Were you to go down the right-hand side panel of this blog, you would see that Pat Robertson appears in 30 past posts. That I did not acknowledge his recent passing is attributable more to the fact that I've been busy lately rather than to a loss of interest in the crazed old evangelical, who exerted an outsized influence on the American political landscape.
We trust his arrival at his final destination went off without a hitch.
Although I do not have time to list abuses of his evangelical authority over the years, you can click here if interested. His real master must be proud of him. In any event, a letter in today's Star gives one a real measure of the man, a diabolical mischief-maker who will not be missed by any sane and balanced individuals who still live amongst us:
Pat Robertson was an evangelical minister out for himself
Pat Robertson united evangelical Christians and pushed them into conservative politics, June 9
Ben Finley mentions some political scandals in his sparing reflection on Pat Robertson’s life. However, Finley notes that his enterprises included “Operation Blessing, an international humanitarian organization” without expanding on its reprehensible activities.
I am not surprised; very few people became aware of its work, except for those who saw the film “Mission Congo.”
The documentary screened as part of TIFF 2013. Shortly afterward it was almost impossible to find. I contacted the producers and directors to see if I could get a copy, using the information TIFF had provided, but could not reach them. For two years there seemed to be nothing. Best I could guess was Robertson’s lawyers had done a good job of keeping it out of public view. Eventually it came to Amazon U.S., but not Canada.
The film documented Robertson taking advantage of a huge, squalid camp near Goma, home to almost one million refugees. On his religious broadcasts he asked for contributions to send medicine and medical personnel to help the suffering. Seems like genuine Christian humanitarian work, right?
However, what the film demonstrated was: he used pictures of Doctors Without Boards workers to promote the fundraising, without their approval, making it look like Operation Blessing was providing the staff; sent boxes of Tylenol which the staff there found not so useful; used the money raised to purchase a light plane; and flew to the camp for a photo op where he shook hands with Théoneste Bagosora, the man who had helped lead the Rwandan genocide in collaboration with the Interhamwe and was later convicted by the international court in Arusha.
All of this would have been bad enough, but the real fraud came with how that new plane was used. It carried dredgers to Robertson’s diamond mine concessions in other parts of the Congo — concessions he had obtained with the alleged help of corrupt Congolese officials. The documentary included interviews with American donors who, having given from their meagre savings, felt completely duped.
So, let’s remember him for who he really was. Not someone who sold all to help the poor, but someone who milked the poor, ignored the true needs of others, and enriched himself.
Paul A. Wilson, Toronto
Somehow, I doubt that the good pastor is resting in peace.
