“Pat Robertson Made A Deal With The Devil” or “I Know Why The Hunted Pig Squeals”By Gyasi RossI went to this little tiny very conservative Christian school. I actually enjoyed it, but I remembered the day that I checked out of “ol’ time” religion mentally and spiritually–the pastor/principal and I had a discussion, and I said that I thought it was a good idea to separate the message and the messenger. He asked me why would I do that? I told him that the messengers of Christianity have been horrible and hypocritical toward Natives–killing, raping, and plundering. He told me, in response, that Natives should be thankful for any and everything that happened. He said, “before Christianity Induns were worshiping the devil and different spirits, and in my opinion, anything that happened was worth it because y’all got to hear the Gospel of Jesus. Induns were cursed, and the Gospel lifted that curse!” Like Marion/Pat, this redneck thought that the killing, raping and plundering was a “blessing in disguise.”
Ouch. Wow.
But his viewpoint is not original. My mom tells me of when she began to be interested in going to church, when I was a teenager. She tells me about how she quickly stopped being interested in those churches because she found the same ignorance and judgment in nearly all of them. “Pow-wows are evil.” “Native ceremonies are witchcraft.”Even when Westerners don't call Natives devil-worshipers, they still consider them
uncivilized savages. As Ross explains:
I recognize what that Pat Robertson’s doing when he says that Haiti had to make a deal with the devil to defeat a white Navy. He’s doing the exact same thing that many white conservatives do when they cannot explain or understand or are not invited to some fly and beautiful people of color stuff. That’s why they develop these stupid theories of aliens helping Egyptians and Central American Natives make pyramids or of black Haitians needing deals with devils and voodoo to defeat a white Navy.
This stuff isn’t new.
And what happens is that, because Marion/Pat Robertson is corny and cannot understand that people of color are perfectly capable of amazing things without the assistance of white people, Marion/Pat Robertson and people like him demonize what they do not understand. It’s not just him, by the way–there are a lot of people, Christians and otherwise, who do that. But a WHOLE bunch of them are the “ol’ time” Christians who haven’t figured out that the world is not flat anymore.Comment: Given the number of conservative Christians who don't believe in global warming and do believe in creationism, I wouldn't be totally surprised if they also believe the world is flat.
Note: Robertson's given name is Marion, not Pat. He presumably calls himself "Pat" because Marion is a name for girls and other sissies, not a white male Christian American who considers himself God's crowning achievement.
For more on Pat Robertson, see
Targeting Born-Again Christians and
Navajo Nation on 700 Club. For more on conservative Christian bigotry, see
Jack Chick's Crazy Wolf and
The Evidence for Teabagger Racism. For more on Native religion, see
"Primitive" Indian Religion and
Hercules vs. Coyote: Native and Euro-American Beliefs.
5 comments:
"Note: Robertson's given name is Marion, not Pat. He presumably calls himself "Pat" because Marion is a name for girls and other sissies, not a white male Christian American who considers himself God's crowning achievement."
Your Marion comment begs for an illustration of John Wayne in this item, also.
Now, about the generalization. I personally know many Christian conservatives who have spent $$$ on aid to Haiti, and/or have gone personally to do meaningful charity work. If we are generalizating, who is the typical "Christian conservative"? Robertson, or the ones actually helping Haiti? I wonder if the writer has actually done personally for Haiti.
"That’s why they [conservatives] develop these stupid theories of aliens helping Egyptians and Central American Natives make pyramids"
The most famous example of this I remember was Shirley MacLaine, not a conservative of any kind. In fact, this idea is quite mainstream in New Age theology/thought, and not mentioned "on the pulpit" at all. The space aliens building pyramids thing is not part of Christianity. He's rather confused.
Did Gyasi Ross or I generalize about who's helping Haiti? I don't think so.
Donating money to someone and thinking they're cursed and inferior isn't a contradiction, you know. The charitable giving is arguably akin to proselytizing. Missionaries have donated time and money to Indians precisely because they thought Indians were savage children who needed saving and civilizing.
P.S. I gave $20 to a Haiti relief fund. Just so you know.
"The charitable giving is arguably akin to proselytizing"
I thought it was Rush Limbaugh who was opposed to charitable giving in Haiti. Now I stand corrected.
I don't oppose charitable giving. In fact, I'm all for it.
You said, "I personally know many Christian conservatives who have spent $$$ on aid to Haiti." The implication was that these people couldn't be biased against Haitians because they gave money. I don't necessarily buy it.
Yes, Robertson's followers may be among the most generous givers. But their continued support of him suggests they agree with him. Like past and present missionaries, they may look down on the poor, "cursed" people they help.
Have you read anything about Robertson's followers protesting his remarks? That would be a clear indicator of what they believe. The amount of money they give isn't.
Here's what some Americans think about Haitians:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/opinion/21kristof.html
On my blog, a woman named Mona pointed to Haitian corruption and declared: “I won’t send money because I know what will happen to it.” Another reader attributed Haiti’s poverty to “the low I.Q. of the 9 million people there,” and added: “It is all very sad and cannot be fixed.”
“Giving money to Haiti and other third-world countries is like throwing money in the toilet,” another commenter said. A fourth asserted: “Haiti is a money pit. Dumping billions of dollars into it has proven futile. ... America is deeply in debt, and we can’t afford it.”
Not everyone is so frank, but the subtext of much of the discussion of Haiti is despair about both Haiti and foreign aid. Pat Robertson, the religious broadcaster, went furthest by suggesting that Haiti’s earthquake flowed from a pact with the devil more than two centuries ago. While it’s not for a journalist to nitpick a minister’s theological credentials, that implication of belated seismic revenge on Haitian children seems defamatory of God.
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