The Devil is in the Details
William Blake saw;
“A world in a grain of sand,
A Heaven in a wild flower,
Held infinity in the palm of his hand
Eternity in an hour”
Pat Robertson saw an apocalypse in a disaster. Pat Robertson’s misguided musings reflect a deeper theological and cultural problem. Truth in education, both secular and Christian, is at the heart of these misapprehensions and incredulously stupid statements. Evil comes in all religious guises. The real evil was the enslavement of the Africans that populated Haiti in bondage and it was not the devil but God, the God of the oppressed that delivered them. If an oppressor’s religion justifies the demonic dehumanization of a people, it is certainly understandable if they return to their “roots” in search of an alternative and available spiritual power.
The divine is not restricted to the categories provided by a morally bankrupt spirituality even if it calls itself Christian. If life teaches us anything, it teaches that God will find a way to realize his merciful, loving and liberating will. It was the devil that enslaved the Haitians and oppressed them through the French and other western forces; the devil who after their liberation enslaved them to debt and later to purposeful underdevelopment. A free Black African nation in the west, emerging from the dungeon of chattel slavery through autonomous struggle was the very incarnation of the enlightenment ideals. Such however was too much for white supremacist sensibilities to bear.
Natural disasters are just that--natural. There is no devil involved. Shifting tectonic plates are clearly the culprit. Science is not the enemy of religion ignorance is. Ignorant religion is the enemy of humanity, truth and ultimately God however sincere the intentions of the devotee might be. While Pat Robertson’s humanitarian efforts seem laudable his kind of thinking is dangerous. It contributes to the long term systemic exploitation and oppression that keeps a nation like Haiti excessively vulnerable to natural and man-made disasters. A history lesson would help. Some truth and self-evaluation of the systemic racist policies of the so-called western democracies may help exorcise the demon of racism from the very body and soul of America.
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A Friend of the Crucified,
Dr. Matthew V. Johnson Sr., Ph.D.
National Director ECAPC
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