Pat Robertson puts foot in mouth again

You remember Pat Robertson - the 700 Club leader who wants to nuke the State Department, "take out" the President of Venezuela, and that Sept. 11 was caused by pagans and the ACLU.

He recently found a new trigger for foot-in-mouth disease: Ariel Sharon. In his view, God gave the Israeli Prime Minister a stroke in retribution for disengagement.

Specifically, he said, "But here he's [Sharon] at the point of death. He was dividing God's land and I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the European Union, the United Nations, or the United States of America. God says this land belongs to me. You'd better leave it alone."

What would we think of a human being who exacted such vindictive retribution? We would think such a man a tyrant and monster. But God is NOT a monster. Too many Christians as it is read a verse of scripture without understanding any of the subtext, the struggle of the writers to wrestle with the problem of Theodicy. It is disappointing when our ministers can't grasp it.

In the meantime, Robertson's remarks may have driven a wedge between Israel and Christian tourists.

Tourism Min.: Pat Robertson's PM-bashing endangers deal