Controversial conservative Christian leader Pat Robertson told viewers on Tuesday that Islam is not a religion but a demonic political and economic system with only a religious veneer.
Right Wing Watch reports that Pat Robertson, an influential leader in the US right-wing evangelical movement, passed judgement on Islam during an episode of his TV program "The 700 Club," in which he was responding to a news story about the war in Mali.
According to Right Wing Watch, Robertson, referring to Islam as religion of chaos, said:
"Every time you look up - these are angry people, it's almost like it's demonic that is driving them to kill and to maim and to destroy and to blow themselves up," Robertson said of Islam. "It's a religion of chaos... I hardly think to call it a religion, it's more of - well, it's an economic and political system with a religious veneer."As The Huffington Post notes, Robertson's opinion of the demoniacal nature of Islam is hardly surprising because as far as most fundamentalist Christians are concerned all religions beside Christianity and Judaism are demonic. But most fundamentalist US Christians single out Islam for special attention and mention.
This is not the first time that Robertson has aired his extreme views about Islam. Right Wing Watch reports he has described Islam as "Antichrist" and compared it to fascism and Nazism.
The Huffington Post recalls that after the 2009 Fort Hood shooting incident involving Major Nidal Malik, Robertson said Islam was not a religion but a "violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and world domination."
The Huffington Post also notes Robertson's expression of his opinion of Islamic culture when he joked on The 700 Club in response to a caller that he should convert to Islam so he can have the opportunity to disrespect his wife.
Robertson is also notorious for linking natural disasters to "God's wrath" and the "national sin." He once suggested that incidence of tornadoes were God's punishment for sins and because people did not pray hard enough to avert disaster. He also once caused an uproar when he suggested that Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake resulted because the island's people made a pact with the devil.
Secular Daily News quotes Robertson in full (see video above) : It's Islam, it's Islam. Every time you look up - these are angry people, it's almost like it's demonic that is driving them to kill and to maim and to destroy and to blow themselves up. It's a religion of chaos. I hardly think to call it a religion, it's more of - well, it's an economic and political system with a religious veneer.
Just as designed, and since it shares the same roots as Judaism and Christianity, the 'apples' don't fall far from the tree. Odd that Mr Pat didn't see his reflection in his comments, but then he wouldn't be an effective illusionist if he did. Ignorance, not arrogance seems to be bliss. Mr. Pat is a good example of that.