The Real Face of Evangelicalism is Exposed

Paul Fidalgo: Pat Robertson and the End of Fake Compassion 

The linked article from Free Inquiry is as honest an evaluation of both Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as exists anywhere.  The writer, Paul Fidalgo, is the editor of Free Inquiry and is the executive director of the Council for Secular Humanism.  So of course, his perspective of Robertson would be biased from a humanist point of view.  But this outsider's perspective, outsider being one who is not influenced by the nuances of Robertson's brand of Charismatic Christianity, is right on target.  Within the circles where Robertson was known and admired, namely the far religious right, there won't be an honest evaluation of Robertson because he was one of them and they won't be honest or critical.  

I honestly don't believe that Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson believed in the power of God, because they never really relied on it to achieve their ends.  They compromised their faith with political power because they didn't believe God would follow their agenda their way.  They wanted to see specific things happen, and equated their own will with the will of God.  Everything was calculated to bring about their desired ends, and generate the necessary cash flow to support their lavish lifestyle.  

Their own view of Christian faith, or at least, the public view that they preached and wanted people to follow, was an uncompromising brand of fundamentalism, a system whereby individuals who were "saved" by grace through faith in Christ demonstrated their sincerity through obedience to the Bible as they interpreted it to teach a Christian lifestyle.  Both included adherence and loyalty to a right wing, Republican political perspective as part of that lifestyle.  And that was an indication of their lack of trust in God to do what they wanted.  

As Fidalgo, a secular humanist observer, points out, Robertson was particularly keen on natural disasters in places with high percentages of "pagan" populations, and focused on God's use of these events, or outbreaks of disease, as his judgment for sin, a belief that is contradictory to the Christian gospel, which provides spiritual redemption from sin, but never promises to spare believers, or countries which have more of them than others, from natural disasters, disease, or even war.  His equating financial prosperity with the blessing of God's spirit was heresy.  

The real failure of Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and other Evangelical leaders of their ilk to recognize and submit to the power of God's Holy Spirit, which they preached from their pulpits, proclaimed on their television broadcasts and taught in the classrooms of their universities, can be seen in their establishment of institutional alignment with right wing politics.  With Falwell, it was the "Moral Majority."  With Robertson, it was the "Christian Coalition."  The intention of both was to reverse the dependence of Evangelical churches on spiritual power, and place it in the ballot box to move politicans, whether they were Christians or not, to do their bidding.  

The willingness of Robertson, and the extreme religious right, to embrace politicians who did not share the convictions of their particular brand of faith, betrays their motives and their lack of trust in God.  Out of one side of their mouth, they were virulently anti-Catholic, attacked the liberalism of mainline Protestants and blasted Mormonism as a cult.  But they embraced Ronald Reagan, whose vague religious background was liberal Presbyterian, but who had no noticeable practice of it, including church attendance.  They embraced Bush, Sr., an Episcopalian who favored most aspects of church life that Evangelicals abhor, like ordaining women and LGBTQ clergy, and who was equivocal at best on abortion rights.  They embraced Dubya, a member of a United Methodist church who believed that all religions were a path to God, including Islam and Judaism, an Evangelical no-no, and who regularly attended St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, across from the White House, when Eugene Robinson, the first gay Episcopal bishop, was a guest in the pulpit.  

When Mitt Romney was nominated by the GOP as their presidential candidate in 2012, Robertson and the Christian Coalition's embrace of his candidacy included dropping all media references to the Evangelical belief that Mormonism is a dangerous, godless cult.  Falwell went so far as to invite Glenn Beck, a Mormon media talk show pundit, to speak at commencement exercises at Liberty University.  

But the embrace of Donald Trump, by Robertson and the extreme religious right, has been the clincher.  Trump's lifestyle is diametrically the opposite of what Evangelical preaching and teaching claims as a "spirit filled, abundant, Christian life."  It is that, in fact, in every way, including Trump's open and verbal denial that he has ever done anything that requires God to forgive him.  The god that Trump has created in his mind, and claims to worship, is one in the image of his spiritual advisor, Paula White, a prosperity gospel cultist who is as far out of the mainstream of Evangelical theology as one can get.  Trump worships money and the power that it provides.  

So did Pat Robertson.  

And the fact that a secular humanist journalist sees this, and points out the inconsistency, confirms the hypocrisy and deceit that was involved.