It seems ubiquitous to comment on Pat Robertson’s comments about Haiti today. Saying that this earthquake has come because Haitians made a deal with the devil is completely illogical, mean and the opposite of what Christian compassion is about.
Haiti’s poverty is due to the ravages of colonialism. In this case, France’s racist slavery which profited only the French and left Haiti completely destroyed. But of course, France is not alone in colonial guilt and Americans bear our own share. If this is the way God operates, then why doesn’t God punish us more harshly for the destruction of native peoples and for the presumption that we can take their lands and run them better than they did? And that’s only one crime that deserves some major punishment.
In the end, there really is no good answer to why. It happened. It is horrific. And tomorrow it could just as easily be my family, city, country for no real good reason.
But most of us want to find reasons for tragedy, don’t we? When we hear about someone’s struggles, we often try to pinpoint it on something they or someone else did wrong. When a child is acting out, we assume it is the fault of the parents. When another person falls down, we wonder where they tripped. I do this over and over.
I think partly it makes the unanswerables easier to handle. If there is a reason, then there is someone to blame. If there is a reason, then I can still easily account for a good sovereign God in the face of tragedy and disaster.
Finding blame also allows us to separate from the potential pain and grief and the questions it might open up. It is a natural response to want to run from potential pain.
Pat Robertson’s comments are ugly and inexcusable. But he is a gross caricature of what we do over and over ourselves. Our first response is to separate and distance rather than draw in.
The God I believe in and the God I see revealed in Jesus Christ doesn’t ever, ever do this. God draws closer with compassion and understanding. God cries tears of sadness, grief, anger, pain and solidarity. God’s whole being pulses with the sentiment I heard someone say in the past 24 hours: “Today we are all Haitian.”
And what is even more amazing is God is willing to teach us as well to open ourselves to others, recognize that we are all connected and give us the courage to draw closer rather than pull away. I long to be open to this kind of courage.
So before we get to high and mighty about Pat Robertson, let us recognize the shadows of our own hearts that he represents and then move away from the tendency to distance even as we draw close to all those who are hurting.
