Posted on 11/10/2005 6:23:12 PM PST by lightman
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) - Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town Thursday that disaster may strike there because they "voted God out of your city" by ousting school board members who favored teaching intelligent design.
All eight Dover, Pa., school board members up for re-election were defeated Tuesday after trying to introduce "intelligent design" - the belief that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power - as an alternative to the theory of evolution.
"I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God. You just rejected him from your city," Robertson said on the Christian Broadcasting Network's "700 Club."
Eight families had sued the district, claiming the policy violates the constitutional separation of church and state. The federal trial concluded days before Tuesday's election, but no ruling has been issued.
Later Thursday, Robertson issued a statement saying he was simply trying to point out that "our spiritual actions have consequences."
"God is tolerant and loving, but we can't keep sticking our finger in his eye forever," Robertson said. "If they have future problems in Dover, I recommend they call on Charles Darwin. Maybe he can help them."
Robertson made headlines this summer when he called on his daily show for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
In October 2003, he suggested that the State Department be blown up with a nuclear device. He has also said that feminism encourages women to "kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."
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There are also some on this board who think it is a good to force crises on other people, for redemptive purposes.
They know who they are and I am not insinuating you are one of them.
That's "redemption."
Yep, it was an outright lie. ID never was about science, only about trying to run an end run around the Constitution and get their faith promoted in public schools.
And the Dover trial has shown us how too many creationists will lie to promote their faith.
I haven't seen that on this board. Maybe I was reading different comments.
I'm sure you never meant to paint all atheists with such a broad brush since it carries quite a sting when it's turned on you.
Liars? The only liars in the Dover case were the creationists on the board.
They lied in the depositions, and they perjured themselves repeatedly on the stand. You'd think with all that practice lying, they'd be better at it....
I'm posting a reply to my own post to try to make a point from scripture. In Luke 13:1-8 the Wonderful Counselor makes what I feel is an overlooked point. Jesus did not say like so many today that a disaster was Gods judgement... you know, like those who come out later and say God is sending a message. And then there are those who give out warning prophecies that don't have a "Thus says the Lord." after them.
In the passage Yeshua clearly shows us not to speculate on such things but rather to bear fruit. Pat Robertson is in my observation a servant of the Lord in that he preaches the Gospel. It is only a matter of time before U.S. christians will be persecuted for believing in Christ. Do servants of the Lord make mistakes that can get them persecuted and even killed?
Yup.
(He maketh his rain to fall on the good and the evil... and the sun to shine on the just and the unjust.)
2And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?
3I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
4Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
5I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Was Pat right or wrong to say what he said? I don't know. But my opinion is that one should definately distinguish between a message from The Lord and personal opinion. (The prophets ran and I did not send them...)
Perhaps he doesn't care.
Pat was just making a point
I totallly understood it
man, people take his words way too seriously
The point was, these same folks who turn away from God today will be begging for Him the next disaster
All he said was for the good people of Dover to be consistent: Don't turn to God when bad times hit since when they had the opportunity to simply acknowledge the possiblity that the world just may have been created rather than come into existence by sheer happenstance, then they are on their own when and if some unpleasant circumstances find their way to Dover.
I see no problem with that. If folks want nothing to do with God when things are good, then that goes for the bad times too. I don't see what all the fuss is about.
After all, we can see for ourselves the vast improvement in the public schools already from thirty-some years ago when America began kicking God out of the schools. If it's this good just from keeping kids from praying, how much better can it get telling kids that they were spawned from pond scum and their lives basically have no meaning?
"To defend liars as paragons of rightouesness is just incomprehensible to me...as is the fact that self described Christians would consider it justifiable to lie, deceive, and delude in the pursuit of what they consider to be truth!"
I believe there is a Commandment in the Decalogue about not bearing false witness. Perhaps Robertson sees penumbras and emanations that provide an exemption for perjury in the name of defending Intelligent Design.
Is Pat Robertson trying to get God on the Homeland Security Department's terrorist watch list?
I have to agree w/ that. He makes one outrageous statement after another. He does Christians no favors.
Rightwing Conspiratr1: "Christians are liars and semi-retarded so even if you increased the font size about 5 times and turned on blinking it wouldn't help. They still babble about Adolf Hitler being a model Atheist."
jess35: "I'm sure you never meant to paint all atheists with such a broad brush since it carries quite a sting when it's turned on you."
As my niece once told me: "Keep your words soft and sweet, in case you have to eat them." ;)
The mainstream media watches "The 700 Club." I guess they
were watching when he talked about "taking out" Chavez. (The
guy that incited the rioters in Argentina last week) This reminds me of how talk show hosts take comments like Dick
Durbin's about how we treat terrorists and spreads them around to the discredit of Democrats. Someone on the left is using the mainstream media to discredit Robertson because
they consider the "religious right" the enemy and as a counter to what conservatives do with Barbara Streisand,
Michael Moore, George C.Looney, etc. Interesting tactic..
But I am suspicious that this was designed by the left to
take the wind out of the news stories and even editorial
that appeared in the "Daily Rectum" here questioning the
union demand for a 19 percent pay increase and their nearly
5-thousand dollars in support for the new board members. Not to mention the voting machine that failed and probably
didn't count 100 votes for an incumbent who may have actually won the election. This could have been a story that was leaked by the left to the mainstream media or the increasingly activist mainstream media decided to play the role of Rush and take quotes by their enemies to discredit them.
You'll have to point me to chapter and verse in the Bible where it says if you don't teach intelligent design in natural science class you are turning away from God.
jess35: "I'm sure you never meant to paint all atheists with such a broad brush since it carries quite a sting when it's turned on you."
As my niece once told me: "Keep your words soft and sweet, in case you have to eat them." ;)
Thanks both of you liars for rewriting my post and attributing it to me. Scum of the earth.
As a Christian, Robertson sure doesn't speak for me. He's nuttier than a fruitcake.
Pat Robertson often reminds me of PETA. Outrageous comments for free publicity.
As for New Orleans, then, you seem to be suggesting that God has bad aim. The French Quarter survived nearly intact. More churches destroyed than whorehouses.
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