Faith never fails to astonish and on occasions, appal.  Out of the tragedy unfolding in Haiti there is one strange outpouring from a very strange religious man.

Pat Robertson is a highly visible televangelist in the US.  A former Republican candidate for president in 1988, he runs a huge Christian media empire and is responsible for some truly disgusting moments.  He exemplifies the worst that faith has to offer but also the most bizarre.  In 1980 he predicted the world would end in 1982.  And this is what he had to offer about the Haitian disaster on January 13 in a televised rant.

‘‘Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the Devil. They said, we will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French. True story. And so, the Devil said, OK it’s a deal.  And they kicked the French out. The Haitians revolted and got something themselves free. But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after another.’’

Regardless of the disgusting tactlessness of this observation, three things need to be said.  There is a refreshing honesty about this.  Robertson genuinely believes that there is a nexus between suffering and immorality.  Such openness about this repugnant notion impresses me for some strange reason.  We won’t die guessing what he thinks.  But he does unlock an important issue.

Humanity will forever contrive answers to the dilemma of the suffering of the innocent.  Goodness does not appear to rely upon godliness and suffering seems to be randomly endured by both good and bad people.  Why is it that the guiltless suffer?  There is no answer to this conundrum other than circumstance and luck.  But the gall of Robertson is that he presumes to provide an answer and that answer is so truly awful that his website was forced to make a ‘‘clarification’’ (read retraction) later that day.  He and his ilk are the Achilles’ heels of faith.  He promotes more godlessness than a battalion of Richard Hawkins and a library of his books.  And so for callous stupidity, I anoint Pat Robertson my ATHEIST HERO OF THE MONTH!!  Congratulations Pat!

The second aspect is that my latest mate Pat comes from the same religious DNA as people who have a diametrically opposing view and are some of the greatest philanthropists our world has seen.  My new mate Pat is a Southern Baptist.  Compare him with another Baptist, the inspirational Tim Costello.  Tim exemplifies the best that faith has to offer.  I imagine he is disgusted by my latest mate Pat.  It is truly bizarre that the same denomination could produce such polarities.  And to be fair, in the provision of philanthropic responses, Christians are probably over represented.  So it is unfair to judge Christianity on the basis of my latest mate Pat.  He is a very, very special case.

And finally, the moment that Pat refers to was the Haitian liberation from slavery.  They led the world in this quest and far from being a pact with the devil it was an act of the highest moral order.

FAITH AND THE INDIAN STUDENT DEBATE

Finally, I could not help but notice the latest shot in the Indian student war.  This war has been marked by poor argument, hysteria, righteous indignation and racial stereotyping from both sides of the Indian Ocean.  But here I must contribute my own superficial generalisation.  

While the war of words hitherto has been characterised by political bluster, the nature of the debate changed when Hindu militants Shiv Sena injected themselves into the debate.  And here is my superficial generalisation.  Ethnic groups inevitably and frequently collide.  These collisions often include not only ethnic difference but religious difference.  And when religions become involved, the collisions seem to take on a more bloody violence of word and deed than mere secular collisions.  Religions are the carriers of our cultures.

And that is one of the great benefits of faith — for religions preserve Earth’s great and diverse cultures.  Religions give us our many involving and moving rituals and ceremonies.  But they also add a bloody piquancy to any conflict.  They add the sense, on both sides, of a moral superiority sanctioned by their divinity.  Thus my superficial survey of the history of world conflict is that religion adds a bloody nastiness that a secular debate lacks.  There are many exceptions to this (violent political disputes such as the American Civil War and the American Revolution). 

But for your average internecine war or genocide, nothing cranks up the misery like faith.What is your view on these two issues?  Should Shiva Sena get the ATHEIST HERO OF THE MONTH AWARD above Pat Robertson?  Is Pat Robertson representative of many people?