Pat Robertson, broadcaster who helped make religion central to GOP politics, dies at 93

Robertson’s enterprises additionally included Regent University, an evangelical Christian faculty in Virginia Beach; the American Center for Law and Justice, which defends the First Amendment rights of spiritual folks; and Operation Blessing, a global humanitarian group.

For greater than a half-century, Robertson was a well-recognized presence in American residing rooms, identified for his “700 Club” tv present, and in later years, his televised pronouncements of God’s judgment, blaming pure disasters on every part from homosexuality to the educating of evolution.

The cash poured in as he solicited donations, his affect soared, and he introduced an enormous following with him when he moved instantly into politics by searching for the GOP presidential nomination in 1988.

Robertson pioneered the now-common strategy of courting Iowa’s community of evangelical Christian church buildings, and completed in second place within the Iowa caucuses, forward of Vice President George H.W. Bush.

His masterstroke was insisting that three million followers throughout the U.S. signal petitions earlier than he would determine to run, Robertson biographer Jeffrey Ok. Hadden stated. The tactic gave him a military.

″He requested folks to pledge that they’d work for him, pray for him and provides him cash,” Hadden, a University of Virginia sociologist, told The Associated Press in 1988. ″Political historians might view it as probably the most ingenious issues a candidate ever did.″

Robertson later endorsed Bush, who received the presidency. Pursuit of Iowa’s evangelicals is now a ritual for Republican hopefuls, together with these presently searching for the White House in 2024.

Robertson began the Christian Coalition in Chesapeake in 1989, saying it will additional his marketing campaign’s beliefs. The coalition turned a significant political pressure within the 1990s, mobilizing conservative voters by means of grass-roots actions.

By the time of his resignation because the coalition’s president in 2001 — Robertson stated he needed to think about ministerial work — his influence on each religion and politics within the U.S. was “enormous,” in accordance to John C. Green, an emeritus political science professor at the University of Akron.

Many adopted the trail Robertson lower in spiritual broadcasting, Green told the AP in 2021. In American politics, Robertson helped “cement the alliance between conservative Christians and the Republican Party.”

Marion Gordon “Pat” Robertson was born March 22, 1930, in Lexington, Virginia, to Absalom Willis Robertson and Gladys Churchill Robertson. His father served for 36 years as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from Virginia.

After graduating from Washington and Lee University, he served as assistant adjutant of the first Marine Division in Korea.

He acquired a regulation diploma from Yale University Law School, however failed the bar examination and selected not to pursue a regulation profession.

Robertson met his spouse, Adelia “Dede” Elmer, at Yale in 1952. He was a Southern Baptist, she was a Catholic, incomes a grasp’s in nursing. Eighteen months later, they ran off to be married by a justice of the peace, realizing neither household would approve.

Robertson was all for politics till he discovered religion, Dede Robertson told the AP in 1987. He shocked her by pouring out their liquor, tearing a nude print off the wall and declaring he had discovered the Lord.

They moved right into a commune in New York City’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood as a result of Robertson stated God advised him to promote all his possessions and minister to the poor. She was tempted to return dwelling to Ohio, “but I realized that was not what the Lord would have me do … I had promised to stay, so I did,” she advised the AP.

Robertson acquired a grasp’s in divinity from New York Theological Seminary in 1959, then drove south along with his household to purchase a bankrupt UHF tv station in Portsmouth, Virginia. He stated he had simply $70 in his pocket, however quickly discovered buyers, and CBN went on the air on Oct. 1, 1961. Established as a tax-exempt spiritual nonprofit, CBN introduced in a whole lot of tens of millions, disclosing $321 million in “ministry support” in 2022 alone.

One of Robertson’s improvements was to use the secular talk-show format on the community’s flagship present, the “700 Club,” which grew out of a telethon when Robertson requested 700 viewers for month-to-month $10 contributions. It was extra suited to tv than conventional revival conferences or church providers, and gained an enormous viewers.

“Here’s a well-educated person having sophisticated conversations with a wide variety of guests on a wide variety of topics,” stated Green, the University of Akron political science professor. “It was with a religious inflection to be sure. But it was an approach that took up everyday concerns.”

His visitors ultimately included a number of U.S. presidents — Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump.

At occasions, his on-air pronouncements drew criticism.

He claimed that the terrorist assaults that killed hundreds of Americans on Sept. 11, 2001 had been attributable to God, angered by the federal courts, pornography, abortion rights and church-state separation. Talking once more about 9-11 on his TV present a 12 months later, Robertson described Islam as a violent religion that wishes to “dominate” and “destroy,” prompting President George W. Bush to distance himself and say Islam is a peaceable and respectful religion.

He called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2005, though he later apologized.

Later that 12 months, he warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania city not to be shocked if catastrophe struck them as a result of they voted out faculty board members who favored educating “intelligent design” over evolution. And in 1998, he stated Orlando, Florida, ought to watch out for hurricanes after permitting the annual Gay Days occasion.

In 2014, he angered Kenyans when he warned that towels in Kenya might transmit AIDS. CBN issued a correction, saying Robertson “misspoke about the possibility of getting AIDS through towels.”

Robertson additionally might be unpredictable: In 2010, he known as for ending necessary jail sentences for marijuana possession convictions. Two years later, he stated on the “700 Club” that marijuana ought to be legalized and handled like alcohol as a result of the federal government’s conflict on medicine had failed.

Robertson condemned Democrats caught up in intercourse scandals, saying for instance that President Bill Clinton turned the White House right into a playpen for sexual freedom. But he helped solidify evangelical assist for Donald Trump, dismissing the candidate’s sexually predatory feedback about girls as an try “to look like he’s macho.”

After Trump took workplace, Robertson interviewed the president at the White House. And CBN welcomed Trump advisers, resembling Kellyanne Conway, as visitors.

But after President Trump misplaced to Joe Biden in 2020, Robertson stated Trump was residing in an “alternate reality” and may “move on,” information retailers reported.

Robertson’s son, Gordon, succeeded him in December 2007 as chief government of CBN, which is now based mostly in Virginia Beach. Robertson remained chairman of the community and continued to seem on the “700 Club.”

Robertson stepped down as host of the show after half a century in 2021, along with his son Gordon taking on the weekday present.

Robertson additionally was founder and chairman of International Family Entertainment Inc., father or mother of The Family Channel primary cable TV community. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. purchased IFE in 1997.

Regent University, the place lessons started in Virginia Beach in 1978, now has greater than 30,000 alumni, CBN stated in an announcement.

Robertson wrote 15 books, together with “The Turning Tide” and “The New World Order.”

His spouse Dede, who was a founding board member of CBN, died last year at the age of 94. The couple had 4 kids, 14 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren, CBN stated in an announcement.

Former Associated Press reporters Don Schanche and Pam Ramsey contributed to this story.