IS THIS THE WAY TO WIN SOULS? NOT!

Thou shall not kill.
--- Exodus 20:13

Televangalist Pat Robertson has done it once again, running off at the mouth. During his 700 Club broadcast last night, the political preacher suggested that American operatives "take out" Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez:

“We have the ability to take him (Chavez) 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,” he continued. “It’s a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.”

“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,” Robertson said. “It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... and I don’t think any oil shipments will stop.”

The founder of the Christian Coalition of America seems to have forgotten a couple of things: First, political assassination has been illegal since President Gerald R. Ford signed an executive order making it so in the mid 1970s. Second, that kinda talk causes one who is claiming to be a minister of the Gospels to lose his or her credibility in that field...as if he has such credibility as a Christian minister remaining after his previous rantings.

Not that I'm a huge fan of Hugo Chavez...I'm certainly not. He readily embraces Communism and has a mutual admiration society with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. But Robertson's comments were highly inappropriate. Maybe he should read the Holy Bible a bit more.

U P D A T E: Robertson apoligized for his remarks in a written statement earlier today.

"I didn't say 'assassination.' I said our special forces should 'take him out.' And 'take him out' can be a number of things, including kidnapping; there are a number of ways to take out a dictator from power besides killing him. I was misinterpreted by the AP [Associated Press], but that happens all the time."