Op-Ed: Should Pat Robertson be Lauded or Feared?

March 28, 2003
© 2003, The Jewish Advocate. All Rights Reserved. Republished by permission.

"Indeed, there will finally be such a fullness of Israel when their hardness and blindness to the gospel is overcome as to vastly enrich the whole world. For the almost unbelievable truth is that all Israel will be saved The fullness of gentiles will climax with the fullness of Israel. " ‑ Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network

By Sheila Decter

While Temple Beth Shalom has the right to listen to any speaker on any issue it chooses, serious hesitation should accompany one's choice of allies. While one can understand in these difficult times, when Israel seems to be under attack from numerous directions, that all support seems welcome, one should recognize exactly what such prospective allies represent.

Pat Robertson's own bestselling book on the end of days reveals longstanding anti-Semitism and belief in Jewish conspiratorial plans against Christians. He joins a historical stream that believed in Jewish conspiracy, beginning with a so‑called Jewish conspiracy bringing on the French Revolution. This, conspiratorial notion is echoed by groups such as Hamas that state the Jews were responsible for'

both World War I and II. It is not accidental that the infamous "Protocols of Zion" that first appeared in Czarist Russia have reappeared in recent Arab literature. The Protocols are part of a long tradition beginning in the Gospel John and seen in some current Christian anti‑Semitism that either pictures Jews as agents of Satan the tempter or agents of the all‑powerful demonic Antichrist that must be defeated by true Christians. Robertson's writings reflect this long tradition, which included the "blood libel" and other specious accusations against Jews.

Robertson's support of the nation of Israel is based on specific theological needs. This apocalyptic Millennialist vision talks about the end of days, about the need for the gathering of all. Jews in their historical G‑d‑given land where the apocalypse will, take place, the Messiah (Christ) will return, and Jews will either be converted or destroyed. A Jewish presence in their own land is an essential ingredient of the battle between good and evil that will precede the return of Christ.

The key tool of the conspiracy theories is scapegoating. A kernel of truth is magnified to a whole belief system, blaming one or more groups for the real problems in the world. An environment is provided where Jews or people of color or gays are blamed. Repetition of the big lie is the core of such propaganda.

Robertson's particular brand of Christian fundamentalism helps create an environment where racism and prejudice flourish. After the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, such groups were quick to lay blame. It was punishment for feminists, homosexuals, etc. Over the years, calamities have been met with similar notions, ‑such as "AIDS is a punishment of G‑d." The poor and destitute are being punished for some earlier sin, therefore government does not need to spend money for rehabilitation or support.

Such belief systems are antithetical to traditional Jewish values. Our notions of responsibility for the poor, the elderly, and the sick and our appreciation of the value and worth of every human being are very different from the principles of the Christian right. We wish their support of the basic needs of infants and children were as loudly advocated as their voice for the unborn fetus. Unlike the Christian right, Jews believe in communal responsibility for the disadvantaged and the immigrant "stranger." Are we so far from our immigrant past that we forget?

The current interest in faith based federal funding comes from these quarters. Of course, it does not bother the Christian right that proselytizing accompanies delivery of federal services. Jews, however, have long relied on the principal of separation of church and state.

To the extent that we ally ourselves with groups that scapegoat others in the community, groups that foster an environment of hostility toward those with different views or sexual orientation; groups that are not content in making reproductive decisions for themselves, but must make them for others; those that are so certain they know the "divine" mission for the U.S. they can undertake crusades, these are unholy allies. Fundamentalists of any religion are so certain they are right. When the views of "others" are feared and then demonized, democracy is diminished. For the "people of the Book," openness, study, debate, and discussion is our way of life. The ultimate judgment is for G‑d, not us.