The religion of murder

Pat Robertson

Pat Robertson does it again, and this time, people noticed. In remarks on a broadcast yesterday, the Reverend Marion “Pat” Robertson stated that “we” should exercise our abilty to murder a sitting head of state, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Why? Robertson says Chavez would turn Venezuela into “the launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism.”

Communist infiltration? If there was any doubt that Robertson is now losing touch with reality just as he long ago lost touch with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, this is proof.

While the world reacts with shock, I’m simply disgusted. Almost exactly one year ago (on August 20, 2004), Robertson also called for the deliberate killing of a specific person, another cleric who feels murder is easily justifiable, Ayatollah Muktada al-Sadr. When I posted this entry then, I felt like I was alone in opposing him. Perhaps now that people are aware that we have our own ayatollah of hatred in Virginia Beach, we will become more motivated to find peaceful solutions.

And peaceful solutions to our problems will elude us as long as the internal forces in our hearts are filled with hatred, selfish desire, greed, and power-lust. For that, we need to empty ourselves before God.

I hesitate before posting a blog like this when I am calling attention to the shortcomings of another. On one hand, I strongly oppose Robertson’s statements, and I feel obligated to draw awareness to his associations with dictators and mass murderers such as Charles Taylor (see links toward the bottom of this post), yet I am in no way superior to Brother Pat, no matter how vociferously I may oppose his remarks.

Nor do I bear any ill-will to him as a person. I met him once while he was jogging, and we exchanged a pleasant wave. The fact is that I am Pat Robertson, as well as Hugo Chavez, and the animosity which they manifest is no different in its kind nor in its source, than that which I hide or manifest.

I believe this is the reason why meditation is so important. It is the spiritual emptying which allows the Spirit of God to fill and cleanse. It acts immediately upon the heart, and with practice and determination?upon the hidden prejudices, fears, and cravings of the mind.

When one no longer looks at religion as “belief systems,” it’s plain to see that there are only two: the religion of love, and that of fear. God, help me to be filled with your spirit of love.