wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Church leaders condemn Robertson call for Chavez

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Note #8865 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05440
August 24, 2005

Church leaders condemn Robertson call for Chavez assassination
 
by Chris Herlinger
Ecumenical News International
   
	      
  NEW YORK ? Christian leaders seen representing both conservative and
liberal constituencies have lambasted broadcaster the Rev. Pat Robertson for
calling for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. 
 
     Robertson's call "is appalling to the point of disbelief," National
Council of Churches general secretary Robert Edgar said on Aug. 23 following
Robertson?s statement, delivered on the Christian Broadcast Network. 
 
     "We have the ability to take him [Chavez] out, and I think the time has
come that we exercise that ability,'" Robertson, a former Republican Party
presidential candidate, said on his Aug. 22 television show, The 700 Club, of
the Venezuelan president, who has often been at loggerheads with the
administration of President George W. Bush. 
 
     "We don?t need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know,
strong arm dictator," Robertson said. "It?s a whole lot easier to have some
of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with." 
 
     In response, Edgar, a former Democratic congressman who served from
1976-79 on the House Select Committee on Assassinations that investigated
U.S. sponsored political assassinations, said it 'defies logic that this self
proclaimed Christian leader could so blithely abandon the teachings of Jesus
to love our enemies and turn our cheeks against violence.? 
 
     "It defies logic that a former candidate for the presidency could skirt
the brink of international law to call for the assassination of a foreign
leader on the grounds that he might some day be a danger to us," said Edgar.
"It defies logic that this so called evangelist is misusing his media power
not to win people to faith but to encourage them to support the murder of a
foreign leader."
 
     The Rev. Rob Schenck, president of the National Clergy Council in
Washington, DC said: "I have always held Pat Robertson in the highest esteem,
but his remarks today about Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez were at best
indiscreet and probably crossed a serious moral and ethical line. Reverend
Robertson must immediately apologize, retract his statement and clarify what
the Bible and Christianity teaches about the permissibility of taking human
life outside of law." 
 
     Schenck, a minister in the Evangelical Church Alliance, has in the past
worked closely with Robertson?s Christian Broadcasting Network, including
hosting Robertson for major events. He was also a paid consultant to the
American Center for Law and Justice, a legal institute set up by the 75 year
old Robertson.

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