The New McCarthyism - Unpublished Letter to the Washington Post

Since the Washington Post refused to print my letter in response to an article in their Sunday paper a week and a half ago, I've decided to publish it here.

Here is a link to the article to which the letter responds:

Dear editor:

It was most alarming to read in this week’s Sunday paper the rabid remarks recently made by the right-wing, so-called Christian, evangelist, Pat Robertson on Islam. His refusal to recognize Islam as a religion, despite the fact that the world recognizes it as one of the great ones, and his comments that it is nothing more than a violent political system comparable to Communism and Fascism, were so disturbing that I could barely contain my anger. Comments such as these, and others he has made in the past, reveal just how ignorant and -- yes, hateful -- Mr. Robertson actually is. How he can be considered a religious figure is beyond my understanding, especially given the teachings of Jesus Christ.

However, what disturbs me even more is how governor-elect Robert F. McDonnell has, in the past, embraced Robertson and his teachings (he did, after all, graduate from the very university Robertson founded) and how he has danced around his relationship with this unforgiving man and his racist (dare I say fascist?) political agenda. McDonnell ran a campaign promising to represent all Virginians -- promising to govern from the center and not from the radical right. Now that he has been elected, he owes it to all citizens of the Commonwealth to let us know where he really stands and to clearly repudiate Robertson and all his profoundly evil proclamations.

Comments (1)

Will Corsair

Both paragraphs below are Robertson's:

"Islam is a violent -- I was going to say religion, but it's not a religion. It's a political system. It's a violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and world domination," he said. "I think we should treat it as such and treat its adherents as such, as we would members of the Communist Party or members of some fascist group."

"Our motto at Regent is 'Christian Leadership to Change the World,' and this is the way we do it," Robertson said in an interview for the law school's blog on (Robert McDonnell's)election night.

Uh...do I detect a bit of inconsistency here? Seems to me that Robertson is a Christian Taliban himself, given his views. Should we take his advice and also treat him as a fascist?

Posted by Will Corsair | November 28, 2009 9:39 PM

Posted on November 28, 2009 21:39

Post your own comment

Name:

Email Address:

Remember personal info?

(To create links here or for style, you may wish to use HTML tags in your comments) We want to know what you think. Feel free to share whatever you'd like to:

Menu

Shortcuts

Contributing Authors