When two self-proclaimed religious leaders set out American foreign policy from opposite sides of the fence, America is the real loser. Last week the Rev. Pat Robertson told a worldwide audience that the U.S. should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez because the leftist President is a threat to American security and the cost of an assassination would be far less than the cost of a war.
The White House was very quick to point out that Pat Robertson does not establish U.S. foreign policy and that political assignation is forbidden by federal law. But Pat Robertson has a long history of radical remarks that spur his detractors as well as those who reject his version of the gospel to criticism. While some were quick to ask for President Bush to openly repudiate his friend Rev. Robertson, Chavez went so far as to formally request his extradition to Venezuela for terrorism.
Two bullies, who both use words instead of fists, are standing on the street corners of world opinion challenging each other, when along comes the master manipulator, Rev. Jesse Jackson, to the intersection to make sure he is in the limelight for another of his 15 minutes of fame.
Ian James of the Guardian reported today, “Jackson, who arrived Saturday for a visit along with members of his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, cited record-high oil prices as one major reason the U.S. government should seek better relations with Venezuela, which is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and a major supplier to the U.S. market.”
Pat Robertson may have played the fool with his inappropriate remarks, but the Rev. Jackson is just as foolish with his idea that we should support a totalitarian socialist state because it possesses oil. It seems to me that religious leaders should stick to religion and leave foreign policy to those tasked by the legislative and executive branch with those responsibilities.
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1 - Silas Kain
Civilization will not attain to its perfection until the last stone from the last church falls on the last priest. --Emile Zola