[Author's Note: This letter was originally written in 1995, I believe. I'm not even sure that CBN still publishes "World Watch".]
Dear Mr. Robertson:
I have just finished reading your latest issue of CBN World Watch. I think it's nothing more than another piece of propaganda in your continuing attempt to undermine the religious freedom of this country. The whole thing is full of stories that are blown out of proportion or whose importance is vastly over-exaggerated.
In the first story about modern day plagues, the suggestion is that we should simply shut out the people that carry the disease from our country. What kind of a Christian idea is that? Jesus worked among the lepers and the blind and the lame and those afflicted with all sorts of diseases that healers of the time had no idea how to control or cure. He didn't shun these people but walked among them and tended to their needs and healed them.
As to the implication that such diseases as the Ebola virus and HIV are signs of the end of times, this world has always had pestilence. The black plague killed more than a quarter of the population of Europe when it broke out. Ebola and HIV haven't even come close except in third world countries like Uganda, where up to eighty percent of the population is believed to have been exposed to the virus.
A very subtle message, but one I feel is intentional, is that the blacks and Arabs who make up the majority of the population of Africa are to blame for this whole problem and that the way to deal with it is to persecute those minorities. In your pamphlet entitled "10 Myths about Pat Robertson..." you proudly touted that fact that the people you represent are hard-working, well-educated, middle class families. (I assume here that family is your definition of one mother, one father and two point something children.) Well guess who that leaves out? Most of the well-educated, hard-working middle class American families also happen to be white. Coincidence? I think not.
Many other places in your speeches (I do watch CBN on occasion to see what other garbage you're touting) there is a subtle message that is thinly disguised racism. (For your information, I'm well-educated, not-quite middle class, hard-working and, yes, white.) This discrimination extends not only to those of different skin colors, but those of different religious beliefs and orientations. If you have your way, this whole country will wake up every morning and say a prayer to Jesus Christ, the only true way to get to heaven.
May I point out that one nation under God does not mean one nation under Jesus to everyone. And simply because the majority of people in this country profess to be Christians doesn't give them the right to dictate how we pray to God. That argument is about as valid as saying if most Americans believe in slavery we should bring it back under government sanction. Majority rules as long as it doesn't violate the rights of the minority. That is the only way a true democracy can work. Although in truth, our nation is not a democracy but a constitutional republic.
As for the media cesspool, I'd rather let my children watch Beavis and Butthead than to let them be subjected to the hatred, prejudice and bigotry that is broadcast on CBN or shows of people like Rush Limbaugh. You chastise the "liberal left" for smearing the character of religious conservatives yet you think nothing of making fun of the President or his family, who, unlike you and your group, were duly elected by the people of this country. You, sir, are a hypocrite!
You seem to think that a world government is the beginning of the end. What would you have us do? Continue with the nationalistic and ethnic cleansings that are taking place all over the world? As far as I can see, you too are advocating a world government, yet the only world government you want is one on your terms where all men worship the same God as you define that God. You decry the creation of a world currency as a mark of the beast, which you've interpreted to be a sign of the anti-Christ. In my opinion, you are the closest thing we have in this world to an anti-Christ. You preach hatred and prejudice and bigotry in the name of God. God is love. And love does not hate. Love does not preach intolerance. Love does not condemn. You've hoodwinked millions of Americans into believing what you say by preying on their fear of death and the future of their soul.
Your claims that the earthquakes and floods and other natural disasters are signs that the world is coming to an end are nothing more than another propaganda trick. There have always been floods and earthquakes. They're simply more devastating today because there are more people living on major fault lines and infringing on natural flood plains! In the past, people knew the areas of danger and didn't build there. We're the ones who brought these catastrophes on ourselves by our choice to live on a fault line or in a flood plain. God didn't send them as punishment. The same goes for pestilence. Disease is more rapidly spread because of our freedom to move around from place to place and the speed at which we can do so. God isn't punishing us for breaking any covenant and your assertions that he is is nothing short of fear-mongering.
God gave us free will. He could have very easily prevented Eve from eating the apple in Eden. But he allowed her to do what she wanted to do. If God gave us free will, who are you to tell us we have to do it your way or no way. Even Jesus himself didn't claim he was the only way. (You may interpret the Bible to say that, but I interpret it differently. The fact that Jesus spoke in parables was a clue that his teachings had more than one interpretation.) He did say that if we followed him, which I interpret as leading the kind of life he led, we would have the same "reward" at the end of our life. We are all children of God just as Jesus is a child of God. He himself said that we could do the same things he could do and more. I don't deny the divinity of Jesus. I don't deny that he was a great teacher and leader. I don't deny that following his example will be to the great benefit of our eternal spirits. But I do deny that any of his message is to be used for personal profit or gain, to condemn any type of faith or orientation or ethnic heritage or nationality, or to generate and preach intolerance, narrow-mindedness or hatred.
You and your organization, the Christian Coalition, are more dangerous to the future or this country and the world in general than any of the so-called threats you cite. You distort the truth to make your way appear to be the only way. You use your religious beliefs to dictate the civil laws of this country which is completely contrary to the intent of the founding fathers. Even President Lincoln realized that the infighting and political posturing by so-called Christian sects was not what Jesus had intended. That's why he never joined any organized church. This isn't about the salvation of men's souls. It's about who can control the power in this country. And that is what the "anti-Christ" is supposed to do. And exactly what you are be attempting to do.
Please don't waste the paper or postage to send me some form letter like the one I received after the last letter I sent. Despite a scathing diatribe decrying the hypocrisy of your organization, I received a thank you letter, thanking me for my continued support of the Christian Coalition. I really wasn't surprised since, like all companies that get so big and powerful, the individual no longer matters. All that matters is getting what you set out to get. I will continue to do everything in my power to prevent your group from succeeding in its attempt to create a theocracy in this country. And I'm sure you'll be hearing from me in the future.
