American televangelist Pat Robertson has blamed the devastating earthquake in Haiti on a pact between the impoverished nation’s founders and the devil. It is feared that up to 100,000 people may have lost their lives when the magnitude 7.0 earthquake flattened massive areas of the capital Port-au-Prince yesterday.
Speaking on his television program The 700 Club, Robertson said the pact happened “a long time ago in Haiti”.
“They were under the heel of the French, you know Napoleon III (sic) and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil,” he said. “They said ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the prince.’ True story. And so the devil said, ‘OK it’s a deal’. And they kicked the French out.”
Robertson said after the pact, the Haitians “revolted and got something – themselves free. “But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after another,” he said. Haiti won its independence from France in 1804 after a slave rebellion. Robertson said the curse was evident when Haiti was contrasted with its neighbour, the Dominican Republic. “That island of Hispaniola is one island. It is cut down the middle – on the one side is Haiti, on the other is the Dominican Republic,” he said.
“Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. They need to have, and we need to pray for them, a great turning to God and out of this tragedy I’m optimistic something good may come.
“But right now we are helping the suffering people and the suffering is unimaginable.” Robertson’s outspoken comments have caused controversy in the past. He was widely criticised for his 2005 call for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s assassination. He also said the 2006 stroke suffered by then-Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon was punishment from God.
He blamed the September 11 terrorist attacks on civil liberties, promised a disastrous tsunami in America in 2006 and a terrorist attack on United States soil in 2007. When both attacks failed to happen, Robertson said people must have prayed to God, and “God in his mercy spared us”.
UPDATE: A spokesman for Robertson said, “countless scholars and religious figures over the centuries…believe the country is cursed,” so Robertson was relying on sound scholarly research in tracing the cataclysmic earthquake to a well-documented pact with Satan that the people of Haiti entered into at the turn of the 19th century.
On today’s The 700 Club, during a segment about the devastation, suffering and humanitarian effort that is needed in Haiti, Dr. Robertson also spoke about Haiti’s history. His comments were based on the widely-discussed 1791 slave rebellion led by Boukman Dutty at Bois Caiman, where the slaves allegedly made a famous pact with the devil in exchange for victory over the French. This history, combined with the horrible state of the country, has led countless scholars and religious figures over the centuries to believe the country is cursed.
Dr. Robertson never stated that the earthquake was God’s wrath.
If you watch the entire video segment, Dr. Robertson’s compassion for the people of Haiti is clear. He called for prayer for them. His humanitarian arm has been working to help thousands of people in Haiti over the last year, and they are currently launching a major relief and recovery effort to help the victims of this disaster. They have sent a shipment of millions of dollars worth of medications that is now in Haiti, and their disaster team leaders are expected to arrive tomorrow and begin operations to ease the suffering.”