(CNN) — Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson has called for the United States to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, calling him “a terrific danger” bent on exporting Communism and Islamic extremism across the Americas.”
I’m not a big fan of vocal religious fundamentalism. If you want to practice it quietly among your friends and family, and they’re all doing so along with you, in a consensual manner, then I say go ahead and knock yourself out.
Pat Robertson, however, should learn when to STFU. I can understand why a nation might want to assassinate another leader if the two countries are at war. But I didn’t realize we were at war with or threatened by Venezuela. I must have missed the invasion. Or I was sleeping when Chavez issued a fatwah against us. Something got past me.
I don’t like dictators. It’s pretty clear that a lot of Venezuelans are unhappy with Chavez and his policies. Some must be supporting him or he wouldn’t be in power. But that isn’t the story. Venezuela should handle it’s own business. The story here is that Pat Robertson is an awful poor example of a Christian. Christians shouldn’t be calling for the assassination of anyone. You see, Christians are supposed to emulate Christ. And as far as I know, Christ wasn’t a ninja assassin and didn’t hang out with or glorify that type of human being.
Pat Robertson also said something to the effect that Chavez is trying to create some new sort of monster that combines the evil power of Communism and fundamentalist Islamic belief systems. I’m not buying that. Venezuela is 98% Roman Catholic. Extremist Muslims have a hard time selling their Special Crazy Sauce to people who like French Toast with an image of the Virgin Mary burned into it.
Some of us liberty loving Americans tend to want to poke our fingers into the eyes of the rest of the world way too much. But the American people can’t afford to interfere in every single political struggle going on around the globe. It should be general policy not to do so. Unless Venezuela starts military posturing or conducts war games off our coast, I think Pat Robertson should stand down. Maybe some prayer and reflection would help him out. Maybe he needs some quiet time with Jesse Jackson. I’m not sure what it would take to help him get his head screwed on straight, but I’m sure the road he’s traveling is making him look like a complete ass and giving Christianity a bad name.
UPDATE: And to be completely fair, I once called for the assassination of Yasser Arafat by the Israelis.