Haiti relief effort and Pat Robertson

 

Most of you have heard by now the radical thing said by TV evangelist Pat Robertson. In speaking about the earthquake, he said that the Haitians had, long ago, made a pact with the devil. I was curious what he was talking about, so I did a little research.

It turns out that this "legend" has been around for a long time. The Haitians revolted against the French in 1791 and, as the story goes, made a deal with the devil to get out from under French rule. Now while. Rev. Robertson is relatively old, I don't think he was around during those times, so it seems he's just passing along stories he's heard (isn't that gossip?) What's really sad is that the rest of his comments were overshadowed by this statement. After this incindeary statement, Roberson went on to say that "we need to pray for them (always a good idea) a great turning to God (good for everyone) and out of this tragedy I'm optimistic something good may come. (Wait - did he say something good?) But right now we are helping the suffering people (he's helping?) and the suffering is unimaginable."

That's right, Robertson's people started helping immediately after the quake.

I can't say I have ever watched an episode of the 700 Club (Robertson's show). I've probably watched parts of it, but I just couldn't handle his type of evangelism. I think he's wrong on a lot of accounts. Mainly, I think he needs to study Romans 14:19 and focus on edifying people instead of saying things that come out as hateful. I have no idea of the leaders in Haiti in 1791 signed a deal with the devil and frankly I don't care. Neither should Rev. Robertson.

Now, I have a question about the relief effort. There have been reports that there are people upset with how long it is taking to get supplies and relief into Haiti. Some have even gone so far as to draw analogies to Katrina, the Indian Tsunami in 2004. Why doesn't someone in power (special nod and wink to Pres. Obama) draft and publish a guideline of what a relief effort looks like along with a timeline. Sure, ever situation is unique, but if we know it takes 6-9 days to provide food to 10,000 people, then we can properly judge the response or lack of response.

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