Pat Robertson is Dead Everyone

That list could go on for a while while we ponder whether it’s hilarious, sad, frightening, or enraging. 

Let’s instead focus on the message of Christianity in these attacks. 

Now I know some of you might be startled by that statement, as people who know me know I’m Jewish. But I’m also a Jew who has read the New Testament somewhere between 1.5 and 2 times. Jesus was a Jew, and I believe he said nothing that any Jew could possibly disagree with. Also, as a Jewish parent, I understand the pride that comes when our kids get promoted. 

I thought the whole message of Christianity is that Jesus died for our sins. “He who is without sin cast the first stone.” All of us are sinners, and so we shouldn’t sit in judgment of others. I don’t see anything about these words that are un-Jewish. Jesus supported prostitutes, not prigs.

“The meek shall inherit the earth,” Jesus said. They are blessed, along with those who mourn, the peacemakers, the merciful, the pure in heart, and others in Matthew 5:3-9. Then right after in Matthew 5:10 comes a very apropos follow-up for Rev. Robertson: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Robertson persecuted the LGBTQ+ community verbally in the name of his twisted view of righteousness every chance he got, and then he got rich off it. Unlike other politicians and evangelists who have used this type of vitriol to divide America and create wedge issues, Robertson actually believed this shit. And so we have him to thank, as much as Jerry Falwell and others of their ilk, for the hatred we see today where so many people view the LGBTQ+ community as lesser people whom we can’t talk about, teach about, or allow corporations to support.

We have moved beyond merely using religion to divide people to now having politicians, like my favorite vilifier Ron DeSantis, who actually believe what they’re saying. They want to impose their twisted view of Christianity on this country—a hateful one where people sit in judgment of others and blame others who are unlike them for everything wrong in this world. They want a theocracy, not a democracy, but it’s not even a good theocracy (if there were such a thing). 

In fact, it’s fascism pure and simple. At the risk of playing the Holocaust card, Nazis used their twisted view of Christianity to blame the Jews for killing Christ, a long-standing anti-semitic belief that seems to ignore, again, that he died for our sins. Besides, it was so long ago, and it was the Romans who sentenced Jesus to death, so why didn’t the Nazis want to kill the Italians? (I guess when they’re your only European ally…)

Let’s not forget the Nazis persecuted the gay community every bit as much as they persecuted the Jews. Homosexuals were forced to wear pink triangles just like Jews were forced to wear Jewish stars, and many were sent to concentration camps where the guards beat them more severely than other prisoners. Acknowledgment of their suffering didn’t come until 1985, and there have never been reparations as there have been for other groups.

And so all of this vitriol, vilifying and violence that has come down through the centuries, all of this twisting of religion in the name of moral superiority, has been nurtured and magnified by people like Pat Robertson. And now it has seeped into our politics more than any time in my life. If we didn’t have Pat Robertson, we probably wouldn’t be seeing things like Ron DeSantis, crazy politicians fighting DEI initiatives in corporate America, rocks thrown through windows at drag queen story hours, and people like Matthew Shepherd being dragged and murdered. We wouldn’t have more violence committed against the trans community than any community out there.

I don’t believe in heaven or hell. (As a Jew that’s religiously okay, but for me it’s more of a personal thing.) But I do wonder if Pat Robertson is surprised to find where he woke up between the two. A good endless torture might be forcing him to attend drag queen story hours and Disney gay days, but I doubt that could happen. Drag queens and people showing pride at Disney are in heaven where they belong, “persecuted for righteousness’ sake” by someone who sadly and tragically skipped over some of Matthew’s verses despite being such an “expert” on what God wants and does. 

Lastly, I don’t really wish death on anyone, and I don’t here. But I can’t help feeling amused that he died during Pride Month. I saw a meme online, and I borrowed it for the title of this blog post.

Support people. Love people. I believe that’s what every one of our religions wants us to do.