A Pat on the Back - New York Times

A problem that I've had with a lot of bible-belters is an emphasis on intolerance and conversion, and a seeming lack of caring in good works. Seems there might be an upswell lately of - good god! - actual religious compassion. As if the Bible - in between polemics on the evils of homosexuality, pork and non-conceptual sex - talks about caring and loving your fellow human beings.

A Pat on the Back - New York Times: "A Pat on the Back

By SARAH VOWELL
Published: July 6, 2005

Since I have been hired, temporarily, to write about the news, here's some: seeing Pat Robertson on television cheered me up. Until recently, about the nicest thing I would have said about this televangelist is that he isn't boring. Remember when he wanted to boycott the 'Satanic ritual' that is Halloween? Or when he said, 'The husband is the head of the wife'? Or when he warned the city of Orlando that the flying of homosexuals' upbeat rainbow flags might incite divine retribution in the form of hurricanes or 'possibly a meteor'? Yep, good times.

Nevertheless, when I spotted Robertson in a lineup of celebrities including Brad Pitt, Bono, George Clooney and the also-never-boring Dennis Hopper, I was delighted to see him. He was in the One Campaign's television ad asking for help in the crusade against poverty, starvation and AIDS in Africa and elsewhere."