Tomorrow evening, Whig-Clio will host a visit by Pat Robertson, the televangelist, political activist, and former Presidential candidate.
There doesn't seem to be any noncontroversial way of describing Robertson. According to some, he's a spiritual leader and moral exemplar. They point to his role in founding the Christian Coalition — one of the most influential activist organizations on the American right — and to his success with "The 700 club," a daily Christian telecast with a nationwide following.
Others view him as a bigoted and deceptive man whose charisma provides cover for a reactionary, intolerant agenda. They point to a string of public statements, including Rev. Robertson's repeated assertion that the Sept. 11 attacks were God's response to America's secular lifestyle. Robertson's inflammatory rhetoric has a long history. He has said that Hindus, Muslims and atheists should be excluded from all government jobs, warned gay pride protesters in Florida that they would attract God's wrath in the form of a hurricane, and compared the status of evangelical Christians in America to that of Jews in Nazi Germany.
Both of these interpretations of Robertson are partly right. He mixes good religious messages with hateful invective in a way that makes it impossible to describe him as entirely bad or entirely good. His frequent bromides about the importance of family and faith arguably make him all the more the dangerous, preparing audiences to accept the hateful parts of his message uncritically.
Unlike other controversial figures, Robertson can be expected to do more than simply spout hate in his speech tomorrow night. His views on religion and politics really are worth knowing, if only because they are shared by many of the millions of Americans who describe themselves as evangelical Christians.
The value of having a visit from someone like Robertson is what J. S. Mill once termed "the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error." His visit will be valuable only if his views are allowed to collide with reality.
Whig-Clio has promised to devote most of the event to questions and answers. We hope his supporters will ask questions that will provoke thought and allow Robertson to explain his doctrine. We also hope that the student leaders arrayed against Robertson's visit — whom we are glad to know will be protesting outside — will also send emissaries in to the speech itself, to ask tough questions and force Robertson to show his true colors. — The Daily Princetonian Opinion Board
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