VISTA, Calif. (ABP) — As several religious leaders criticized Pat Robertson's comments blaming Haiti's massive Jan. 12 earthquake on a pact supposedly made by its people with the devil, one came out to defend him.
Gary Cass, chairman and CEO of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, issued a statement saying that while Robertson's comments made him an "easy target" for criticism, they are essentially theologically sound.
Cass, who before taking his current job in 2007 worked three years as executive director of the Center for Reclaiming America for Christ, an outreach of the late D. James Kennedy's Coral Ridge Ministries, said the Bible talks of connections between historical realities and spiritual influences when it uses the terms "blessing or cursing."
Cass said the majority of Americans believe in moral causality. Eastern religious call it "karma," while Christians call it "God's providence." In that regard, he said, Robertson's comments were "well within the bounds of historic Christian theology."
Cass suggested one reason Robertson's message is so unpopular is that it forces people to face the spiritual dimension of their lives.
"As long as everything is going well we live as if we are never going to die," he said. "Then crisis hits and death slaps us in the face. Rather than humbling ourselves and searching our hearts like the Pilgrims did, we lash out at God and anyone who dares insinuate Him into our lives."
"A simple reading of the Bible shows how God uses natural disasters to further his purposes," Cass said. "Earthquakes, floods, famine, locusts, etc. they're all there, but man hates it. Rather than humbly acknowledging that God's ways are not our ways, man rails against and accuses God. The last thing they will do is cry out for his mercy in Jesus Christ."
A Southern Baptist scholar faulted Robertson for "over-claiming" the meaning of a single event, but also affirmed his theology.
"Do I believe that God punishes nations?" Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said on his daily radio program Jan. 13 "You bet, the same way I know that judgment falls upon individuals."
The problem, Mohler said, is that natural disaster often falls on nations and individuals who seem to deserve it least while sparing others like Germany and the Soviet Union that exhibit a "fist-in-the face kind of sin."
"Do we know that God sovereignly rules over all things and exercises his justice and judgment over the nations?" Mohler asked. "Yes we do, but we are not in a position as human beings, as believing Christians, to say we know exactly what God is doing in a situation."
"There is a real matter of theological integrity here," Mohler said. "How do we answer those who say, 'Why did God not destroy, then, nation or community or city X, Y or Z for its apparent fist-in-the-face kind of sin — and why on the other hand are there others that seem to suffer inordinately?'"
The answer, Mohler said is the "mystery of God's judgment." That mystery is not a question of whether or not God punishes evil, but rather that "We can not always trace his hand."
"It is human arrogance to over-claim on behalf of God," Mohler said. "We must be very, very careful."
"The same hurricane that destroyed all kinds of sinfulness and enclaves of paganism in New Orleans there in the French Quarter also destroyed orphanages and evangelical churches. There's just no way to make a generalization without grave, grave theological danger."
Mohler said Robertson "is absolutely correct in speaking about the sinfulness of the people of Haiti."
"There is no doubt that Haiti is a very dark place, where voodoo and all kinds of idolatry and all kinds of dark magic, all kinds of enslaving forms of religious belief are very prevalent," Mohler said. "It is a dark place. It has been a dark place for a long time. The poverty there is not just because the nation started off as a rather impoverished nation, but because of the behavior pattern, beliefs, that have led to a society that has been virtually ungovernable for much of its history and really has embraced so much darkness."
However, he said, Robertson could have said the same thing about every human in every country. "All of us are sinners," Mohler said. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
While Mohler accused Robertson of saying "too much" about God's plan, he also warned against saying "too little," such as denying that God's judgment is revealed in the rising and falling and nations.
"Saying too little would be refusing to say or to acknowledge that God is reigning over every single nation and every other people at every single moment," Mohler said. "Saying too much is to say, 'I know exactly what God is doing in this and why God did it.' And that just isn't given to us."
Cass said some of the religious broadcasters throwing stones at Robertson wouldn't have jobs if he had not paved the way for both religious broadcasting and political involvement by conservative evangelicals. He also reminded that Robertson's Operation Blessing humanitarian ministry has provided goods and services valued at $1.7 billion for disaster victims around the world.
According to the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission website, the group exists to "advance religious liberty for Christians by protecting Christians from defamation, discrimination, and bigotry from any and all sources."
An advisory council includes well-known conservative evangelical leaders including Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition, Matthew Staver of the Liberty Counsel, Don Wildmon of the American Family Association and Rick Scarborough of Vision America.
Robertson's official website posted a statement Jan. 13 clarifying that the broadcaster's comments were based on a widely discussed story from the Haitian slave rebellion in 1791 in which the rebellion's leaders allegedly made a pact with the devil in exchange for victory over their French oppressors. That history, the statement claimed, along with the fact that Haiti has experienced enormous difficulty throughout its history, has led numerous religious scholars over the years to describe the country as "cursed."
"Dr. Robertson never stated that the earthquake was God's wrath," CBN spokesman Chris Roslan said in the statement. "If you watch the entire video segment, Dr. Robertson's compassion for the people of Haiti is clear. He called for prayer for them. His humanitarian arm has been working to help thousands of people in Haiti over the last year, and they are currently launching a major relief and recovery effort to help the victims of this disaster."
Many other political and religious leaders, however, have condemned the statement roundly since Robertson uttered it Jan. 13. Asked about the comments during his Jan. 14 press briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responded with disgust.
"It never ceases to amaze that in times of amazing human suffering somebody says something that could be so utterly stupid," he said. "But it, like clockwork, happens with some regularity.
Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press. ABP Managing Editor and Washington Bureau Chief Robert Marus contributed to this story.