Pat Robertson founded the Christian Coalition and in 1988 failed in a bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

Robertson suggests God smote Sharon: "Television evangelist Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which Robertson opposed.

"'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 [European Union], the United Nations or the United States of America,'' Robertson told viewers of his long-running television show, 'The 700 Club.' 'God says, 'This land belongs to me, and you'd better leave it alone,'' he said."

Previously hitting the news for publicly advocating the murder of Venuzuelan President Sanchez, this preacher Robertson once again demonstrates he is a virtual Antichrist.

As El-Shinqiti says:

In his book Politics of God, Jim Wallis who is an American wise clergyman, suggested that "the best answer to bad religion is better religion, not secularism".

Wallis was neither talking about different religions, nor was he trying to replace one world religion by another; instead he was talking about the different interpretations of the same American Christianity.

For him, the "bad religion" of the American extremist right cannot be fought successfully by the liberalist or secularist ideologies, but can be fought and defeated by a more humane interpretation of the Biblical text and the Christian tradition.

It seems to me an important error has been made by socialists, liberals and secularists for a long time, namely to abandon religion. The right, particularly in the US, has systematically exploited it in a cynical fashion, and the evil results are apparent in the current global crisis.

In regards to Sharon, although not dead yet, David McReynolds is one of the first with the political obituaries:

When all is said and done, I have mixed feelings about Sharon. Unlike Netanyahu, whom I truly and deeply despise, Sharon was like a force of nature. I was amused when, as he moved his huge bulk around, he was described as "portly". Portly my ass! He was the fattest world leader in decades.... He withdrew from Gaza only in order to hold onto the West Bank and all of Jerusalem....

The "Dream of Greater Israel" had died on the vine, and Sharon (and not Sharon alone - virtually the entire Israeli left) had realized it. Died for two reasons.... One was the Palestinian resistance. Courageous, heroic, violent, and unending. And unexpected. The Israelis had met a force they could not tame. And the second reason was that the Jews of the planet had much earlier opted out of settling in Greater Israel. "Greater Israel" could only exist if it had a population, and that population never came. Soviet Jews, yes, often more interested in the US but sort of coerced into settling in Israel. And once that supply was gone, once the North African Jews had come (in too many cases have been driven out by the Arab governments), the huge remaining Jewish population center - in the United States - showed no interest in moving (leaving aside the ultra-orthodox, who proved the painful stone in Sharon's shoe).

And so Sharon, who had believed in the settlements, encouraged them, relied on them, because he had deeply believed in "Greater Israel" - turned his back and did, in the end, carry off at least a partial "de Gaulle" and pulled out the settlers in Gaza. One can correctly observe this was only to help on the path toward a final unilaterally imposed settlement, and that is true - but it took great courage for Sharon to do this, surrounded by his phalanx of body guards, under heavy security, and hated by the settlers with a ferocity matched only by the Palestinians.

It took nerves of steel for Sharon to turn his back on Likkud, and set up Kadima. . .

With any luck Sharon will have wrecked Likud by leaving it to form his new party Kadima and then wrecked Kadima by abandoning it due to illness or death. It's not often someone like me finds much to praise in Sharon. The opportunity is there for a progressive/left party to fill the vacuum and steer Israel to peace ... except that no such force seems to exist in Isreali politics. The worst outcome would be if the fanatic/fascist Netanyahu/Likud rump succeed in seizing control of the state.

Pat Robertson founded the Christian Coalition and in 1988 failed in a bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

Robertson suggests God smote Sharon: "Television evangelist Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which Robertson opposed.

"'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 [European Union], the United Nations or the United States of America,'' Robertson told viewers of his long-running television show, 'The 700 Club.' 'God says, 'This land belongs to me, and you'd better leave it alone,'' he said."

Previously hitting the news for publicly advocating the murder of Venuzuelan President Sanchez, this preacher Robertson once again demonstrates he is a virtual Antichrist.

As El-Shinqiti says:

In his book Politics of God, Jim Wallis who is an American wise clergyman, suggested that "the best answer to bad religion is better religion, not secularism".

Wallis was neither talking about different religions, nor was he trying to replace one world religion by another; instead he was talking about the different interpretations of the same American Christianity.

For him, the "bad religion" of the American extremist right cannot be fought successfully by the liberalist or secularist ideologies, but can be fought and defeated by a more humane interpretation of the Biblical text and the Christian tradition.

It seems to me an important error has been made by socialists, liberals and secularists for a long time, namely to abandon religion. The right, particularly in the US, has systematically exploited it in a cynical fashion, and the evil results are apparent in the current global crisis.

In regards to Sharon, although not dead yet, David McReynolds is one of the first with the political obituaries:

When all is said and done, I have mixed feelings about Sharon. Unlike Netanyahu, whom I truly and deeply despise, Sharon was like a force of nature. I was amused when, as he moved his huge bulk around, he was described as "portly". Portly my ass! He was the fattest world leader in decades.... He withdrew from Gaza only in order to hold onto the West Bank and all of Jerusalem....

The "Dream of Greater Israel" had died on the vine, and Sharon (and not Sharon alone - virtually the entire Israeli left) had realized it. Died for two reasons.... One was the Palestinian resistance. Courageous, heroic, violent, and unending. And unexpected. The Israelis had met a force they could not tame. And the second reason was that the Jews of the planet had much earlier opted out of settling in Greater Israel. "Greater Israel" could only exist if it had a population, and that population never came. Soviet Jews, yes, often more interested in the US but sort of coerced into settling in Israel. And once that supply was gone, once the North African Jews had come (in too many cases have been driven out by the Arab governments), the huge remaining Jewish population center - in the United States - showed no interest in moving (leaving aside the ultra-orthodox, who proved the painful stone in Sharon's shoe).

And so Sharon, who had believed in the settlements, encouraged them, relied on them, because he had deeply believed in "Greater Israel" - turned his back and did, in the end, carry off at least a partial "de Gaulle" and pulled out the settlers in Gaza. One can correctly observe this was only to help on the path toward a final unilaterally imposed settlement, and that is true - but it took great courage for Sharon to do this, surrounded by his phalanx of body guards, under heavy security, and hated by the settlers with a ferocity matched only by the Palestinians.

It took nerves of steel for Sharon to turn his back on Likkud, and set up Kadima. . .

With any luck Sharon will have wrecked Likud by leaving it to form his new party Kadima and then wrecked Kadima by abandoning it due to illness or death. It's not often someone like me finds much to praise in Sharon. The opportunity is there for a progressive/left party to fill the vacuum and steer Israel to peace ... except that no such force seems to exist in Isreali politics. The worst outcome would be if the fanatic/fascist Netanyahu/Likud rump succeed in seizing control of the state.