Posted on 07/27/2003 3:02:30 PM PDT by Destro
Robertson: Bush Favors Muslims Over Baptist
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
July 11, 2003
Norfolk, Va. - Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson has accused President George W. Bush of "undermining a Christian, Baptist president to bring in Muslim rebels" by asking Liberian President Charles Taylor, recently indicted for war crimes, to step down.
"How dare the president of the United States say to the duly elected president of another country, 'You've got to step down'?" Robertson said Monday on "The 700 Club," broadcast from his Christian Broadcasting Network.
Robertson, a Bush supporter who has financial interests in Liberia, said he believes the State Department has "mismanaged the situation in nation after nation after nation" in Africa.
"So we're undermining a Christian, Baptist president to bring in Muslim rebels to take over the country," he said in the broadcast.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
The truth is, I moved to Virginia in 1992, where I ended up studying 4 years at Regent University, earning a master's degree in International Communication and another master's degree in Education. You can read my thesis by going to my website ( http://www.ijot.com ) and clicking on the "old writings" link.
Pat Robertson is the founder of Regent University, and his home is on the campus grounds.
A couple of years after I graduated, I was hired to work at CBN, the "mother ship" of Pat's companies. I worked for 2 years as one of the lead website developers for www.CBN.org , and read (and responded to) a lot of the incoming emails, followed CBN News and The 700 Club, and got a good sense of Pat and his management style and motivations and so on.
I've also worked on the Operation Blessing website, and the Flying Hospital website. I spent a few months in South America volunteering with Operation Blessing, training the staff on desktop publishing techniques and helping in other ways. I got to see "up close" another of the projects that Pat has had a hand in bringing about. I also worked for Bizinet, a Robertson-funded internet startup (which failed for lack of a good business plan) whose goal was to facilitate trade with Chinese industries.
During the 4 years I was at Regent, and the 2 years I was at CBN, I came to better understand who the man is, and have developed a fairly balanced view of the man. Pat's done a lot of good, and he's done some bad. Just like everyone. The thing is, when he moves his arms, it has a big effect: for good, or for bad.
I know how generous he is: When he sold The Family Channel, he gave $100 million to Regent University, and $100 million to WorldReach, an evangelical mission organization. He receives no salary for his work on The 700 Club. And so on.
And I know some of the mistakes he's made: Kalo Vita was a goofy pyramid scheme, like Amway. Some of the things he's said on The 700 Club (a news/variety show, not a "televangelist" show) are goofy and sweeping in their generalizations. A few years ago some superb Regent professors were laid off, and I thought it was a terrible decision. And his management style can be pretty heavy-handed, sometimes making decisions without being sufficiently informed.
For what it's worth, I disapprove of the fact that he doesn't regularly attend church (for security reasons, he says), although he *does* have pastoral oversight, which is a plus.
SO ... the reason I seem to be quick to "defend" Dr. Robertson (you know he's a law school grad, a son of a senator, right?) is because I've come to see him as a man who tries to do the Lord's will, who makes a lot of decisions with the motive of helping people, and who often ends up blessing many many many people, and sometimes ends up hurting many people.
If you're one to "knee-jerk" react against Pat Robertson whenever you read or hear something he's (supposedly) said, then I urge you to reevaluate what you know of the man. He's not a "televangelist." He's not greedy. He's an Christian entrepreneur businessman with a news/variety talk show, a grandfatherly man who wants to bless many, a man in the limelight whose words and actions affect in one day more people than most people will affect in a lifetime.
Please consider the above as the insight of someone who's been around Pat for over a decade.
Would you mind posting your proof for your accusations against Pat Robertson? I would like to see it and evaluate it.
That is my point and Robertson's point as well?? Bush is the one that wan'ts to butt in.
Or don't you read too good.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.