Ranting Racists

I guess that the disaster in Haiti is so bad that it really does not matter that much that Pat Robertson has used the event to gain renewed attention for his wacky racist views.  He blames the Haitians for their mythical pact with the Devil long ago.  Forgetting for a second that this is based not on reality but on American racist myths about Haiti, what does that say about Pat Robertson's God?  That today's Christian Haitians, who worship Jesus, are condemned to God's wrath today for the supposedly pagan behavior of centuries ago?  I am not a Christian of any kind (and to be clear, for Christians of a certain stripe, all other Christians do not really count, and I would bet that Pat is in that camp).

Tragically, many evangelical Christians in Haiti may actually, in their own extreme confusion and suffering and desperation, believe that God is punishing them.

Oops, apparently there are plenty of Christians that fit into Robertson's definition that are suffering today.  What kind of God is that?   Is this really a message that is likely to increase market share?  One could say that God works in mysterious ways, but to blame the people paying such a high price for the sin of being born in Haiti (a high price even before this week) is, well, inhumane. 

But then again, this is nothing new.  Pat Robertson is eager to place blame in strange places after bad things happen.  He joined Jerry Falwell in blaming the ACLU, gays and lesbians, abortionists, and others for 9/11


I guess I will always be astounded that folks like this get the attention they do.  And I guess I am abetting in this crime.