The scale of the devastation from the earthquake in Haiti is yet to be measured, but we know already that the degree of human suffering will be incalculable. In the face of this, one of the most oft-reported responses from an American religious leader was, to many, criminally callous. The RD blog lit up with response, so here, in alphabetical order, our writers reflect on ignorance, Haitian religion, and the scandal of Pat Robertson. —The Eds.
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Anthea Butler | Pat Robertson and the Curse of Unyielding Ignorance
When I heard the news about the earthquake in Haiti, I spoke on the phone with another RD writer, Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado, and said, “just wait. I know that this ‘Curse Of Vodou’ crap is going to hit the news sooner or later.”
Lo and behold, good old predictable Charismatic lunatic Pat Robertson is leading the pack once again.
If you can’t stand to watch the clip, here’s the quote from Media Matters:
PAT ROBERTSON: And, you know, Kristi, something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, “We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.” True story. And so, the devil said, “OK, it’s a deal.”
And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other. Desperately poor. That island of Hispaniola is one island. It’s cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti; on the other side is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, et cetera. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. They need to have and we need to pray for them a great turning to God. And out of this tragedy, I’m optimistic something good may come. But right now, we’re helping the suffering people, and the suffering is unimaginable.
KRISTI WATTS (co-host): Absolutely, Pat.
This narrative of a curse hanging over Haiti is because of a legend, which holds that in order to win independence from France in 1791, a vodun priest, Dutty Boukman, entered into a pact with the devil. But no historical evidence has been put forth to substantiate this claim. Boukman prayed, and raised a call to arms against the French, yet the pact with the devil part is absent from the original narratives of the story. For Pat Robertson to infer that this legend is why Haiti is cursed, poor, impoverished, and subject to national disasters is the worst kind of demonically-fixated, Charismatic-lite ignorance.
Using “demons” to explain natural disasters is not anything new. What is new is how the language of the demonic has been used to describe a natural disaster that happens to anyone other than a Christian, and often, a Christian of European extraction. It is on par with the notion of “Slave-holding Christianity” about which Frederick Douglass spoke so eloquently in “What to a slave is the Fourth of July.” What’s more, this narrative of “curse” is used often to remind any person of color that if you go up against the white man, God is most likely to punish you in perpetuity. A recent example of this narrative of demonic activity was used by John Hagee and others to explain away what happened in Hurricane Katrina back in 2005.
This narrative of radicalized supremacy and good old ignorance that permeates certain sectors of Pentecostalism and Charismatic movements is masked in statements like Robertson’s. To the faithful, it sounds like truth: after all, look at all the missionaries there, trying to save the poor black benighted souls of those people. Never mind the fact that Haiti has been a Catholic stronghold, or that missionaries from various groups have been on the island for generations. And yes, people practice Vodun, but so what? In a disaster, help should not be predicated upon what a person’s belief system is. As President Obama said in his remarks on Haiti, “Finally, let me just say that this is a time when we are reminded of the common humanity that we all share.” In disastrous times, doctrinal purity is not at issue. Those in need want help. The evidence: news reports of cries, prayers, and hymns singing throughout the night. But that sounds like devil worshippers to Pat.
Aid agencies on the ground are trying to hold things together until urgent rescue and medical assistance can get there. So while Robertson pontificated from his cozy studios in Virginia Beach, do the people of Haiti a favor and donate money to the cause (here is a list of aid groups seeking donations). I hope to follow this post up with some on-the-ground information from contacts when it becomes available. Until then, perhaps there is a prayer that can be said that will knock the power out from the studios of The 700 Club. That’s a prayer worth saying for sure.
Becky Garrison | Pat Robertson: No Longer a Relevant Player
When I received a press release from the People for the American Way (PFAW) titled, “PFAW Condemns Robertson’s Comments on Haiti Earthquake,” I wondered to myself why any leader who claimed to be a Christian would say that the nation of Haiti has been cursed ever since it “swore a pact to the Devil.”
In my book Red and Blue God, Black and Blue Church: Eyewitness Accounts of How American Churches are Hijacking Jesus, Bagging the Beatitudes, and Worshipping the Almighty Dollar
For instance, let’s take a look at the pronouncements of televangelist Pat Robertson. In his teaching on the Greatest Commandment, Robertson proclaims that “a person must dedicate the totality of his being to a self-giving love for God. Every aspect of his nature must focus on loving God.” Say what? I mean, is this the same Pat Robertson who in August 2005 issued a Christian fatwa against a democratically-elected world leader? I would challenge anyone to tell me what is “loving” about declaring to a worldwide televised audience that “if [Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez] thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it.” Robertson later apologized, but halfheartedly. He tried to weasel out of it by claiming that he didn’t really say we should assassinate him but that our “special forces should take him out.” Millions of viewers who saw the show or a tape of that segment know exactly what he said—that it would be cheaper to assassinate Chavez than to wage a costly war against him. But no matter how you slice this baloney, God makes it pretty clear that vengeance is his business and not ours. (See Romans 12:19–21). In a few brief moments, Robertson managed to flush over two thousand years of Judeo-Christian teachings down the toilet.
Tags: earthquake, haiti, pat robertson, vodou
What is happening in our country? Instead of helping these people to recover from this drastic catastrophe, we are fighting each other. I just hope that this fighting will stop and find in ourselves to forget our differences and help them. I think if we do that we will recover from this since we need it very badly especially that the Doomsday Clock was moved. On Thursday, January 14th, the heads of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago will reset the Doomsday Clock. Currently, we're at 5 minutes to midnight (midnight representing utter disaster such as nuclear war) and we've never been closer than 2 minutes to midnight. It only gets moved when the Bulletin sees fit – so you can't get a couple payday loans and get them to induce panic. The Doomsday Clock, for those that missed it, was established in the late 1940s at the beginning of the Cold War when Russia became the second nuclear power in the world, and things took a turn.
I have it on good authority that the seven dwarfs were digging deep into the earth to find jewels for Snow White. Grumpy's ax hit into the fault line and caused the whole thing.
According to Haitian national history, the revolutionary war was launched on the eve of a religious ceremony at a place in the north called Bwa Kayiman (Bois Caiman, in French). At that ceremony on August 14, 1791, an African slave named Boukman sacrificed a pig, and both Kongo and Creole spirits descended to possess the bodies of the participants, encouraging them and fortifying them for the upcoming revolutionary war. Despite deep ambivalence on the part of intellectuals, Catholics, and the moneyed classes, Vodou has always been linked with militarism and the war of independence and, through it, the pride of national sovereignty.
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