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United Methodist bishop denounces televangelist's remarks

Aug. 24, 2005

NOTE: Photographs of Bishop Peter D. Weaver and the Rev. Robert Edgar
are available at http://umns.umc.org.

By United Methodist News Service

A prominent United Methodist bishop has called on televangelist Pat
Robertson to apologize for remarks that suggest the United States "take
out" Venezuela President Hugo Chavez.

"I join the mounting Christian protest against Rev. Pat Robertson's
recent statement proposing to 'take out' Venezuela President Hugo
Chavez," said Bishop Peter D. Weaver, who heads the denomination's
Boston Area and is president of the church's Council of Bishops.

"Rev. Robertson's stand calls us to perpetuate the Cold War, urges us to
join the terrorism we reject and pushes this world into a deepening
spiral of violence," Weaver said. "On the basis of the Bible, the spirit
of Jesus Christ, and Christian tradition, I urge Rev. Robertson publicly
to apologize and renounce his misguided statement."

In an Aug. 24 letter sent to the White House, Weaver also asked
President George Bush to reject Robertson's call for violence against
Chavez.

Two days earlier, Robertson said on his CBN program, "The 700 Club,"
that if Chavez thinks the United States is "trying to assassinate him, I
think that we really ought to go ahead and do it." It would be cheaper
than starting a war, Robertson said.

The Bush administration and Chavez have been at odds with each other in
recent years, exchanging criticisms over the other's policies. The
Venezuelan president has claimed that the Bush administration has tried
to depose him-a charge denied by the White House. U.S. officials have
taken a dim view of Venezuela's ties with Cuba and have accused it of
meddling in the affairs of neighboring countries. The relationship is
complicated by the fact that Venezuela is a major supplier of oil to the
United States.

After a firestorm of criticism, Robertson said Aug. 24 that his comments
were misinterpreted. "I didn't say 'assassination,'" he said on that
day's "700 Club" program, later quoted in news reports. "I said our
special forces should 'take him out.' And 'take him out' can be a number
of things, including kidnapping; there are a number of ways to take out
a dictator from power besides killing him."

His Aug. 22 comments were rejected by U.S. government officials and
denounced by other organizations. The Rev. Robert Edgar, a United
Methodist serving as top staff executive of the National Council of
Churches, called Robertson's remarks "appalling to the point of
disbelief."

"It defies logic that a clergyman could so casually dismiss thousands of
years of Judeo-Christian law, including the commandment that we are not
to kill," Edgar said. As a former congressman who served on the House
Select Committee on Assassinations from 1976 to 1979, Edgar said he was
"convinced of the immorality of political violence."

Assassination is against U.S. law, a fact noted by Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld after Robertson's initial remarks.

The National Council of Churches includes 36 Protestant, Anglican,
Orthodox, historic African-American and peace communions, representing
45 million people in the United States.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

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