Pat Robertson, weatherman

The latest tactic pseudo-Christian Pat Robertson has found to keep his name in the headlines? Weather forecasts.

Yes, Pat "I'm not a Christian, but I play one on TV" Robertson is calling for hurricanes during this upcoming hurricane season. Well, not him, exactly, but he's pretty sure that's what God said. Also, he's noted that plate tectonics is causing motion in the Pacific plate, and maybe this might possibly result in catastrophic earthquakes or whatnot that will trigger tsunamis in those areas of the Pacific Northwest that have been prearing for tsunamis for decades. Hey Pat, did God say anything about snow next Winter? 'Cause I'm betting it's gonna snow. Too bad about your Liberian investments - was it more Christian for your buddy Charles Taylor's troops to amputate limbs "short sleeve" or "long sleeve"? By the way, how's that Venezuelan assassination thing going?

I'm disgusted by the role religion is playing in the culture wars. I'm tired of watching people plunge further and further into religious intolerance and extremism, plummetting relentlessly to the far right towards the hate-based religions like the Kansas cult that calls itself the"Westboro Baptist Church". These are the people who preach the message "GOD HATES FAGS", the nutjobs who have been disrupting the funerals of U.S. soldiers to let the world know that God killed our soldiers because they were fighting for a nation that embraces homosexuals. (A lot of homosexuals would be surprised by that description of the U.S., but there you have it.) Theocons are rapidly crabwalking towards positions that are in line with many of the WBC cult's views, some of them while maintaining that they are the only real moderates in the room.

Some will assert that because I do not share their views of Christianity, or do not adhere to their vision of Catholicism, I have no right to call myself a Christan or a Catholic. Fair enough - but wrong, very wrong. Anyone who believes that God is Hate is a long, long way from wisdom and enlightenment.*

But it's a characteristic of these sorts of people that they are absolutely convinced of the rightness of their positions, and no amount of logical argument or spiritual persuasion will serve to budge them. So, for all you religious extremists and Theocon extremist wannabees, here's my advice to you: wear your rubbers.

Because Pat Robertson says it's gonna rain.

*Compare to the First Letter of John, Chapter 4, verses 8 and 20: "Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love." "If anyone says, 'I love God,' but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen."