Pat Robertson, a religious broadcaster who turned a small station in Virginia into the global Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) and helped make religion a centerpiece of Republican Party politics in the United States through his Christian Coalition , died. He was 93 years old.
Robertson’s death was announced by his broadcaster on Thursday. No cause was given.
Robertson’s companies also included Regent University, an evangelical Christian school in Virginia Beach; the American Center for Law and Justice, which defends the religious rights of Christians; and Operation Blessing, an international humanitarian organization. He also tried to run for president.
For more than half a century, Robertson was a familiar presence in American living rooms, known for his television show The 700 Club, and in later years, his televised pronouncements on God’s judgment, blaming natural disasters on everything , from homosexuality to the teaching of evolution. .
Anti-Muslim statements
Robertson regularly made anti-Muslim statements, especially after the September 11, 2001 attacks, helping to make Islamophobia pervasive in the Republican Party.
The late pastor attacked Muslims, Islam and Prophet Muhammad over the years. He called the religion a “monumental scam” in 2002. He has often warned that Islam’s goal is “world domination”, fueling conspiracy theories that Muslim immigrants want to take over of western societies.
In 2013, he compared Islam to Nazism, urging policymakers to “identify our enemy” as the US did during World War II.
His American Center for Law and Justice helped lead legal opposition in 2010 to a planned Muslim community center in New York City because of its proximity to the World Trade Center buildings that collapsed in the attacks September 11
The developers eventually abandoned the downtown plan after national pressure from right-wing groups.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an advocacy group, previously denounced what it called Robertson’s “bigoted and hateful views.”
“His legacy is a powerful reminder of the urgent need for greater understanding and respect in our global dialogue on religion,” Abed Ayoub, executive director of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), told Al Jazeera on Thursday.
“Their problematic Islamophobic rhetoric often created unnecessary divisions in our society. We hope that in the future, religious leaders will strive to promote interfaith peace, empathy and understanding, rather than fostering fear and discrimination “.
Presidential campaign
But Robertson’s influence grew over the years and persisted in mainstream Conservative politics.
In 1988, he brought a large following when he moved directly into politics seeking the Republican presidential nomination.
Robertson pioneered the now-common strategy of courting Iowa’s network of evangelical Christian churches and finished second in the Iowa caucuses to Vice President George HW Bush.
Robertson’s masterstroke was insisting that three million supporters in the United States sign petitions before he decided to run, said Robertson biographer Jeffrey K Hadden. The tactic gave him an army.
“He asked people to pledge to work for him, pray for him and give him money,” Hadden, a sociologist at the University of Virginia, told The Associated Press in 1988. “Political historians can see as one of the wittiest things a candidate has ever done.”
Republican presidential candidate Pat Robertson announces suspension of 1988 campaign with son Tim and wife Dede [File: Steve Helber/AP photo]
Robertson later endorsed Bush, who won the presidency. The pursuit of evangelicals in Iowa, which holds the first caucuses every presidential election year, is now a ritual for Republican hopefuls, including those currently seeking the White House in 2024.
Robertson started the Christian Coalition in Chesapeake, Virginia in 1989, saying he would further the ideals of his campaign. The coalition became a major political force in the 1990s, mobilizing conservative voters through grassroots activities.
At the time of his resignation as chairman of the coalition in 2001, Robertson said he wanted to concentrate on ministerial work, his impact on both religion and politics in the US being “enormous”, according to John C Green, professor emeritus of political science at The University of Akron.
Many followed the path Robertson blazed in religious broadcasting, Green told the AP in 2021. In American politics, Robertson helped “consolidate the alliance between conservative Christians and the Republican Party.”
Robertson was born on March 22, 1930 in Lexington, Virginia to Absalom Willis Robertson and Gladys Churchill Robertson. His father served for 36 years as a United States Congressman and Senator from Virginia.
Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole, left, greets Christian Coalition supporters with founder Pat Robertson during the 1988 presidential campaign [Courtesy Campaign Dole via Reuters]
One of Robertson’s innovations was to use the secular talk show format in his network’s flagship program, The 700 Club, which grew out of a telethon when Robertson asked 700 viewers for monthly contributions of $10. It was more suitable for television than traditional revival meetings or church services and gained a large audience.
His guests included several US presidents: Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump.
Controversial comments
At times, Robertson’s on-air statements provoked outrage.
He claimed that the terrorist attacks that killed thousands of Americans on September 11, 2001, were caused by God, angry over federal courts, pornography, abortion rights and church-state separation.
He called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in 2005. Later that year, he warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town not to be surprised if disaster struck them because they voted against council members school that favored the teaching of “intelligent design” over evolution. And in 1998, he said Orlando, Florida, should watch out for hurricanes after allowing the annual Gay Days event.
Although Robertson had been a staunch supporter of Israel, the Israeli government severed ties with him and groups associated with him in 2006 after he suggested that then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s stroke was divine punishment to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
Donald Trump is greeted by Pat Robertson at an event during Trump’s presidential campaign at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia on February 24, 2016. [File: Joshua Roberts/Reuters]
In 2014, he angered Kenyans when he warned that towels in Kenya could transmit AIDS. CBN issued a correction, saying Robertson “misspoke.”
Robertson could also be unpredictable: In 2010, he called for an end to mandatory prison sentences for marijuana possession convictions. Two years later, he told The 700 Club that marijuana should be legalized and treated like alcohol because the government’s war on drugs had failed.
Robertson condemned Democrats caught up in sex scandals, saying for example that President Bill Clinton turned the White House into a playground for sexual freedom. But he helped solidify evangelical support for Trump, dismissing the candidate’s sexually predatory comments about women as an attempt to “look like he’s male.”
After Trump’s inauguration, Robertson interviewed the president at the White House. But after Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020, Robertson said Trump was living in an “alternate reality” and should “move on,” the media reported.
Robertson’s son Gordon succeeded him in 2007 as CEO of CBN, which is now based in Virginia Beach. Robertson remained president of the network and continued to appear on The 700 Club.
Pat Robertson stepped down as show host in 2021 and Gordon took over the weekday show.
