c. 2006 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) If Pat Robertson were a doctor, we could strip him of his medical license. If he were a lawyer, we could disbar him.

But what do you do with a “televangelist” who is given to declaring God’s will for political leaders, resort communities and, indeed, entire nations? Is there no one to muzzle this self-appointed, self-anointed man of God?

Apparently not. Like the Energizer Bunny, Robertson keeps on going, scattering insults and verbal injuries on God’s behalf.

His latest interpretation of God’s will came last week, when he concluded that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s massive stroke was not caused by his bad heart, or by the fact that his weight ballooned in recent years to nearly 300 pounds, or because he had a milder stroke last year.

No, this stroke was caused by the Lord Himself, who according to Robertson was ticked off at Sharon for “dividing God’s land” and turning over the Gaza Strip to Palestinians.

If Robertson were some inexperienced, uneducated bumpkin who finished only the eighth grade, his ignorant blathering would be unremarkable and unnoticed. But he is a national figure on the American stage, a onetime presidential candidate who owns a cable TV network.

When he speaks, the world listens. And frequently shudders.

Last year, it was when he called for the assassination of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez. And when he warned the folks in Dover, Pa., that their preference for teaching science, not religion, in biology class means there’s no point in their asking for God’s help in times of trouble. (“If there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to God.”)

The year before that, it was when God let Robertson in on a secret that he shared with the world: that the 2004 presidential election would be “a blowout” for incumbent President Bush.

A few years before that, it was when he asserted that God would sic Mother Nature on Orlando, Fla., because the city had sanctioned Disney’s “Gay Days.”

In 2001, it was a few days after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, when he agreed with his tele-buddy Jerry Falwell that God allowed the attacks because America’s morals have gone to the dogs.

Somewhere in all of those utterances, Robertson also managed to suggest that a “nuke” at the State Department would “shake things up” and that Americans should pray for certain Supreme Court justices to retire, presumably so the Lord could replace them.

You have to wonder what motivates Robertson to run his mouth the way he does. Is it the pressure of having a daily talk show (“The 700 Club”) on which the host is expected to keep up a steady patter? Has he grown tired of the usual topics on which regular pastors typically expound? Is religion not sufficiently interesting if not spiced up with politics?

Or is it simply that Robertson enjoys the notoriety?

Maybe he likes the fact that when he speaks, the media listen. And that the more outrageous his comments are, the more media attention he gets.

Which could be the key to muzzling this man, who apparently has no one in charge of him _ no governing board or boss or bishop who can say, “Enough.”

The news media pay attention to people like Robertson when they perceive that we, the public, care about what such people have to say.

So I say, it’s time to stop caring what he has to say. Time to stop quoting him, to stop interviewing him, to stop paying attention to his TV show, to stop acting as though we believe he’s God’s messenger. He isn’t.

And no, God didn’t tell me that. Pat Robertson did _ in his words and in his deeds.

MO/PH END COLEMAN

(Frances Coleman is editorial page editor of the Mobile Register in Mobile, Ala.)Editors: To obtain a file photo of Frances Coleman, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject.