Pat Robertson Controversies

Pat Robertson talks during an interview at the Christian Broadcasting Network Oct. 14, 2003, in Virgina Beach, Va. — AP

Televangelist Pat Robertson is no stranger to controversial comments. Here are some of his most outlandish remarks.

Pat on Haiti

Shortly after a devastating earthquake rocked Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010, potentially killing half a million people, Pat Robertson said Haitians had made a "pact with the devil" and have been "cursed" ever since.

Pat on Haiti

On his "700 Club" program Jan. 13, 2010, Pat Robertson said, "They were under the heel of the French, you know Napoleon the third and 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 prince.'...so the devil said, 'ok it's a deal.' And they kicked the French out. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after another."

Pat on 9/11

Two days after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Pat Robertson had fellow televangelist Jerry Falwell on his "700 Club" program. Robertson agreed with Falwell when Falwell said God allowed the attacks because of moral decay - specifically the ACLU, abortionists, feminists and gays. Robertson later distanced himself from the remarks.

Pat on Hurricane Katrina

After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, Robertson suggested that God was angry over abortion. "I was reading... a book that was very interesting about what God has to say in the Old Testament about those who shed innocent blood... Have we found we are unable somehow to defend ourselves against some of the attacks that are coming against us, either by terrorists or now by natural disaster? Could they be connected?"

Pat's 2010 Predictions

At the start of 2010, the Associated Baptist Press said Robertson shared God's predictions for the year and said he wouldn't bless America because of abortion, homosexuality and prayer. "Fifty million babies slaughtered," God allegedly complained to him. "You can't have legislation that is anti-God. You can't foster in your midst things that I call an abomination... If you do, sooner or later judgment's going to come."

Pat on Nuclear Bombs

In 2007, Robertson said God helped him with another prediction -- a bomb attack on the United States. "I'm not necessarily saying it's going to be nuclear," he said on the "700 Club" on Jan. 2, 2007. "The Lord didn't say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that." The following year, Robertson explained the lack of an attack this way, "Somehow the people of God prayed, and God in his mercy spared us."

Pat on Peace in Israel

On the "700 Club" in Jan. 2006, Robertson suggested Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was given a debilitating stroke because he was trying to make peace with the Palestinians and give them land. "He was dividing God's land and I would say woe unto any Prime Minister of Israel who takes a similar course...God says 'this land belongs to me. You'd better leave it alone.'" He apologized and said he was taken out of context.

Pat on Women

"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," Pat Robertson wrote in a 1992 Iowa fundraising letter, according to the Washington Post.

Pat on Diplomacy

In an August, 22, 2005 taping of "700 Club," Robertson said if Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez "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 war. And I don't think any oil shipments will stop... We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability."