don’t think most Christian ministers are liars or con men. I think they have perfected themselves as Christians to the point that they really can’t tell what’s true or not, and cling to their Christian dogma with relentless hope that it’s the real thing. I think most of them WANT it to be true, so much so that they’re able to overlook discrepancies and logical lapses. And I think after a while — with habituation, likely with rewiring of the brain — it all probably gets easier and more automatic.
But there are certain people I’m damned sure are vicious con men, people with so little conscience that they feel nothing at all about bilking some elderly woman out of her retirement money with a religious scam.
Pat Robertson has had a long career as one of those people. Don’t ever think he does the things he does because he’s stupid, or ignorant, or doesn’t know what he’s saying or doing. I really believe the man is fully conscious of what he does, which is to deliberately and without concern lie to people, frightening and confusing them to get their money. He is so deeply without conscience that vicious sociopaths look at him and go “Damn! That Pat Robertson is COLD!”
And now he has weighed in on the election:
Christian conservative leader Pat Robertson says he has a secret straight from God: He knows who the next president of the United States will be.
“I think He showed me about the next president, but I’m not supposed to talk about that so I’ll leave you in the dark — probably just as well — but I think I know who it’s gonna be.”
And then, blah, blah, blah Obama is the devil, etc.
Robertson said that God told him the nation’s downfall would be triggered by an economic collapse. He suggested that God told him this would come about if Obama was elected to another term.
“And God said, this is not my judgment, they are bringing it upon themselves,” Robertson explained.
This bit was especially interesting:
Your country will be torn apart by internal stress. A house divided cannot stand. Your president holds a radical view of the direction of your country which is at odds with the majority. Expect chaos and paralysis. Your president holds a view which is at the odds with the majority — it’s a radical view of the future of this country, and so that’s why we’re having this division.
I’m guessing that’s God talking to Brother Pat — “Your president” — and the interesting thing is, God didn’t tell Pat that the country was going to hell because President Obama was breaking the Commandments, or blaspheming, or you know, not reading his Bible and going to church on Sunday.
No, the country is going to hell because Obama is doing things AT ODDS WITH THE MAJORITY.
So after a long biblical history of kings, commandments from the mountaintop and absolute power over the heavens and the earth, suddenly God is revealed as a staunch believer in democracy.
Or so Pat says.