THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 3, 1995 TAG: 9505030003
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: By ROBERTA BAKER
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
Pat Robertson's amazement at being called an anti-Semite (``Pat Robertson replies to his critics,'' Perspectives page, April 24) is misplaced.
Mr. Robertson cites his support for the state of Israel, his appearance before the Anti-Defamation League and CBN's presence in Qiryat Shemona, etc. He waxes eloquent about standing before the eternal flame at Yad Vashem. He speaks of looking out on the Temple Mount and vowing that he and the organizations he controls would stand with Israel and the Jewish people. He tells of repudiating Holocaust deniers in a 1991 speech on his television show. He speaks passionately of pledging always to respect the beliefs and traditions of the Jewish community.
Sometimes, however, words speak louder than actions. If Mr. Robertson is surprised to find himself regarded as anti-Semitic, perhaps he should look to his own house: In the April 1992 issue of ``The Paper,'' a newsletter published by the School of Journalism of Regent University (one of the organizations Mr. Robertson controls), an editorial appeared titled ``Anti-Judaism is not anti-Semitism.''
While the editorial claims that ``anti-Semitism goes against the very heart of Christianity,'' it states in the same sentence that ``it is understandable that the world would hate Jews, the people called by God to be His chosen nation.'' It goes on to say, ``Even if the Jews were enemies of the church, Christians are commanded to love their enemies.'' Well, once you have called me your enemy, it hardly matters whether you label that epithet anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic. It is clearly anti-me.
The editorial says that ``Jews, as nice as they may be, if they do not believe in Jesus Christ as their savior, are eternally condemned by God.'' It states that God will punish Jews in hell forever. It calls Judaism a cult.
The editorial condemns the selection of Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein (whom it calls a pagan) to give the opening prayer in the U.S. Senate because ``anyone who does not accept Christ as savior, does not acknowledge Jesus as the King of Kings, is therefore an enemy of God.''
The editorial ends by stating that Jews (and all non-Christians) are under God's wrath and should be pitied by Christians. The editorial concludes, ``We cannot allow them to lead us in worship until we have led them in the sinner's prayer.'' These words do not, to me, sound like ``respect for the beliefs and traditions of the Jewish community.''
The masthead of ``The Paper'' disassociates CBN and Mr. Robertson from its contents. Mr. Robertson may well cloak himself in this disclaimer, but in so doing he can hardly act the coquette whose virtue has been questioned. Regent University is, withal, ``an organization he controls.''
Perhaps Mr. Robertson was reminded of his 1991 speech last year, when the Regent University library (another entity he controls) was found to have copies of the Journal for Historical Review on its shelves - a publication long known as an agency of the most militant Holocaust deniers.
Granted, the journal was removed after a public outcry and much press; but if Mr. Robertson were as concerned for his Jewish brothers and sisters as he claims, why was it on his library's shelves? Did he not know it was there? And did he support the position of the university president, who defended its presence there by stating that a university has the obligation to present all points of view?
To posit that Holocaust revisionism is a ``point of view'' is akin to saying that it is a ``point of view'' that slavery never existed in this country. This does not, to me, sound like ``respect for the beliefs and traditions (and history) of the Jewish community.''
If Mr. Robertson wonders why he is regarded with some skepticism, perhaps he ought to consider the avowed tactics of one of his lieutenants, Ralph Reed, who takes the concept of ``Christian soldiers'' to a frightening extreme. ``I travel by night,'' says Reed, ``with my face painted.'' Many too many Jews have been killed by those who so travel.
Maybe Pat Robertson isn't an anti-Semite. In fact, the same Rabbi Eckstein whom his editorial writer labeled a pagan has written in his defense, praising his support for Israel. But as Caesar's wife might teach any once (and future?) aspiring politician, it is not evil alone that must be avoided: It is also the appearance of evil.
Mr. Robertson's exclusionist version of Christianity leaves no room for anyone whose beliefs do not exactly mirror his. He quotes Hillel in his apologia. Rather than writing missives to The Wall Street Journal, he might better spend his time reading more of Hillel's writings, for it was he who said, ``Do not be certain of yourself until the day you die; and do not judge another until you are in his position.'' MEMO: Ms. Baker is a Norfolk-based attorney. by CNB