Pat Robertson Calls for the Murder of President Chavez

    In a statement that has been all over the news today, Pat Robertson has called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He accused Chavez of turning Venezuela into "a launching pad for Communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent". Communist infiltration? C'mon, the Cold War is over, and the changes that Chavez has made in the country have increased the education level and health of Venezuela's citizens. His changes are for the benefit of Venezuela and I can't really imagine him using resources to "infiltrate America", whatever that would mean. But what about a launching pad for muslim extremism? Hmm, I didn't know that Venezuela was such a haven for Muslim extremism considering the country is 96% Roman Catholic. But let's pretend that it isn't. Robertson is making the argument that supporting Muslim fundamentalists is cause to assassinate someone. But surely religious fundamentalists of all types are just as dangerous, including Christian fundamentalists like Pat Robertson.

    It's also interesting to look at another justification for why he thinks we should assassinate President Chavez. He says that "we don't need another $200 billion war" and that "it's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war". Now I agree that if a single man is the problem, it is, of course, cheaper to kill the leader and not go to war with the country. But as a spokesperson and icon of Christianity, shouldn't Roberton's first reason for avoiding war be to save the lives of soldiers and innocents of both countries rather than simply worry about the financial cost? When discussing the atomic bombing of Japan, the common justification is that it would have been too much of a loss of life, on both sides, if the war was ended conventionally. However, I suppose the justification by Pat Roberts would have been that two bombs are simply cheaper.

    This is simply another example of the danger of Christianity and the threat that it poses. Killing is bad, unless it's convenient. The Bible says "Thou Shall Not Kill", but I suppose I didn't get the memo from God saying that murder was okay if the target, as Robertson said, controls "a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us badly."