March 24, 2003
Robertson favors church-state separation
--for Iraqis, but not in United States
___VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.--Pat Robertson has expressed a newfound appreciation for the separation of church and state.
___The televangelist who previously has mocked the notion that the United States Constitution requires such a separation told his "700 Club" audience March 17 that separation of church and state is essential in a reconstituted Iraq.
___"The thing the president of the United States has got to keep in mind is, under the Ba'ath party, Iraq was a so-called secular state. That's why many of the Islamic nations don't like (Saddam Hussein). If the United States tries nation building, it's got to (have) at the very top of its agenda a separation of church and state. There has to be a secular state in there and not an Islamic state. If they let an open vote, and let the Shi'ites for example take a vote, they will probably have the majority, and (under) one-man one-vote will say, we'll go in for shariah, and the next thing you know, you've got a mini-Iran in there."
___Robertson added: "So it's going to be absolutely imperative to set up a constitution and safeguards that say we will maintain a secular state much like what Indonesia has, but to respect the faith of all the people in there, including the Sunni and the Shi'ites and the Christians and the Assyrian Christians, whatever, and the Kurds. Very important."
___For decades, Robertson has insisted church-state separation is found in the constitution of the old Soviet Union, but not in the U.S. Constitution. He has insisted the United States was founded as a Christian nation.
___In a speech at the Christian Coalition "Road to Victory" Conference Oct. 12, Robertson said, "We have had a distortion imposed on us over the past few years by left-wingers who have fastened themselves into the court system. And we have had a lie foisted on us that there is something in the Constitution called separation of church and state."
___Robertson's apparent turnabout to prescribe separation of church and state as essential for Iraq is "startling," according to one the televangelist's chief critics.
___"Pat's conversion shows there is hope for even the most wayward soul," quipped Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "I sent him a letter of congratulations and an Americans United membership application in today's mail. We are always looking for new supporters, especially those with the kind of financial clout that Robertson has."
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