This is not about agreeing or disagreeing on a public issue. This is about calling on the government to conduct state-sponsered assassination. As horrible as Chavez is, it's not appropriate for a man of the cloth to be calling for such a thing. If Pat Robertson were an intelligence agent or analyst, it would be different. But men of the cloth are about saving souls and ministering to troubled people. Robertson should know better.
You are probably more qualified to decide what it is appropriate for a preacher to advocate than I am, as I'm very agnostic- though I hold out hope there's something beyond.
My point is: for that reason, I'm not interested in whether a preacher should say such things- I'm only interested in whether or not he's right. From my perspective men of the cloth are not disallowed by their vocation from saying controversial things that are right, nor are they permitted to wrap themselves in a cloak of moral authority to deflect criticism when they're wrong.
I heard Bill O'Reilly lamenting Robertson's intrusion into
the realm of reality (or geopolitics, if that's more polite) by saying something to the effect that Jesus wasn't walking around advocating assassinations, and that if Jesus wanted Chavez dead, he could turn out the guy's lights in a split-second. Sadly, Jesus doesn't have a very impressive record of doing so. I won't insult anyone's intelligence by listing all the dictators Jesus has failed to 86 before they wreaked unimaginable horror on mankind. I will point out that the U.S. military has been rather more proactive. And the elimination of evil has obviously been the duty of Man since time immemorial.
So, is Robertson right? I think he probably is, although IF he is, he just eliminated the possibility that U.S. Special OPS would try it now. A ten-ton weight dropping comically onto Chavez's head at his next Commie rally would be seen by the entire world as a U.S. action.
Dear Pat, shut the hell.... I mean heck...up.