By BEN FINLEY (Associated Press)
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Pat Robertson, a spiritual broadcaster who turned a tiny Virginia station into the worldwide Christian Broadcasting Network, tried a run for president and helped make faith central to Republican Party politics in America via his Christian Coalition, has died. He was 93.
Robertson’s dying Thursday was introduced by his broadcasting community. No trigger was given.
Robertson’s enterprises additionally included Regent University, an evangelical Christian college in Virginia Beach; the American Center for Law and Justice, which defends the First Amendment rights of spiritual folks; and Operation Blessing, a world humanitarian group.
For greater than a half-century, Robertson was a well-known presence in American dwelling rooms, recognized for his “700 Club” tv present, and in later years, his televised pronouncements of God’s judgment, blaming pure disasters on every little thing from homosexuality to the educating of evolution.
The cash poured in as he solicited donations, his affect soared, and he introduced an enormous following with him when he moved instantly into politics by looking for the GOP presidential nomination in 1988.
Robertson pioneered the now-common technique of courting Iowa’s community of evangelical Christian church buildings, and completed in second place within the Iowa caucuses, forward of Vice President George H.W. Bush.
His masterstroke was insisting that three million followers throughout the U.S. signal petitions earlier than he would resolve to run, Robertson biographer Jeffrey Ok. Hadden mentioned. The tactic gave him a military.
″He requested folks to pledge that they’d work for him, pray for him and provides him cash,” Hadden, a University of Virginia sociologist, informed The Associated Press in 1988. ″Political historians might view it as probably the most ingenious issues a candidate ever did.″
Robertson later endorsed Bush, who gained the presidency. Pursuit of Iowa’s evangelicals is now a ritual for Republican hopefuls, together with these at present looking for the White House in 2024.
Robertson began the Christian Coalition in Chesapeake in 1989, saying it could additional his marketing campaign’s beliefs. The coalition grew to become a significant political power within the Nineteen Nineties, mobilizing conservative voters via grass-roots actions.
By the time of his resignation because the coalition’s president in 2001 — Robertson mentioned he wished to focus on ministerial work — his affect on each faith and politics within the U.S. was “enormous,” in line with John C. Green, an emeritus political science professor at The University of Akron.
Many adopted the trail Robertson reduce in non secular broadcasting, Green informed the AP in 2021. In American politics, Robertson helped “cement the alliance between conservative Christians and the Republican Party.”
Marion Gordon “Pat” Robertson was born March 22, 1930, in Lexington, Virginia, to Absalom Willis Robertson and Gladys Churchill Robertson. His father served for 36 years as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from Virginia.
After graduating from Washington and Lee University, he served as assistant adjutant of the first Marine Division in Korea.
He acquired a regulation diploma from Yale University Law School, however failed the bar examination and selected to not pursue a regulation profession.
Robertson met his spouse, Adelia “Dede” Elmer, at Yale in 1952. He was a Southern Baptist, she was a Catholic, incomes a grasp’s in nursing. Eighteen months later, they ran off to be married by a justice of the peace, understanding neither household would approve.
Robertson was focused on politics till he discovered faith, Dede Robertson informed the AP in 1987. He surprised her by pouring out their liquor, tearing a nude print off the wall and declaring he had discovered the Lord.
They moved right into a commune in New York City’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood as a result of Robertson mentioned God informed him to promote all his possessions and minister to the poor. She was tempted to return house to Ohio, “but I realized that was not what the Lord would have me do … I had promised to stay, so I did,” she informed the AP.
Robertson acquired a grasp’s in divinity from New York Theological Seminary in 1959, then drove south together with his household to purchase a bankrupt UHF tv station in Portsmouth, Va. He mentioned he had simply $70 in his pocket, however quickly discovered traders, and CBN went on the air on Oct. 1, 1961. Established as a tax-exempt non secular nonprofit, CBN introduced in tons of of tens of millions, disclosing $321 million in “ministry support” in 2022 alone.
One of Robertson’s improvements was to make use of the secular talk-show format on the community’s flagship present, the “700 Club,” which grew out of a telethon when Robertson requested 700 viewers for month-to-month $10 contributions. It was extra suited to tv than conventional revival conferences or church companies, and gained an enormous viewers.
“Here’s a well-educated person having sophisticated conversations with a wide variety of guests on a wide variety of topics,” mentioned Green, the University of Akron political science professor. “It was with a religious inflection to be sure. But it was an approach that took up everyday concerns.”
His friends finally included a number of U.S. presidents — Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump.
At instances, his on-air pronouncements drew criticism.
He claimed that the terrorist assaults that killed hundreds of Americans on Sept. 11, 2001 have been attributable to God, angered by the federal courts, pornography, abortion rights and church-state separation. Talking once more about Sept. 11 on his TV present a 12 months later, Robertson described Islam as a violent faith that desires to “dominate” and “destroy,” prompting President George W. Bush to distance himself and say Islam is a peaceable and respectful faith.
He known as for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2005. Later that 12 months, he warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania city to not be shocked if catastrophe struck them as a result of they voted out college board members who favored educating “intelligent design” over evolution. And in 1998, he mentioned Orlando, Florida, ought to watch out for hurricanes after permitting the annual Gay Days occasion.
In 2014, he angered Kenyans when he warned that towels in Kenya might transmit AIDS. CBN issued a correction, saying Robertson “misspoke about the possibility of getting AIDS through towels.”
Robertson additionally might be unpredictable: In 2010, he known as for ending obligatory jail sentences for marijuana possession convictions. Two years later, he mentioned on the “700 Club” that marijuana ought to be legalized and handled like alcohol as a result of the federal government’s struggle on medication had failed.
Robertson condemned Democrats caught up in intercourse scandals, saying for instance that President Bill Clinton turned the White House right into a playpen for sexual freedom. But he helped solidify evangelical assist for Donald Trump, dismissing the candidate’s sexually predatory feedback about ladies as an try “to look like he’s macho.”
After Trump took workplace, Robertson interviewed the president on the White House. And CBN welcomed Trump advisers, comparable to Kellyanne Conway, as friends.
But after President Trump misplaced to Joe Biden in 2020, Robertson mentioned Trump was dwelling in an “alternate reality” and may “move on,” information retailers reported.
Robertson’s son, Gordon, succeeded him in December 2007 as chief government of CBN, which is now primarily based in Virginia Beach. Robertson remained chairman of the community and continued to seem on the “700 Club.”
Robertson stepped down as host of the present after half a century in 2021, together with his son Gordon taking up the weekday present.
Robertson additionally was founder and chairman of International Family Entertainment Inc., mother or father of The Family Channel fundamental cable TV community. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. purchased IFE in 1997.
Regent University, the place courses started in Virginia Beach in 1978, now has greater than 30,000 alumni, CBN mentioned in an announcement.
Robertson wrote 15 books, together with “The Turning Tide” and “The New World Order.”
His spouse Dede, who was a founding board member of CBN, died final 12 months on the age of 94. The couple had 4 youngsters, 14 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren, CBN mentioned in an announcement.
____
Former Associated Press reporters Don Schanche and Pam Ramsey contributed to this story.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”