I Think I Just Heard A Bell

It certainly took long enough for someone to speak out about Pat Robertson's crazy remarks. I don't know what kind of clanging his cohorts in religious fervor heard, but it looks like they finally decided to scoot away from Pat.

Fellow conservative religious leaders have expressed concern and even open criticism over Pat Robertson's habit of shooting from the hip on his daily religious news-and-talk television program, 'The 700 Club.'

The Christian Coalition founder and former GOP presidential candidate has said American agents should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for pulling Israel out of the Gaza Strip.

Some observers say Robertson, who'll turn 76 next month, courts controversy as a strategy to stay recognizable and keep his followers mobilized. Others say he remains important to the evangelical movement that he helped create when he established the Virginia Beach-based Christian Broadcasting Network in 1960 _ but he needs to stop damaging it with his words.

He canceled a speech planned for this coming Tuesday at the closing banquet of the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Dallas after NRB leaders said they were concerned that his appearance could detract from the event.

'He is in a very visible leadership position and comments such as recent ones related to Mr. Sharon and so many others are misinformed and presumptuous and border on arrogance,' said David Dockery, president of Union University, a private college affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

Dockery suggested Robertson might want to consult other theologians 'before making these pronouncements so quickly.'

'It puts the evangelical movement in a bad light when that happens because people make broad generalizations, rightly or wrongly, all the time,' said Dockery, who also is chairman of the board for the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.