Truth Bombs

The recent earthquake in Haiti has left the country in devastation, to the point where the great city of Port au Prince is no longer recognizable, and many of its citizens remain stranded among the wreckage of their former homes, undoubtedly praying for rescue. Untold numbers of dead lie beneath the ravaged landscape. This is the kind of event that leaves everyone speechless, reeling from the unimaginable cruelty of fate and the fearsome power of nature. The pronounced suffering has sent aftershocks through the consciences of the world, leaving people eager to help despite their shaken faith.

     One of the central questions that spiritual people face is, "How can one continue to love a God who does something so horrible to people who've already suffered enough? If God loves all His children, why is the world so unfair for so many of them?"

     Lucky for Evangelical Christians, Televangelist Pat Robertson is always at the ready with words of consolation. Last Wednesday on the Robertson-owned Christian Broadcasting Network's talk program, "The 700 Club," Robertson said, of the tragedy in Haiti:

     "Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it," Robertson began as his pretty co-host nodded like a good Christian wife. "They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you'll get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it's a deal."

     Now I'm suspicious of any "true story" that features Satan in any literal, corporeal, deal-wheeling incarnation, because there's no proof that the devil exists, let alone gets involved with politics. However, even if I grant that perhaps Mr. Robertson was speaking of a metaphorical deal with a metaphorical devil, his remarks are nevertheless absurd in this context.

     In the televangelist's reckoning, this exchange with Beelzebub rendered the entire nation of Haiti "cursed" thereafter, which of course explains their poverty and troubled history. It was the devil who is responsible for Haiti's quandary, not post-colonial neglect, crippling economic sanctions, centuries of oppression, governmental corruption, or even shifting tectonic plates. Furthermore, it is the Haitians' own damn fault for dealing with the devil; after all, they should have known that their devil is a real slippery trickster.

     That is precisely what Pat Robertson, one of the most influential religious leaders in the country, a man who can hold the pious ears and eyes of millions of American worshippers at his disposal, believes. Is that the Holy Spirit I feel? No, wait, it's a rage seizure.

     Historically speaking, Robertson is referring to the 1791 Slave Uprising of Saint Domingue, the incendiary strike that sparked the Haitian Revolution. The "Deal with the Devil" that Robertson insists Haitians made was actually an infamous Vodoun ritual that preceded a bloody campaign wherein the escaped slaves seized control of the land from their former masters. I guess I can forgive Roberston's ignorance of Haitian Vodou (which is essentially a hybrid of Catholicism and traditional African Shamanism), as his belief structure champions ignorance and lends itself to xenophobia.

     According to Robertson's corrupt ideology, all non-Christians are Hell-bound, and the suffering people of the world deserve adversity because they don't believe what Pat Robertson believes. I would posit that Mr. Robertson's belief system (Christian dominionism) has degenerated to the point where he will blame the victims of tragedies to minimize the cognitive dissonance his followers experience when trying to make sense of a tragedy.

     Pat Robertson and his ilk have sidestepped potential existential crises among their flock by coming up with reasons that God hates the afflicted. When horrified Americans were still reeling from the senseless tragedy of 9/11, Robertson was there to blame it all on his political rivals.

     For example, did you know homosexuality and social tolerance thereof causes hurricanes? In the aftermath of Katrina, Pat Robertson comforted a shell-shocked nation by assuring everyone that it was the indulgence of the gays, rather than structural disrepair and torrential rainstorms, that had flooded the levees and drowned a historic city.

It's a handy rhetorical strategy for a Christian dominionist who believes Christians are endowed with a divine right to rule. Instead of reconciling their faith with the grim, tragic realities of life in God's world, Robertson's flock can take arrogant comfort in his callous words. Rather than be overcome by guilt or empathy, they are filled with the self-satisfaction that, yet again, being a white Christian in America has paid off.