New Documentary Exposing Televangelist Pat Robertson

[mrs]

A new documentary called "Mission Congo" exposes the many lies of televangelist Pat Robertson. Robertson ask for donations to aid the people of Congo. He claimed the aid would help refugees by sending doctors and nurses.

According to the Guardian:

Mission Congo, by David Turner and Lara Zizic, opens at the Toronto film festival on Friday. It describes how claims about the scale of aid to Rwandan refugees were among a number of exaggerated or false assertions about the activities of Operation Blessing which pulls in hundreds of millions of dollars a year in donations, much of it through Robertson's televangelism. They include characterising a failed large-scale farming project as a huge success, and claims about providing schools and other infrastructure.

But some of the most damaging criticism of Robertson comes from former aid workers at Operation Blessing, who describe how mercy flights to save refugees were diverted hundreds of miles from the crisis to deliver equipment to a diamond mining concession run by the televangelist.

Throughout the Rwandan refugee crisis, when more than 1 million people fled into neighbouring Zaire and started dying en masse of cholera, Robertson told his viewers that Operation Blessing was at the forefront of saving lives.

Moreover, the article claims that Robertson said "The death toll in this particular camp went down to almost zero because of our people being there." In actuality

Operation Blessing had just one tent and a total of seven doctors. MSF officials who worked in Goma told the documentary-makers that they had no recollection of even seeing Operation Blessing – let alone working with it.

You can read the entire article here ->theguardian.com/film/2013/sep/05/mission-congo-pat-robertson-aid-rwanda?CMP=twt_gu

[nerdymama1]

Surprise, surprise. Though I tend to assume that most major Christian figures are in it for money. I don't even think half of them believe what it is they are preaching; just sociopaths looking to make a buck manipulating people. (Ray Comfort, Ken Ham, Josh McDowell, et al, I'm looking at you!)

[Pam]

Also from the article:

Robertson's activities in Congo were initially exposed by a Virginia newspaper, the Virginian Pilot, in the 1990s. The investigation by Bill Sizemore prompted the attorney general in Virginia, where Operation Blessing is registered, to order a probe by the state's office of consumer affairs.

...

But the Virginian authorities declined to prosecute Robertson, describing his misrepresentations as a "blemish". Mission Congo notes that leading state politicians were recipients of large donations from Robertson.

(bolding mine)

Gee, who'da thunk it.

[GolightlyGrrl]

Wait a minute! Are you telling me a fundie-based charity is a load of shit? Impossible. That never happens.

:roll:

Hmm, I wonder if Bono knows this. Bono has been rather cozy with the religious right for the past decade, including Pat Robertson, and most recently Focus on the Family. I have to admit as a liberal, feminist Unitarian who has donated to legit causes that help people in Africa (UNICEF, a school in Cameroon), who has written articles about activists working at a grass roots level in various African countries, and has volunteered with a local fair trade organization, I'm a bit bothered by Bono's alliance with the fundie crowd.

[Arete]

This dirt on Pat Robertson was outed in print media at least a decade ago, and I am talking about more than one major print media source. It was like nothing had happened. He kept his empire, he kept his TV show, and it does not appear his donations dried up. '

Maybe the documentary will reach more people, and generate more outrage, but I am not hopeful.

[Lillybee]

A more detailed report from the Daily beast.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... monds.html

[lizziesmom]

As far as I am concerned any televangelist is suspect. Robertson apparently has enough power to keep this stuff quiet and proceed with his tv 'ministry'.

[Burris]

I don’t think any of the preachers caught in scandals of this nature actually believe in the existence of the god they preach. If they did, they would be afraid to commit fraud – especially fraud of this nature - wherein the perpetrator(s) divert potentially life-saving resources from refugees and into the hands of wealthy associates and those lackeys that pick at whatever carrion is left behind.

And yet a frightening number of people – some of them being donors who continue to give even after the fraud is exposed – look to Robertson for expert guidance on moral matters.