Pat Robertson, conservative evangelist and Christian Coalition founder, dies at 93
By: NBC News
he said god told him to run for POTUS in '88. apparently god forgot to tell him that he would lose. oops.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Pat Robertson, the conservative evangelist and media mogul who galvanized the modern Christian right, cultivated a massive national following and regularly drew criticism for his incendiary political statements, died Thursday, according to his official broadcasting network.
He was 93.
The Christian Broadcasting Network, the organization he founded, did not immediately announce Robertson's cause of death. "Pat Robertson dedicated his life to preaching the Gospel, helping those in need, and educating the next generation," the company said.
He was one of the most prominent and influential Christian broadcasters and entrepreneurs in the United States — equal parts religious leader and culture warrior.
Television evangelist and conservative political activist Pat Robertson speaks to a meeting of the Christian Coalition in Washington in 1994. Wally McNamee / Corbis via Getty Images file
In a way, Robertson was also a business visionary. He converted a small Virginia television station into a religious broadcasting powerhouse, marrying fiery ideology with 20th-century entertainment technology. He inspired other conservative Christians to take to the airwaves, too.
He created the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), home to the talk show "The 700 Club," and founded the Christian Coalition, a group that helped mobilize American evangelicals into a conservative political bloc and one of the cornerstones of the modern Republican Party.
Robertson reached the pinnacle of his national celebrity in the 1980s, when social conservatism was ascendant. He ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988, a contest ultimately won by George H.W. Bush. But he would remain a kingmaker in the GOP for decades to come, marshaling conservative Christians behind George W. Bush and Donald Trump.
Pat Robertson waves to supporters in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1988. Peter Southwick / AP
In his career, Robertson frequently attracted intense scrutiny for his political views and inflammatory public comments, earning a reputation as a right-wing provocateur.
Early in his 1988 presidential bid, he was criticized for appearing to exaggerate his military service record. In interviews at the time, Marine veterans claimed that Robertson, the son of a politician, used political influence to avoid hard combat duty. Robertson denied the allegations.
In the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Roberson and fellow televangelist Jerry Falwell were harshly condemned for appearing to put blame on abortion doctors, feminists, gay people and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Robertson came under fire in 2010 for falsely claiming that the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti that year was caused by enslaved Black people who made a "pact with the Devil" in the 18th century as they fought for liberation from French colonizers.
Marion Gordon Robertson was born March 22, 1930, in Lexington, Virginia. His father, Absalom Willis Robertson, served in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.
The younger Robertson graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1950. He became a reservist in the U.S. Marine Corps and eventually went into active duty, serving for roughly two years during the Korean War. He earned a law degree from Yale University in 1955.
In the years that followed, Robertson experienced a transformative religious awakening. He studied at New York Theological Seminary and graduated in 1959, then became an ordained Southern Baptist minister in 1961.
The same year, Robertson purchased a bankrupt UHF television station in Portsmouth, Virginia, which he rechristened the Christian Broadcasting Network. The channel went live on the air Oct. 1, 1961, when he was 31.
Five years later, CBN started production on "The 700 Club," a show that became synonymous with the channel, a mainstay of American television and one of the signature Christian-themed shows on the air.
"The 700 Club" was revolutionary for its time. In a departure from traditional Christian TV, the show embraced a talk-show format normally associated with secular entertainment. (The show was originally hosted by the popular televangelist Jim Bakker, who departed CBN in 1972.)
Pat Robertson in the control room for his 700 Club TV show. Wally McNamee / Corbis via Getty Images
Robertson grew CBN into a powerful entity and a go-to destination for politicians courting religious conservatives. Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump appeared as guests, according to the network.
CBN's footprint expanded with CBN University, a private Christian institution that opened its doors to students in 1978. Twelve years later, the school's name was changed to Regent University.
Robertson went deeper into the political fray in the 1980s. He sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1988, running against establishment figures, the senior Bush and Bob Dole, the party's presidential standard-bearer in 1996.
The evangelist focused his campaign on social issues at the heart of the modern conservative movement. He vocally opposed abortion rights, supported school prayer and stood against progressive culture writ large.
Robertson's bid got off to an unexpectedly strong start with a second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. But his campaign soon flamed out, and he won just four statewide nominating contests before dropping out of the race.
Bush ultimately clinched the nomination and won the presidency. Robertson had endorsed his candidacy and spoke at the party convention in August.
The six Republican presidential candidates, Alexander Haig, Vice President George Bush, Pierre du Pont, Jack Kemp, Bob Dole and Pat Robertson after their first joint debate on Firing Line in Houston.Bettmann Archive
Robertson continued to make his mark on Republican politics and the American political scene. The year after his failed presidential bid, he launched the Christian Coalition, a political advocacy group that advanced his aims and helped lead Republicans to a takeover of Congress in 1994.
He left the Christian Coalition in 2002. Five years later, he stepped down as chief executive of CBN and handed the position over to his son Gordon Robertson. The elder Robertson continued to host "The 700 Club" until 2021.
In recent years, Robertson remained one of the defining faces of the Christian right, beloved by conservative audiences. He prayed for Trump's win in the 2016 election and said people who opposed his candidacy were "revolting against what God's plan is for America."
He made occasional breaks from the conservative party line on certain issues. He called for an end to mandatory prison sentences for marijuana possession convictions, for example, and stated that "we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol."
Pat Robertson and his wife, Adelia "Dede" Elmer Robertson, at the Republican National Convention in Houston in 1992. NewsBase / via AP A
In the wake of Joe Biden's defeat of Trump in the 2020 presidential election, Robertson appeared to break with much of the conservative movement and reportedly chastised the ex-president for living in an "alternate reality." He implored Trump to "move on."
Robertson's wife, Dede Robertson, died last April at 94.
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religious scam artist and faith healer, allegations of stolen valor, worldwide supporter of war criminals...
more fun facts about pat...
lots of luck getting your camel thru the eye of that needle pat...
The 700 club is nothing but a political tool for the right.
welcome to the conservative xtian money laundry, where the only thing that gets cleaned are your pockets...
Real shame the old fart passed. Now who is going to blame feminists, abortionists, and LGBTQ when the next disaster happens?
... his bastard son?
Queer People are Dancing, Spitting, and Pissing on Pat Robertson's Grave
Not unexpected.
Perhaps not, but the quick burial was surprising.
he was probably considered a fire hazard...
[✘]
For sure Robertson was a very ignorant person and his whole life was blaming gays and blacks for everything bad that happens.
A Compendium of Statements That St. Peter Might Be Asking Pat Robertson to Explain
Farewell to a man who blamed LGBTQ people and people of color for virtually everything.
Televangelist Pat Robertson, who founded the Christian Broadcasting Network, died Thursday at age 93.
Robertson was one of the main drivers behind Christian conservatism’s entry into mainstream politics, introducing what would become some of modern Republicans’ favorite talking points , including blaming LGBTQ people and people of color for pretty much everything.
Here are nine statements Robertson made that he will probably have to explain at the pearly gates.
1. Gay people and abortion caused 9/11
Robertson hosted fellow televangelist Jerry Falwell on his show The 700 Club just days after the 9/11 attack. At one point, Falwell said, “ The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say, ‘You helped this happen.’”
Robertson replied, “I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government.”
2. Haitians deserved the earthquake in 2010
Haiti was struck by a devastating earthquake in January 2010. The death toll is still uncertain, but potentially half a million people died. Robertson said that Haitians had made a “pact with the devil” and have been “cursed” ever since.
3. Feminists are evil
In a 1992 fundraising letter, Robertson wrote : “ The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.”
4. Abortion caused Hurricane Katrina
Robertson said Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005 because God was angry about abortion. “ I was reading … a book that was very interesting about what God has to say in the Old Testament about those who shed innocent blood,” he said. “Have we found we are unable somehow to defend ourselves against some of the attacks that are coming against us, either by terrorists or now by natural disaster? Could they be connected?”
5. God won’t bless America because of gay people and abortion
Robertson said at the start of 2010 that God wouldn’t bless America that year because there was too much abortion and homosexuality and not enough prayer.
“Fifty million babies slaughtered,” Robertson said God told him. “You can’t have legislation that is anti-God. You can’t foster in your midst things that I call an abomination.… If you do, sooner or later judgment’s going to come.”
6. Gay people are Nazis
In March 1990, Robertson referred to homosexuality as a “pathology” that needed to be treated. “Many of those people involved with Adolf Hitler were Satanists, many of them were homosexuals,” he said on The 700 Club . “Those two things seem to go together.”
7. Muslims are also Nazis
In 2011, Robertson compared Islamophobia to being anti-Nazi. “I was thinking, you know, if you oppose Muslims, what is said?” he asked on The 700 Club . “Well, you’re a bigot, right? Terrible bigotry. I wonder, what were people who opposed the Nazis? Were they bigots?”
8. God would overturn the 2020 election in favor of Donald Trump
Robertson told 700 Club viewers that the lawsuit filed by Texas’s then–Attorney General Ken Paxton challenging the results of the 2020 election was a “miracle.”
“They’re going to the Supreme Court to say, ‘This election was rigged and you’ve got to overturn it,’” Robertson said, pushing Trump-backed falsehoods. He also said God would intervene.
(At least on this point, Robertson seemed to correct himself, saying two weeks later that Trump was living in “an alternate reality.”)
9. Towels in Kenya transmit AIDS
In 2014, a 700 Club viewer asked whether an upcoming trip to Kenya was risky.
“You might get AIDS in Kenya,” Robertson warned on air. “The people have AIDS in Kenya. The towels could have AIDS.”
So I’m no Pat Robison fan and won’t defend the shit he has said over the years, but on paper he wasn’t ignorant:
- son of a Dem US Senator
- graduated prep schools with honors
- B.A. in History, graduating magna cum laude and a member of Phi Beta Kappa
- graduated Yale Law School near the top of his class following his Marine Corps Service in Korea.
Maybe US Ed credentials aren’t good indicators of intelligence.
who?
... failed the bar exam and never took it again. then attended the biblical seminary (BS) in NY and became an ordained minister in the southern baptist church. blamed 9/11 and hurricanes on LGBTQ, pro-choice advocates, feminists, planned parenthood, the ACLU and black people. predicted the end of the world twice, 1982 and 2007. used operation blessing funds to further his private business interests with human rights violating dictators in africa. advocated for dominionism in the US while continuing his televised tax exempt religious scam for decades. a stellar american. /s