Rachel Maddow, on her show, displayed a clip of the Reverend Pat Robertson explaining the role he thinks God played in the horrible disaster that befell Haiti early this week. Apparently, it was God’s vengeful fist that crushed the 100,000 people who died in that tiny country, if Reverend Robertson is to be believed.
Here is my transcription of Reverend Robertson’s words from the Maddow video.
They got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French.’True story! And so the devil said, "Okay, it’s a deal!" And they kicked the French out, you know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free, but ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other, desperately poor!
Americans well remember how upset they were over the despicable and criminal 9/11 terrorist attack that killed 3000 people.
And now Reverend Robertson accuses God of this act of mass murder, in effect, accusing God of committing a terrorist act 10 times more heinous than the 9/11 terrorist bombing in New York, all because of something their ancestors did a couple of centuries ago!
Reverend Pat figures God’s been fuming ever since. So that’s why, 206 years later, He decides to flatten the place!
Now I’m not a believer myself, but that sure sounds like blasphemy to me.
Maybe Reverend Robertson thinks the only way a bunch of illiterate blacks could defeat the mighty white French army was by making the devil their ally.
So God, according to Reverend Robertson, in a fit of pique, kills all those innocent bystanders, including nursing women, children, babies, elderly people, just because a bunch of black folks a couple of centuries ago had the temerity to slap the face of the white master and then throw his tokhes out of the mansion.
No doubt, those dark-skinned rebels could not have possibly committed this outrageous mortal sin without being in league with the devil himself! After all, look at what they did! They were the first independent nation in Latin-America and the only nation ever born of a slave revolt. Haiti was actually the first independent black-led country to come out of a colonial revolution!
Unquestionably, that had to be Satan’s handiwork, n’est-ce pas?
The Haitian ambassador to the USA, Raymond Alcide Joseph, who in the Rachel Maddow video seemed like an extremely cultured and well-educated man, said this:
I would like to address one thing that I heard tonight, about how the pact with the Devil made it possible for Haiti to suffer the way it has. I would like the whole world to know — America especially — that the independence of Haiti, when the slaves rose up against the French and defeated the French army, the powerful French army, the U.S. was able to gain the Louisiana Territory for $15 million. That’s 3 cents an acre. That’s 13 states west of the Mississippi that the Haitian slaves’ revolt in Haiti provided America.
Ambassador Joseph refers to the fact that Napoleon decided to sell the Louisiana territory, which the French had secretly acquired from Spain some time previously. (Actually the Louisiana purchase included territory that now encompasses 14 American states, as well as a couple of Canadian provinces). Napoleon did this as a way of enabling the US to be a counterweight to England. Plus, Napoleon did not relish the thought of defending it against Spain or the US in the event of war so soon after the humiliation in Haiti, and without Haitian sugar plantations, a North American empire just didn’t seem like it was going to be lucrative. Selling it to the Americans was a French way of making lemonade out of a lemon.
Ambassador Joseph goes on to say
Also, the revolt of the rebels in Haiti allowed Latin America to be free. It’s from Haiti that Simon Bolivar left with men, boats, to go deliver Gran Colombia and the rest of South America. So, what pact the Haitians made with the Devil has helped the United States become what it is.
Gran Colombia (which means “Great Columbia” in Spanish) refers to the newly independent state that came out of the fight against Spain in the 18th century. It broke down shortly afterwards into several other countries. Gran Colombia consisted of most of northern part of South America and Central America.
Click here to see this video.
Regards,
Alan OldStudent
Alan OldStudent's Musings Blog 
Alan, it’s interesting that people like Robertson say that if something bad happens to “good” (Christians) people it’s the work of the devil and if it happens to “bad” people it’s the wrath of God!
“God doesn’t punish, God forgives” ~Sookie Stackhouse
Most Christians with a basic sense of decency (which includes most Christians I know) would certainly agree with that. They would not have much in common with the redoubtable Pat Robertson.
Regards,
Alan OldStudent
Alan, long time. Every now and then i catch some of the transformetrics silliness. Did you read what JP had to say.
So if indeed God was punishing Haiti, it would surprise a lot of people but not JP apparently.
(Formatting edited by Alan OldStudent on Jan 30, 2010 to make it clear which were Jason’s own words and which were words Jason was quoting)
Hi Jason,
Yes, several people have actually privately emailed that to me. I had not known of it before I wrote this blog piece.
Apparently, John thought better of it and took it down. I have not been very active on the Transformetrics board lately. As I’ve said during the time I’ve been there, one should take what of value they can from there, contribute if they feel they have something to contribute, and just disregard the rest.
Sometime in the near future, I’ll probably blog more about morality, Christian and humanist, and some of the problems with the idea of an absolutist moral code.
Regards,
Alan OldStudent
Nice post, Alan.
I was raised in a fundamentalist Christian family.
I find it no surprise that many people who believe in the God whom the Bible describes as jealous, fearsome, and angry would write such drivel that Pat Robertson, John P., and others have written.
Heartless, racist “fruit” certainly tells us a lot about the “tree” from which they are eating (metaphorically…and in scriptural terms).
When I visited my parents just after the Haiti calamity, the only number they paid attention to on the news of that disaster was how many “Americans” had died there. That number was about 2,700 at the time.
When I mentioned several times how sad it was about the roughly 200,000 Haitians who had lost their lives…that never evoked even a comment from them or their friends.
I’m not a Christian. I have read the Bible and, in particular, the words attributed to Jesus. Most all of those words are at odds with the B.S. that Robertson, Peterson, my parents, their fellow Christian fundamentalists, etc. have been talking…even “preaching”… to us about.
I appreciate your intellect and your heart, Alan.