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A Response to Pat Robertson
If you haven’t heard Pat Robertson’s comments on Haiti you can see it here. This is the kind of comment that the old guard makes periodically that gets everyone all riled up. Here’s what Robertson said: “Something happened a long time ago in Haiti…They were under the heal of the French…And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.’ True story. And so, the devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal.’ ”
A comment like that is very difficult for Christians. Here’s why: A biblical worldview believes there is a spiritual realm. Jesus encountered it and drove out demons that were afflicting people. See any of the Gospels. The demons beg Jesus for mercy because they know he is from the heavenly (or spiritual) world. These demons oppress and control people. Paul wrote of the struggle Christians have not only against the powers that be but also the “powers of the air” by which he meant the demons (Eph. 6:10-18).
So for the Bible-believing Christian the presence of the spiritual realm-things like demons and the devil-are very real. When Robertson says something like this “true story” we wonder if he might be right. Did the Haitian ancestors make some pact with the Prince of Darkness for freedom from the French? Haiti does have a history of voodoo which from a Christian worldview looks like interaction with and worship of demons. But does God cause disasters to fall on Haiti because of it?
With no evidence of a Haiti/Hell pact, it is wise to reserve judgment. I found one article about the subject from someone who has looked into it. The author’s judgment that Haiti’s pact with the devil is that “it is nothing more than a fantasist opinion that ultimately dissipates upon close examination” I’m inclined to agree. There may be more research out there with which I am unfamiliar but until I see it, I remain skeptical. Call me Thomas. Death and destruction are the results of sin generally and there is no reason to think this earthquake is the result of God’s special curse. Notice I did not deny a heightened level of demonic activity. That certainly is possible but again, not necessarily causally related.
So, to Pat Robertson I say: Please research your sources before you take them to television. Do not let fly rumors and tall tales you heard once if you cannot prove it. It makes us people of faith look silly. We have a hard enough time trying to get a hearing with people who believe in nothing they can’t touch or see. We don’t need to compound the problem with unfounded stories. Stick to the Greatest Story. We’ll all be better for it.
Well put. Nuff’ said.
It is a difficult theological debate, because Christians, although we are all brothers and sisters in Christ we express our faith differently. Haiti is 80% Catholic, very spiritual, and there are people there who practice what we call voodoo, which is a combination of an ancient faith brought over from Africa combined with Catholicism. I don’t believe it is practiced the way we see it protrayed in movies though, nor is it as widespread. As for Robertson, there is a time and a place for everything. When people are still trapped, suffering, dying, searching for relatives, it is hardly the time for condemnation, but rather compassion. I’m grateful that the majority of the world follows that path, and that only a small majority of people feel the need to say something that hurtful. Robertson lost his credibility with me a long time ago by speaking inappropriately. I’m not in a position to know what’s in his heart, but I do know when it’s inappropriate to speak out.
Rev Nev Reply:
January 14th, 2010 at 7:30 PM
I read somewhere that Haiti is more like 95% Roman Catholic and that the voodoo was mixed in. No matter how it’s practiced it cannot be the one, true faith if they are worshiping ancestors and whatnot. Still, I can’t take the leap Robertson did. Sounds like he cited an old legend but why? He gained very little.
Robertson didn’t just “make up” a story. He was apparently making reference to the Bois Caiman, which was the “most historically important” voodoo ceremony in Haitian history. You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Vodou … it is in the last paragraph of the section on the Haitian Revolution.
Contrary to the numbers being thrown around here, Haitian is a very pagan nation. If you are really interested you can read about it on your own, but suffice to say, the faith of Haitian is by and large very syncretistic. (Much like the religious beliefs of much of the Caribean) What they did to avoid being hassled was they identified their voodoo dieties with the saints and their supreme God with the Christian God. Thus they kept their pagan religion but did so under the guise of Christianity.
That said, so what? Here’s my gripe with guys like Robertson… Of course at the broadest possible big picture level sin is behind all human suffering. But he has no warrant to say why a bad thing would happen to New Orleans as opposed to Las Vegas or why Haiti would get hit and not Cuba (which is equally syncretistic). For instance, since he wants to go back in time… The French Revolution was the FIRST revolution to be self-consciously secular and anti-religion. Since that time, religious faith in France has been virtually nil. So fastforward to 1940… would he say that France fell in 1940 to the Nazis as judgment for their rejection of God back in 1789? I doubt it.
By the way…
If you have the time and interest, you can read a truly fascinating article from the Stockholm Review of Latin American Studies that details the relationship between voodoo and Haitian national identity, focusing specifically upon the incident referred to by Pat Robertson.
The bottom line is that Voodoo is an integral part of Haiti’s history and culture from its beginning to this day.
The link is here: http://www.lai.su.se/gallery/bilagor/SRoLAS_No4_6.%20%E2%80%9DOur%20Government%20is%20in.pdf