Global Courant
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Pat Robertson, a religious broadcaster who turned a small station in Virginia into the global Christian Broadcasting Network, ran for president and helped put religion at the center of Republican Party politics in America through his Christian coalition. died. He turned 93.
Robertson’s death was announced by his broadcast network on Thursday. No reason was given.
Robertson’s ventures also included Regent University, an evangelical Christian school in Virginia Beach; the American Center for Law and Justice, which defends the First Amendment rights of religious people; and Operation Blessing, an international humanitarian organization.
For more than half a century, Robertson was a well-known figure in American living rooms, known for his “700 Club” television show and, in later years, his televised pronouncements about God’s judgment, blaming natural disasters for everything from homosexuality to teaching the people. of evolution.
Money poured in as he solicited donations, his influence soared, and he brought with him a huge following as he went straight into politics by seeking the GOP presidential nomination in 1988.
Robertson was a pioneer in the strategy now prevalent of Iowa’s network of evangelical Christian churches, and finished second in the Iowa primary to Vice President George HW Bush.
His masterstroke was to insist that three million followers in the US sign petitions before deciding to run, said Robertson biographer Jeffrey K. Hadden. The tactic gave him an army.
“He asked people to promise to work for him, pray for him, and give him money,” said Hadden, a sociologist at the University of Virginia. told The Associated Press in 1988. “Political historians may consider it one of the most ingenious things a candidate has ever done.”
Robertson later endorsed Bush, who won the presidency. Pursuit of Iowa’s evangelicals is now a ritual for Republican hopefuls, including those currently seeking the White House in 2024.
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Robertson founded the Christian Coalition in Chesapeake in 1989, saying it would further his campaign’s ideals. The coalition became a major political force in the 1990s, mobilizing Conservative voters through grassroots activities.
By the time he stepped down as coalition president in 2001 — Robertson said he wanted to focus on ministerial duties — his impact on both religion and politics in the U.S. was “enormous,” according to John C. Green, professor emeritus of political science. at the University of Akron.
Many followed Robertson’s path in religious broadcasting, Green told the AP in 2021. In American politics, Robertson “helped strengthen the alliance between conservative Christians and the Republican Party.”
Marion Gordon “Pat” Robertson was born on March 22, 1930 in Lexington, Virginia, to Absalom Willis Robertson and Gladys Churchill Robertson. His father was a U.S. Representative and Senator from Virginia for 36 years.
After graduating from Washington and Lee University, he served as an assistant adjutant of the 1st Marine Division in Korea.
He received a law degree from Yale University Law School, but failed the bar exam and chose not to pursue a law career.
Robertson met his wife, Adelia “Dede” Elmer, at Yale in 1952. He was a Southern Baptist, she was Catholic, and earned a master’s degree in nursing. Eighteen months later, they ran off to be married by a justice of the peace, knowing that neither family would approve.
Robertson was interested in politics until he found religion, Dede Robertson told the AP in 1987. He amazed her by pouring out their drink, tearing a nude print from the wall and declaring that he had found the Lord.
They moved to a commune in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of New York City because Robertson said God had commanded him to sell all his possessions and serve the poor. She was tempted to return to Ohio, “but I realized that wasn’t what the Lord wanted me to do… I promised to stay, so I did,” she told the AP.
Robertson earned a master’s degree in divinity from New York Theological Seminary in 1959, then drove south with his family to buy a bankrupt UHF television station in Portsmouth, Virginia. He said he only had $70 in his pocket, but soon found investors, and CBN went on the air on October 1, 1961. Founded as a tax-exempt religious non-profit organization, CBN raised hundreds of millions and made $100 in 2022 alone 321 million in “ministry support” known.
One of Robertson’s innovations was the use of the secular talk show format on the network’s flagship show, the “700 Club”, which grew out of a telethon when Robertson asked 700 viewers for $10 monthly contributions. television than traditional revival meetings or church services, and it attracted huge audiences.
“Here’s a well-educated person who has sophisticated conversations with a wide variety of guests on a wide variety of topics,” said Green, a professor of political science at the University of Akron. “It was definitely with a religious slant. But it was an approach that took away the daily worries.”
His guests eventually included several US presidents – Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump.
Sometimes his statements on the air received criticism.
He claimed that the terror attacks that killed thousands of Americans on September 11, 2001, were God-made, angered by the federal courts, pornography, abortion rights, and the separation of church and state. Talking about 9-11 again on his TV show a year later, Robertson described Islam as a violent religion that seeks to “dominate” and “destroy,” prompting President George W. Bush to distance himself and say that Islam is a peaceful and respectful religion. .
He called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2005. Later that year, he warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town not to be surprised if disaster struck them, as they voted out school administrators who favored teaching of “intelligent design” over evolution. And in 1998, he said Orlando, Florida, should be wary of hurricanes after the annual Gay Days event was allowed.
In 2014, he angered Kenyans when he warned that towels in Kenya could transmit AIDS. CBN issued a correction, saying that Robertson “mis-talked about the possibility of getting AIDS through towels.”
Robertson can also be unpredictable: In 2010, he called for an end to mandatory prison sentences for marijuana possession convictions. Two years later, he said on the “700 Club” that marijuana should be legalized and treated like alcohol because the government’s war on drugs had failed.
Robertson condemned Democrats involved in sex scandals, saying, for example, that President Bill Clinton had turned the White House into a sex freedom playpen. But he helped solidify evangelical support for Donald Trump, dismissing the candidate’s sexually predatory remarks about women as an attempt “to look like a macho”.
After Trump took office, Robertson interviewed the president at the White House. And CBN welcomed Trump advisers, such as Kellyanne Conway, as guests.
But after President Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020, Robertson said Trump was living in an “alternate reality” and should “move on,” news outlets reported.
Robertson’s son, Gordon, succeeded him in December 2007 as CEO of CBN, which is now based in Virginia Beach. Robertson remained president of the network and continued to appear on the “700 Club”.
Robertson stepped down as host of the show in 2021 after half a century, with his son Gordon taking over the weekday show.
Robertson also served as founder and president of International Family Entertainment Inc., the parent company of The Family Channel basic cable television network. News Corp. from Rupert Murdoch bought IFE in 1997.
Regent University, which began classes in Virginia Beach in 1978, now has more than 30,000 alumni, CBN said in a statement.
Robertson wrote 15 books, including “The Turning Tide” and “The New World Order.”
His wife Dede, one of the founders of CBN, passed away last year at the age of 94. The couple had four children, 14 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren, CBN said in a statement.
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Former Associated Press reporters Don Schanche and Pam Ramsey contributed to this story.
