He called for Hugo Chávez to be assassinated. And a year after the attacks on the Twin Towers, he said that the Muslims were worse than the Nazis. And that Putin was forced by God to invade Ukraine. Provocative and ultra-conservative, the American evangelical preacher Pat Robertson died this Thursday. She was 93 years old.
Of conservative views that are often extreme, Robertson, “television host, educator, humanitarian and former presidential candidate, passed away at his Virginia Beach home early Thursday morning,” said The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), the network he created.
popular television preacherfounded the CBN channel in 1960, where he presented a very conservative daily program, “The 700 Club”, which, he said, had an average audience of one million people.
Republican presidential candidate in 1988also founded Christian Coalition, an organization known for his opposition to abortion and his fight for prayer in schools. That organization became a key political pressure group in the 1990s.
The Christian Coalition had nearly 4 million members in 1994, according to The New York Times, but lost nearly half in the 2000s and his influence dwindled a lot.
Born in 1930, Robertson often caused controversy with his extremist comments.
In 2002, a year after the 9/11 attacks, he said that Muslims were worse than Nazis, and in 2005 he called for the assassination of then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, whom he accused of having financed Osama bin Laden.
Candidacy
Robertson was considered one of the most influential personalities among the christian electorate in the country and according to The New York Times, he pushed these voters to a large extent so that the Republicans achieved a majority in both Houses of Congress in 1994.
He himself tried unsuccessfully to achieve the presidential candidacy for the Republican Party in 1988, for which he had even resigned as pastor.
despite that failure remained an active political militant and founded the Christian Coalition, which boosted the Christian voter base among Republicans in subsequent years.
He had thousands of followers across the country. but also many detractors for his incendiary speeches.
Robertson’s ventures also included Regent University, an evangelical Christian school in Virginia Beach; the American Center for Law and Justice, which advocates for the First Amendment rights of religious people; and Operation Blessing, an international humanitarian organization.
Money poured in when he solicited donations, his influence skyrocketed, and he attracted a large following when he jumped directly into politics by seeking the presidential nomination in 1988.
Robertson pioneered the now common strategy of court network of evangelical christian churches from Iowa and finished in second place in the Iowa primary, ahead of Vice President George H. W. Bush.
His coup was to insist that three million supporters across the United States sign petitions before he decided to run, Robertson biographer Jeffrey K. Hadden said. Tactics gave him an army.
“He asked people to commit to working for him, to pray for him and to give him money,” Hadden, a sociologist at the University of Virginia, told The Associated Press in 1988. “Political historians can see him as one of the most nifty things a candidate ever did.”
Robertson then endorsed Bush, who won the presidency.
Trump, his guest
One of Robertson’s innovations was to use the secular format of talk show on the “Club 700” show, which grew out of a telethon when Robertson asked 700 viewers for monthly contributions of $10.
“Here is a well-educated person having sophisticated conversations with a wide variety of guests on a wide variety of topics,” said John C. Green, emeritus professor of political science at the University of Akron. “It was religiously inflected to be sure. But it was an approach that took on the daily worries”.
His guests eventually included several presidents from USA: Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump.
At times, his on-air pronouncements drew criticism.
In addition to comparing Muslims to Nazis, he said that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were caused by Godangry about federal courts, pornography, abortion rights and the separation of church and state.
Speaking again about 9/11 on his television show a year later, Robertson described Islam as a violent religion that wants to “dominate” and “destroy”, prompting President George W. Bush to distance himself and say that Islam it is a peaceful and respectful religion.
AFP and Associated Press
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