"Please know that I never would tell anybody to leave their sick spouse," broadcaster says on 700 Club. I'm not giving a theological [defense]; I'm not John Calvin giving the Institutes of the Christian Religion."
Pat Robertson said this week that comments he made on divorce and Alzheimer's were "misinterpreted."
“I want to say I envy the Catholic priest, because when they have someone in confession it's all kept secret,” Robertson said and laughed. “When I have somebody asking me for advice, it spreads worldwide and it's misunderstood.”
Robertson recapped the story, saying, "Basically I'm saying, adultery is not a good thing, and you might as well straighten your life out, and the only way to do it is to kind of get your affair with your wife in order."
Robertson suggested earlier this month that it would be understandable for someone to divorce a spouse who has Alzheimer's. A viewer asked Robertson how to address a friend who was dating another woman while his wife has Alzheimer's. "I know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something he should divorce her and start all over again," he said at the time.
He said Monday on the 700 Club that he wasn't giving "general teaching for the world." Robertson said he has been married for 57 years, indicating his support for his wife who has had breast cancer and her support when he had prostate cancer and heart surgery.
"I mean we expect that. We love each other," he said. And of course you're with your wife or husband when they're sick. Good grief, yes. That's the way we should do it. And we expect it.”
Robertson also referred to the person asking the question as going "on and on and on." "I was not giving advice to the whole world, and nor was I counseling anybody to be unscriptural and leave their spouse," Robertson said.
"Please know that I believe the Bible. Please know that I never would tell anybody to leave their sick spouse. I never, never would say such a thing because I need my spouse when I get sick and she needs me when she gets sick." He said, "In sickness and in health, I believe it. So phew! "
He ended focusing on the specific case.
"And remember, they come to me asking for specific advice and I give them specific advice about their condition, not for the world. I'm not giving a theological [defense]; I'm not John Calvin giving the Institutes of the Christian Religion."
Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at September 28, 2011 10:17PM | Comments (33)
(Update: The White House has condemned Nadarkhani's conviction. Full text at bottom.)
Iranian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani faces imminent execution after refusing to recant his Christian faith in court today for the fourth time this week. Nadarkhani is the first person to be found guilty of apostasy in Iran since 1990. Religious freedom groups are lobbying hard for his sentence to be dropped.
Nadarkhani, who was arrested in October 2009 related to his advocacy for greater freedoms in the religious instruction of children, was found guilty of apostasy and evangelizing Muslims in September 2010 by a court in Rasht. CT has noted that an appeal to the Iranian Supreme Court resulted in a partial retraction of the sentence, upholding the death sentence but allowing an annulment if Nadarkhani recanted. The Supreme Court also ordered the Rasht court to re-examine Nadarkhani’s faith practices before his conversion to Christianity.
After an investigation, the Rasht court determined this week that Nadarkhani had not been a practicing Muslim adult before his conversion. However, it upheld the apostasy sentence because of Nadarkhani’s Muslim ancestry.
In June, CT reported how Iran’s strategy of increasing persecution against Christian is likely backfiring.
For a more detailed explanation of the court proceedings, see this post at the New Statesman.
Below is the full text of the White House's condemnation of Nadarkhani's conviction:
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 29, 2011
Statement by the Press Secretary on Conviction of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani
The United States condemns the conviction of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani. Pastor Nadarkhani has done nothing more than maintain his devout faith, which is a universal right for all people. That the Iranian authorities would try to force him to renounce that faith violates the religious values they claim to defend, crosses all bounds of decency, and breaches Iran’s own international obligations. A decision to impose the death penalty would further demonstrate the Iranian authorities' utter disregard for religious freedom, and highlight Iran's continuing violation of the universal rights of its citizens. We call upon the Iranian authorities to release Pastor Nadarkhani, and demonstrate a commitment to basic, universal human rights, including freedom of religion.
Posted by Jeremy Weber at September 28, 2011 4:21PM | Comments (14)
Update: More details on AFM's closure can be found here.
Angel Food Ministries, which provided boxes of discounted food to hundreds of thousands of struggling families via churches in 35 states, has announced it is shutting down for good. Earlier this month, the family-run, multi-million-dollar ministry had announced a temporary suspension of service amid significant staff layoffs.
CT covered Angel Food's financial and legal woes and the perils of family-run mega-ministries back in 2009.
Posted by Jeremy Weber at September 21, 2011 4:39PM | Comments (4)
"As traditional newspaper religion sections fade, places like CT are even more important.” --Sarah Pulliam Bailey
On Saturday, Sept. 17, the Religion Newswriters Association gave its magazine news reporting award of the year to Christianity Today. This is the first year that CT has been able to participate in the RNA awards contest. Until recently, membership in RNA was limited to reporters who work for secular news outlets.
Sarah Pulliam Bailey entered CT’s October 2010 news section in the contest. Other finalists included the Christian Century, Newsweek, Moment, Duke Divinity, and Yale/Divinity.
CT’s news team is delighted by this award. Bailey commented: “The CT award is very exciting and places us within and next to mainstream religion sections. As traditional newspaper religion sections fade, places like CT are even more important.”
Multiple tips of the hat are due to staff members Jeremy Weber (who edited the section), Ted Olsen (for editorial wisdom, Spotlight and other features), Sarah Pulliam Bailey (for two articles), Alecia Sharp (for design), Trevor Persaud (for Gleanings and Under Discussion), and to regular CT contributors Ruth Moon, Ken Walker, and Rob Moll.
In other RNA news, CT Senior Writer Tony Carnes won the best enterprise/series award for his website A Journey Through NYC Religion. The RNA judges said, “This is what enterprise reporting is all about: a brilliantly informative series about religion in New York City."
Posted by David Neff at September 19, 2011 1:48PM | Comments (1)
"I know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something he should divorce her and start all over again," broadcaster advises on 700 Club.
Pat Robertson advised a viewer of yesterday's 700 Club to avoid putting a "guilt trip" on those who want to divorce a spouse with Alzheimer's. During the show's advice segment, a viewer asked Robertson how she should address a friend who was dating another woman "because his wife as he knows her is gone." Robertson said he would not fault anyone for doing this. He then went further by saying it would be understandable to divorce a spouse with the disease.
"That is a terribly hard thing," Robertson said. "I hate Alzheimer's. It is one of the most awful things because here is a loved one—this is the woman or man that you have loved for 20, 30, 40 years. And suddenly that person is gone. They're gone. They are gone. So, what he says basically is correct. But I know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something he should divorce her and start all over again. But to make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her."
Co-host Terry Meeuwsen asked Pat, "But isn't that the vow that we take when we marry someone? That it’s For better or for worse. For richer or poorer?"
Robertson said that the viewer's friend could obey this vow of "death till you part" because the disease was a "kind of death." Robertson said he would understand if someone started another relationship out of a need for companionship.
Robertson gave the example of a friend who faithfully visited his wife every day even though she could not remember his visits to illustrate the difficulty of caring for someone with the disease.
"It's really hurtful because they say crazy things," Robertson said. "Nevertheless, it is a terribly difficult thing for somebody. I can't fault him for wanting some kind of companionship. And if he says in a sense she is gone, he's right. It's like a walking death. Get some ethicist besides me to give you an answer because I recognize the dilemma and the last thing I'd do is condemn you for taking that kind of action."
Robertson's advice stands in stark contrast with most theologians and ethicists who would advise fidelity. The decision would not be easy.
Robertson McQuilkin faced a similar situation two decades ago. He decided to step down and end his 22 year tenure as president of Columbia Bible College and Seminary. Instead, he helped care full-time for his wife Muriel. She died in 2003 after suffering for 25 years with the disease. During the last decade, Muriel could not recognize her husband caregiver.
In a CT article written after his resignation from Columbia, McQuilkin explained his decision.
"When the time came, the decision was firm. It took no great calculation. It was a matter of integrity. Had I not promised, 42 years before, 'in sickness and in health . . . till death do us part'?
This was no grim duty to which I stoically resigned, however. It was only fair. She had, after all, cared for me for almost four decades with marvelous devotion; now it was my turn. And such a partner she was! If I took care of her for 40 years, I would never be out of her debt," McQuilkin wrote.
In an interview in 2004, McQuilkin said he made the right decision. "Some people sort of resent the imposition, but those thoughts never came to me," McQuilkin said. "I thought it was a privilege to care for her. She had always cared for me. So it was not a burden. In fact, if it had been a burden, maybe there wouldn't be so much grief now, that sense of loss."
The video of the segment from the September 13 700 Club can be found around the 50:45 mark of yesterday's show.
Update: See also today's op-ed from Russell Moore, "Pat Robertson Repudiates the Gospel."
Further reading:
"Living by Vows," by Robertson McQuilkin, October 8, 1990
"Muriel's Blessing" by Robertson McQuilkin, Feb. 5, 1996
"The Gradual Grief of Alzheimer's" an interview with Robertson McQuilkin, Feb. 1, 2004
Posted by Ted Olsen at September 14, 2011 1:58PM | Comments (210)
Cuban evangelicals locked inside a Havana church for three weeks have caught the attention of the Cuban government--and now the world media--over whether the 62 church members are conducting a harmless prayer retreat or making end-of-the-world preparations reminiscent of Waco's Branch Davidians.
Church spokesman William Herrera explained the Assemblies of God group has been praying since August 21 for a "new Cuba free of sin," according to the Associated Press. He said the group has been mistaken for a doomsday cult or political dissenters because of the length of the retreat, which will end when God tells them to stop.
However, local media have reported many details that have fed fears among relatives of those inside. Officials have been monitoring the group to ensure that pregnant women and minors inside the church are healthy and not being held against their will.
The head pastor of the church, Braulio Herrera Tito, was dismissed by the National Assembly of Pentecostal Churches last year for straying from church doctrine, but has refused to give up his pastorate despite a court ruling in the assembly's favor.
CT visited this very church in April 2009 while researching the stunning growth of the Cuban church for this cover story and slideshow.
Posted by Jeremy Weber at September 13, 2011 4:59PM
One of the highest profile anti-abortion activists in the Catholic Church in the United States says he will abide by but appeal a suspension order from his bishop following allegations of financial mismanagement.
The Rev. Frank Pavone, who developed a huge following through his nationwide campaigns against abortion as head of the New York-based Priests for Life, is under investigation for mishandling his organization's budget.
Pavone said Tuesday that he had appealed the suspension order issued by Bishop Patrick J. Zurek of Amarillo, Texas, but said he would return to Amarillo as Zurek ordered.
Pavone is the third high-profile conservative Catholic leader this year to face charges of misconduct, following allegations leveled against two other priests in different organizations.
Zurek sent a letter to all U.S. bishops on Sept. 9, announcing that he was suspending Pavone from ministry outside his diocese after "persistent questions and concerns" from clergy and laity about how Priests for Life is spending "millions of dollars in donations."
"My decision is the result of deep concerns regarding his stewardship of the finances of the Priests for Life (PFL) organization," Zurek wrote in the letter, which was first reported on Tuesday by Catholic News Service. "The PFL has become a business that is quite lucrative which provides Father Pavone with financial independence from all legitimate ecclesiastical oversight."
According to CNS, Internal Revenue Service records show the organization took in $10.8 million in 2008, the latest year tax forms were available.
The records also show that Pavone has taken no salary from Priests for Life, as he promised when he became national director of Priests for Life in 1993.
In a statement released Tuesday, Pavone said he was "very perplexed" by Zurek's demand, and argued that under canon law Zurek's order is automatically suspended while Pavone appeals his case to the Vatican.
Pavone said Priests for Life is "above reproach" in its financial management and noted that the group has "21 bishops and cardinals who sit on our Advisory Board, and they are kept fully informed about our finances."
In fact, Pavone has developed an impressive base of hierarchical as well as grassroots support around the U.S. and in Rome, making any showdown between him and Zurek a close match.
Since taking charge of Priests for Life, Pavone has led something of a nomadic existence. He initially moved the organization's headquarters from California to New York, where he was ordained a priest in 1988 by the late Cardinal John O'Connor.
Pavone reportedly had a falling out with O'Connor's successor, Cardinal Edward Egan, and in 2005 he put himself under the jurisdiction of the Amarillo diocese, and moved some PFL operations there. In 2007, Pavone tried to establish his own religious order dedicated to the pro-life cause, but abandoned it for lack of recruits.
PFL's offices are now based in Staten Island, N.Y., but Pavone remains a priest of the Amarillo diocese.
Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at September 13, 2011 3:57PM | Comments (6)
Focus on the Family founder James Dobson fell while horseback riding in Montana on Saturday and broke several bones, according to a brief blog post by Focus president Jim Daly. The fall caused a fractured clavicle, a fractured scapula, and several broken ribs, according to a Family Talk press release. Daly says, "he's in good spirits and expected to make a full recovery."
Dobson experienced a heart attack in 1990 after one of his tri-weekly basketball games at First Church of the Nazarene, after which his doctors forced him to give up basketball. His father died of heart disease, according to Dobson's biography Family Man.
In 1998, Dobson experienced a major stroke, which made it difficult for him to speak and articulate words during recovery. The ministry leader later called it "the greatest crisis of my life." He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2002, and in 2003, he had a tiny ulcer in his colon, causing an artery to explode, which he recovered from quickly.
Dobson founded Focus in 1977 and left the ministry in 2010. Less than two weeks after Focus's board meeting where they discussed Dobson's departure from the ministry, his new radio program, Family Talk, was incorporated in California.
CT's July cover story looked at how the ministry has shifted under Dobson's successor.
Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at September 12, 2011 9:25AM | Comments (1)
