When I watched the clip below, I felt like I had to comment. Then after reading Donald Miller’s response to Pat Robertson, I calmed down a bit, not to say I was jumping around with flailing arms or anything…but you get the point. Both Pat Robertson and I have our own problems. So I’ll try not to overly judge or condemn his actions. But do check out Don’s article for what I felt was a wise caution, and a much-needed counterbalance to what was said, and the reactions it could naturally spark!
For those of you who hadn’t heard, Pat Robertson, leading evangelical figure in Christianity, basically blamed the unfortunate disaster that took place in Haiti, on the fact that they made some sort of “Pact with the devil” many years ago, in order to obtain independence from French rule.
Watch Pat Robertson’s statement below, and also the response, in an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, by the Haitian Ambassador Raymond Joseph:
It’s statements like Pat Robertson’s, that make it increasingly clear that how someone views God can definitely manifest itself in their faith and view of the world. Not to mention cause an immense amount of justifiable confusion as to what true Christianity is really all about. This may be an extreme example of a calloused, vengeful, and quick-to-condemn orientation to our fellow neighbors, but in so many ways, much of Christianity, and other Abrahamic faiths have been hijacked, or mischaracterized by the hateful views of, arguably, a minority representation.
Tony Campolo, who Donald Miller mentioned in his essay, gave an interview a couple years ago, that highlighted an alternative view of what Christianity could look like. One that is authenticated by its response to situations like the suffering in Haiti and the rest of the world.
What does your Christianity say to the injustice in the world? What does it say to the evil that occurred in Haiti, and also occurs within the 10 mile radius surrounding your church?
It’s interesting, because even as I type this, I feel the tension, even within my soul. The tension that reels against the yawn of complacency and apathy. The tension that confronts the part in me that finds it easier to critique the faults of organized religion, while finding comfort in talking about loving while not always getting around to doing, and being love.
When I confront the images of little children piled muddy and motionless in the back of a pickup truck, they in turn, confront me. They confront me in my cookie cutter, and clean view of the world as an American. They confront how I choose to spend my money, and my time. They call me to reconcile a God who loves, with the God of vengeance and wrath described in the in bible. They confront and threaten my desire to remain isolated from the hurt, disease and the darkness of life, and remain under the warm blanket of a tradition or ritual that often refuses to get its hands dirty. It whispers within me, that for any heaven to be real, it must begin now.
I guess we all have those choices to make. Does our faith allow us to go to church week after week, without confronting what’s outside? Peter Rollins refers to this sort of insulated religiosity in one of his parable’s from The Orthodox Heretic as “armchair artists who spend their time creating images of a better world,” but never actually change it.
The Focus Now
Anyway…In this time, where many of my friends, are actually missing family, have lost loved ones, or are grieving because of how close this hits home, I only pause to consider the larger implications of what Pat Robertson’s comments can show us, but I will not become distracted by anger towards politically driven, or calloused views by some, nor will I remain complacent to what true Christianity, or any of the Abrahamic traditions that believe in love, now, at this most pressing hour of Haiti’s need, and also in the hours, and in the needs ahead for all of mankind. This is what I try to keep before me.
Let our faith and love work.
35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
List of organizations, and information on how to support Haiti and its citizens at this time:
Guide to Intelligent Giving: Charity Navigator.org
A great organization on the ground, before and currently in Haiti: ADRA
A list of charitable organizations active in Haiti
Written by Veron Graham
Topics: Religion(less?), truth/Truth