Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

Search

Search

1. 

   You get drivel about aliens, abduction etc from all sorts of people, not just Christians – there are atheists, agnostics…

2. 

   […] last time I had had occasion to write about Rowan County clerk Kim Davis, above, was three years ago…

3. 

   Whatever is presented on the BBC, and I must admit I do not watch the TV, the fact is that…

4. 

   “The curriculum had already drawn tensions among the county’s religious parents, with some worrying about appropriateness and arguing the material…

5. 

   As someone who produced dozens of nativity plays as a teacher and a Sunday School leader, that title ‘A Gay…

OVER many decades Robertson, above, founder of The 700 Club TV show, proved gift to secular news outlets, atheist bloggers and satirists for dishing out hare-brained statements.

The wackiest of these centred on God’s wrath and the punishments he brought down upon the heads of “sinners.”

Example: he claimed that the terrorist attacks that killed thousands of Americans on September 11, 2001, were caused by God, who was pissed off with federal courts, pornography, abortion rights, church-state separation—and, of course, homosexuality.

In 2018, political journalist-turned-satirist Daniel Kurtzman, of Liveabout.com provided a list of ten Robertson quotes:

Lord, give us righteous judges who will not try to legislate and dominate this society. Take control, Lord! We ask for additional vacancies on the court.

---

Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It’s no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history.”

---

On “gay days” at Disneyworld:

I would warn Orlando that you’re right in the way of some serious hurricanes, and I don’t think I’d be waving those flags in God’s face if I were you, This is not a message of hate—this is a message of redemption. But a condition like this will bring about the destruction of your nation. It’ll bring about terrorist bombs; it’ll bring earthquakes, tornadoes, and possibly a meteor.

---

The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.

---

I know this is painful for the ladies to hear, but if you get married, you have accepted the headship of a man, your husband. Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that’s the way it is, period.

---

On why Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke:

God considers this land to be his. You read the Bible and he says ‘This is my land,’ and for any prime minister of Israel who decides he is going to carve it up and give it away, God says, ‘No, this is mine’… He was dividing God’s land. And I would say, ‘Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the E.U., the United Nations, or the United States of America.’ God says, ‘This land belongs to me. You better leave it alone.’

---

On nuking the State Department:

Maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off on Foggy Bottom to shake things up.

---

On calling for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez:

You know, I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a wa r… We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don’t need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It’s a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.

---

On the earthquake in Haiti that destroyed the capital and killed tens of thousands of people in January, 2010

It may be a blessing in disguise … Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. Haitians were originally under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon the third, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you will get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it’s a deal. Ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other.

---

ON giving advice on The 700 Club to a woman whose husband cheated on her:

Like it or not, males have a tendency to wander a little bit. What you want to do is make a home so wonderful that he doesn’t want to wander.

---

In announcing his death today (Thursday), Religion News Service reported that Robertson described Islam as a violent religion that wants to “dominate” and “destroy”.

The prompted President George W. Bush to distance himself and say Islam is a peaceful and respectful religion.

He unsuccessfully campaigned to become the Republican nominee in the 1988 presidential election. His declared aim: to make religion central to Republican Party politics in America through his Christian Coalition.

Robertson later endorsed Bush, who won the presidency.

RNS said:

Many followed the path Robertson cut in religious broadcasting. In American politics, Robertson helped:

Cement the alliance between conservative Christians and the Republican Party.

Robertson’s interest in politics waned after he got the hots for religion—realising, no doubt that could be a money-spinner. In June 2023, Robertson’s net worth is estimated to be roughly $100 million.

‘War on drugs’

One thing that can be said in his favour is that he opposed the “war on drugs”.

In 2010, he called for ending mandatory prison sentences for cannabis possession. Two years later, he said on the 700 Club that marijuana should be legalsed and treated like alcohol because the government’s war on drugs had failed.

Hypocrisy

Robertson condemned Democrats caught up in sex scandals, saying for example that President Bill Clinton turned the White House into a playpen for sexual freedom.

But he helped solidify evangelical support for Trump, dismissing the candidate’s sexually predatory comments about women as an attempt “to look like he’s macho.”

But after President Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020, Robertson said Trump was living in an “alternate reality” and should “move on,” news outlets reported.

His wife Dede died last year at the age of 94. The couple had four children, 14 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren.

Hat tip: BarrieJohn & Stephen Harvie

Please help keep The Angry Atheist going with a donation.

You can also support my work via PayPal, Buy Me a Coffee or GofundMe.