Pat Robertson: Haiti ‘Cursed’ By ‘Pact To The Devil’

Televangelist Pat Robertson said Wednesday that earthquake-ravaged Haiti has been “cursed” by a “pact to the devil.”

“Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it,” he said on Christian Broadcasting Network’s “The 700 Club.” “They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it’s a deal.”

Robertson said that “ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other” and he contrasted Haiti with its neighbor, the Dominican Republic.

“That island of Hispaniola is one island. It is cut down the middle; on the one side is Haiti on the other is the Dominican Republic,” he said. “Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. They need to have and we need to pray for them a great turning to god and out of this tragedy I’m optimistic something good may come. But right now we are helping the suffering people and the suffering is unimaginable.”

Here is the full segment.

Thanks to Danny Shea at Huffington Post.

87 thoughts on “Pat Robertson: Haiti ‘Cursed’ By ‘Pact To The Devil’”

  1. So…. now he’s stupid AND crazy. Living testament , in his room-temperature mumification, that only the good die young. The Left will chew this up; more evidence, they’ll say, of the soulless eivl of the religious right. It’s unforgivable of the Christian network, allowing this blithering idiot to take an ugly urban legend on-air in the aftermath of what may be the most tragic natural disaster in the Western Hemisphere.

    1. He's clever in his way. He knows what his audience wants to hear, and he's made megabucks off them.

    2. There's plenty of evidence that Hatian freedom fighters did in fact enlist "voodoo religion" in their struggle, (in the form of traditional pan-African medicinal knowledge) to create fearsome poisons which they used against the French colonists. Slaves from many parts of Africa ended up in Haiti, and the ones that escaped likely combined their knowledge of plants and animals in their strongholds in the mountains, and they of course used this knowledge in their war for independence.

      An early example of chemical warfare.

      This is probably where that "ugly urban legend" comes from.

      Whether it's "Satanic" to cause your enemies to experience nightmarish hallucinations or agonizing chemically induced deaths in the course of a war is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. I'm not judging, I'm sure I'd have done the same in their shoes.

      At any rate, too bad about Scott Ritter, now no one is going to believe anything he had to say, on the ad hominem principle of evaluating information:

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article

  2. How about the coup and kidnapping of their independently elected president, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, by the United States and our thug Marines? Read, "Static" by Amy Goodman.

    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5

    According the the bible, if a "prophet" is wrong even once, he is to be taken outside the city and stoned until he is dead. Pat Robertson is nothing but a snake oil salesman and a charlatan!

    1. Don't forget the US Occupation of Haiti, early 20th century. From Wilson to FDR, if memory serves.

  3. but I do know that when the slave revolt occured in Haiti, the blacks slaughtered every single white person they could find and hunt down.

    Except for the Polish volunteers in the French army who decided to switch sides when they realized they weren't fighting for "liberte, egalitie and fraternity" but to reestablish slavery.

    The classic book on the Haitian revolution is of course "The Black Jacobins" by CLR James.

    1. Found a copy in my School's library last year.It is a brilliant book.
      Most histories about Napoleonic France ignore Haiti.

      Jacobinist philosophy has always been a part of Haitian politics.

      Also, I found something interesting on wikipedia.According to wikipedia, the current President recently married his economic advisor, who is the widow of the former chairman of their central bank.

      Is there no place the Banksters don't have influence?

  4. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III, or whatever.

    Napoleon the First you ignorant cracker.

    Wow. Robertson's comment is revealing of just how much of the Christian right is made up of the old segregationist churches that have gone "respectable".

    So rebelling against slavery is siding with the devil, eh Pat?

    FWIW, the Jacobins abolished slavery and Napoleon I restored it and fired all his black generals (including Alexander Dumas' father).

    Toussaint and the Haitian revolutionaries saw themselves as simply extending the French Revolution to Haiti. And Americans like Thomas Jefferson (who supported the Jacobins) decided that the Haitian revolution was so frightening they refused to recognize Haiti at all. Haiti was under an American blockade for over a century.

    1. How come he can use the derogatory word "cracker"? Would the administer of this site allow the "K-word" for Jewish people or the "N-word" for blacks? This comment should be removed.

  5. You also need to remember that the revolt did happen over the re-establishment of slavery by Bonaparte.

    That made Napoleon the first and only ruler to enslave free citizens of his own country.

    Also, stupidity is not the cause of the problems in Haïti, or any black run country. The real problem is the attitudes of the ‘great’ western nations who have never let go of the colonial economic system.

    1. Michael

      I have to disagree with you here. Even as far back as the times of the Egyptian Pharaohs the Government enslaved its own people. Then there was the system of serfdom.

      1. Well. I think he means Napoleon was the only leader in history who reestablished chatel slavery after it had been abolished, although you might want to put Hitler in the same category since he used slave labor in countries that hadn't had slavery or serfdom for close to 100 years.

  6. Makes me wish that a comparable disaster would occur to his family and friends, and see how he would react.

    What an absolutely HORRIBLE thing to say to people who have suffered such a tragedy. As far as I am concerned the only person who signed a "pact" with the "Devil" is Pat Robertson.

  7. Pat's been saying that for years, or is it decades? Sort of silly to get all worked up, but if it is the first you have heard about Ole Pat, I can see why you would be shocked. A long time 700 club fan I can tell you, this ain't nothing. My guess is you will see a second wave unnecessary outrage when the Westboro people get into the act.

    Supposedly Rev Robertson supports a pull out of Afghanistan. I have seen second hand reports of it, but could not find the actual video.

    1. Robertson also said that 9/11 was punishment for homosexuality (or was that Falwell) and that Arial Sharon's coma was about withdrawing from gaza.

      But what makes the statement about Haiti revealing is how it reveals the segregationist undercurrent in a lot of these evangelical churches.

      1. Was there ever any doubt about "the seg. undercurrent"? The Church is the most segregated institution in US society.

  8. FWIW France was under the National Assembly when the first revolts started in 1791. So Robertson is way off as usual (Napoleon III was the 1850s-60s).

    More importantly, though, imagine the theological implications of Pat's statement. The Haitian revolution was primarily a slave revolt. Therefore God was on the side of the slave owners and Satan was on the side of liberty.HMMM….. kind of the opposite of what today's evangelical Christians want us to think. I don't know if this is residue from Pat's southern heritage or simply his usual affliction of diahrrea of the mouth (my bet is on the latter). So, proclaim it throughout the land, Pat Robertson thinks slavery is ordained by God!

  9. Isn't Pat a health&wealth gospeller? Wasn't it the Devil who offered wealth and power to Jesus?

  10. You can be sure that born-again health&wealth gospel pentecostals are common in Haiti, like in most developing countries. Whereas the Haitian slave revolt was more than a couple centuries ago.

  11. Concerning Pat Robertson's 'revelation' today—I agree with most of what has been said here—-Let's resist the temptation to characterize all Christians as being of the same mindset. For instance there are many evangelicals working to provide relief to Haiti at this moment that will never be recognized in the media or would ever make an ignorant statement such as Mr. Robertson's. Sadly, Christian TV represents the beliefs of a minority of Christians I know, but seems to be taken as "the gospel" by many around our country.

  12. For some contrast, you might read up on the Roman slave revolts, especially the Sicilian one. The German Peasants' Revolt of 1524, too.

  13. Wow.. rebelling against slavery, oppression, persecution and white imperialism is making a pact with the devil.!!!. Another clue of the REAL agenda of these pseudo christian and true illuminati pawns and slaves serving the with supremacist and globalist imperialist agenda.. No wonder pat robertson does not like Chavez and Ahmadinjad and afghans.

    Pats message is Clear : Do not oppose White Western power.

  14. Since when is the Devil a Freedom Fighter and Helper?
    The truth is Haiti rebelled Lucifer's New World Order and is still paying for its Freedom.

    Dominican Republic is a sell-out.
    Since when is Subservience Bliss?

    This brings to mind what Prophet Muhammad said about Dajjal (the one-eyed Antichrist wich Pat Robertson is serving) having a Paradise and a Hell in this world. His Paradise is in reality (ultimately) Hell and His Hell is in reality (Ultimate) Paradise. The tribulations of the end-times are for those who refuse to be slaves to men and creatures. Haiti is still paying the price of starting the Rebellion against the Rebellion against God.

  15. FWIW France was under the National Assembly when the first revolts started in 1791.

    And there was a "Friends of the Blacks" anti-slavery society that was founded by Brissot the Girondin.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_the_Frien

    The Amis advocated freedom in the French colonies, arguing that the ideas of the French Revolution should extend to the colonies. The concept of liberté, égalité, fraternité did not include slavery, because the National Assembly argued that the abolition would be detrimental to the French economy. The society had, as was made clear by Marquis de Condorcet's program, the abolition of slavery as its immediate goal – and campaigned for it despite calls Clarkson's call for reducing their demands (to activism against slave trade only).

  16. Clarkson and Wilberforce were, of course, evangelical Christians.

    I'm not sure exactly how they squared their evangelical Christianity with abolitionism since the Bible (and Jesus) does indeed seem to advocate slavery.

    That's obviously no problem for a Jacobin, of course, but Robertson is coming right out of the old Southern segregationist school of Christianity. The "children of Ham" deserve to be enslaved.

    1. Old Testament slaves were supposed to be freed after seven years. But Xtns aren't supposed to be following the OT law code, anyway, or so St. Paul says.

      1. SDSF

        But Paul's letter to "Philomen" defends slavery. Philomen is a runaway slave Paul returns to his master.

  17. I can't believe that I'm about to finally agree with Pat Robertson on something: Just why is Haiti so much worse off than the Dominican Republic? Same land, climate, race, and location. While Robertson thinks it's because of divine retribution, clearly Haitians are doing something or missing something that keeps them down. Blame the Docs all you want–and there is plenty of blame there–how many decades after their malign rule will we blame them for Haiti's ills?

    1. Why is Mississippi so much worse off than Vermont?

      I mean, they're both rural states in North America, right?

      1. Mississippin is not worse off than vermont , you just think it is . Haiti has always been a little rough even in the sixties they went on some kinda killing spree and all the white people had to run . as far as slaves go what people have not been slaves at some point in their history . Slaverey may not always be so bad , sometimes it the only way to eat . Even the Jews were slaves of the Egyptians . The Haitians do have a africian religion that they add to catholic doctrine , Its called voodoo , I believe they maybe the instigators of zombies too . Some of the old black africia religions are pretty strange and very bloody . I dont believe God punishes people yet here on earth with hurricans earth quakes and natural disasters . If God did PAT and I would both be punished most severely . I'am glad evreybody is showing up to help it looks like a beutifull country . I think communism might have been good for that country . Their average income is just to low not to share it .
        I once interviewed for a job in that country ,did not have much competition as I gathered most evreybody was scared to go their , this was right after the white people had to run .

      2. If you took a minute to study a map you would note that Haiti and D.R. share the exact same island. Vermont and Mississippi are separated by about a 1,000 miles. Their rural character is the only thing they have ever had in common.

      1. Right you are. There's Spanish blood mixed in with the Domincans so it's a more racially mixed country than Haiti, although they'd still be considered of African descent.

        Since we don't know why Haiti suffers more than its near-clone the Dominican Republic, race shouldn't be automatically excluded from possible causation, as well as other factors.

        1. True enough. Haiti is the most 'African' country in the western hemisphere. Naturally it most resembles Africa. You could move Haiti across the ocean to Africa and it would fit in perfectly.

  18. What happened to Haiti could make everyone cry, including his false gods. I think even his devil gods will not be proud of him.

    This guy PR (name not worth mentioning), is a shame to Americans, a shame to Christianity and a shame to entire humanity.

  19. Pat Robertson and the rest of the neo-con evangelical fruitloops can call themselves 'Christian' all they want, but that doesn't make it so.

  20. Something happened in Virginia a few years ago. Pat Robertson puffed up his racist ego to a very great extent, and he made a pact with the devil. And, the Devil said, "Okay, Pat, I will make you a very powerful and wealthy televangelist if you give me your soul upon your death." And, Pat said, "Its a deal." And the Devil made Pat Robertson a very great and wealthy televangelist, and the time clock is ticking as the hour grows nigh.

    1. Yeah, I think that is true! When you hear some of these evangelicals talk (not all, just the loony fringe) you would prefer the Devil to their God! What a piece of shit this man is….I hope that he ends up in the special place in hell that is reserved for false prophets, and that the Bible talks about.

  21. The Sunday Times of London wrote a devastatingly accurate article last year on the destitute state of Haiti and the real pact with “the devil” that doomed the nation to its present state of misery prior to the earthquake:

    History tells a different story. The appalling state of the country is a direct result of having offended a quite different celestial authority — the French. France gained the western third of the island of Hispaniola — the territory that is now Haiti — in 1697. It planted sugar and coffee, supported by an unprecedented increase in the importation of African slaves. Economically, the result was a success, but life as a slave was intolerable. Living conditions were squalid, disease was rife, and beatings and abuses were universal. The slaves’ life expectancy was 21 years. After a dramatic slave uprising that shook the western world, and 12 years of war, Haiti finally defeated Napoleon’s forces in 1804 and declared independence. But France demanded reparations: 150m francs, in gold.

    For Haiti, this debt did not signify the beginning of freedom, but the end of hope. Even after it was reduced to 60m francs in the 1830s, it was still far more than the war-ravaged country could afford. Haiti was the only country in which the ex-slaves themselves were expected to pay a foreign government for their liberty.

    By 1900, it was spending 80% of its national budget on repayments. In order to manage the original reparations, further loans were taken out — mostly from the United States, Germany and France. Instead of developing its potential, this deformed state produced a parade of nefarious leaders, most of whom gave up the insurmountable task of trying to fix the country and looted it instead. In 1947, Haiti finally paid off the original reparations, plus interest. Doing so left it destitute, corrupt, disastrously lacking in investment and politically volatile. Haiti was trapped in a downward spiral, from which it is still impossible to escape. It remains hopelessly in debt to this day.

    To read the full article, click on the attached:

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6281614.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1

    1. Thank you, newshound, for relating this little-known, little-discussed fact of history (another subject, one of many, of which Paddy Robertson is zoologically ignorant).

      The only thing I fault the Haitians for is continuing to accede to France's unconscionable demands for "reparations." They should have called France's bluff; the worst the French could have done in practice would have been to re-occupy Haiti, an act that even the pig-headed and prideful French would have recognized as a loosing and costly proposition.

      I'm surprised that Haiti hasn't demanded reparations from FRANCE for all of their suffering! They would certainly be morally justified in doing so.

    2. Wait a minute. France, the loser, demanded reparations from Haiti the victor, and Haiti complied? Isn't that backwards? Haiti's leaders must have been as dumb as fence posts. Liberranter's right: Haiti should have told France to stuff it in their foie gras.

  22. Dang, after hearin' this Robertson fellow talk about the Devil I'm not feeling so great about selling my soul on Ebay.

    1. Bob,

      I am a bit concerned about anyone who professes knowledge of confidential historical conversations with the devil. I watched the video and almost felt like the woman who was interviewing him was trying to keep from laughing. I am a Christian but this guy cannot be reading the same Bible that I read.

  23. Old James Bond movies don't make for good cultural references. I suspect his understanding of Haiti is limited to Baron Samedi's depiction in Live and Let Die.

  24. I guess the French liked to live off reparations – and look where that got the world vis a vis Germany. Clearly, the poverty of Haiti has its roots in French greed and exploitation. The Haitians could not win for losing when they threw out the slaveholders – they had to make good on the losses of these plutocrats. Hm. Sounds familiar.

  25. One thing for sure. Neoconist roots in the western new world began with the trick con catastrophic mistake of African slavery and the Ham factor. How did Europe get built and maintained for 1000s of yrs without a single African slave? Somebody please invent a time machine gigowatt flux capacitor to fix it all by going back and outlawing all slavery in the new western world to save 500 million people killed only in the last 150 yrs. Stupid stupid Mr Goats Lincoln Bush Bama …

    1. Europe had white slaves idiot , You dont think the nobelmen built the castels do you ?

  26. RE: Pat Robertson – Haitians ‘Swore A Pact To The Devil’
    MY COMMENT: Fellow ‘pompous ass’ Brit Hume couldn’t have said it any better!
    P.S. There is so much sickness (mental illness) in this world. And since you mentioned the “devil” Pat, what about your ‘blood diamonds’ pact with Liberia’s Charles McArthur Ghankay Taylor (formerly one of Africa’s most prominent warlords / currently on trial for war crimes)?
    FROM WIKIPEDIA: …According to a 2 June 1999, article in The Virginian-Pilot,[18] Robertson had extensive business dealings with Liberian president Charles Taylor. According to the article, Taylor gave Robertson the rights to mine for diamonds in Liberia’s mineral-rich countryside. According to two Operation Blessing pilots who reported this incident to the state of Virginia for investigation in 1994, Robertson used his Operation Blessing planes to haul diamond-mining equipment to Robertson’s mines in Liberia, despite the fact that Robertson was telling his 700 Club viewers that the planes were sending relief supplies to the victims of the genocide in Rwanda. In response to Taylor’s alleged crimes against humanity the United States Congress passed a bill in November 2003 that offered two million dollars for his capture. Robertson accused President Bush of “undermining a Christian, Baptist president to bring in Muslim rebels to take over the country.” At the time Taylor was harboring Al Qaeda operatives who were funding their operations through the illegal diamond trade…
    SOURCE – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Robertson

  27. The problem with that silly comment is that the DEVIL does not exist. The word DEVIL came about when the French encountered the myriad gods of the Hindu pantheon when they were in India. They assumed that such things must be "of evil" so the french term to describe such things were DE: of/from EVIL i.e of evil. Over the years the words were joined hence we have the stupidity of folks like Pat.

    .

  28. Pat may be a good christian , whats bothering you people we have all hads ansestors that were slaves , As a matter of fact a lot of us are slaves right now . debts are nothing but slavery for honest people . We are signing up our childran to be slaves when ever we contract new debts for the next generations . We are either slaves or thieves . which is it for you

  29. The haitians were almost the 1st africian to recieve their freedom , I just cant fualt them today becuase of the earth quake and Robinsons foolishness . Today we are helping the Haitians , maybe we can fiqure out someway we can help them on a more continues bases .

    1. if we at war with islam we should be paying close attention to the whereabouts of the devil, this might be a plot to set up hezbollah/al-queada/northkorean bases in haiti.

  30. HOW do you suppose he could know of the alleged century-ago Haitan pact with the devil? Unless, HE is close to the devil….

    It says a lot about people who take empty suits like this as their sources of knowledge and "salvation"!!!

    1. The police has records of crimes of yesteryears. Pastors has records of sins of the past of countries. Don't confuse the police with the criminals and Pastors with sinners.

  31. Pat Robertson is plain ignorant and unbeliever. He is wealthy and that is what is important to him. His hypocrisy only bothers others not him.

  32. I'm usually not one to lay blame for the destitution of entire countries on the back of "history" but if any country can claim its current horrid status is a direct result of historical forces outside of its control- it is that sad island. They never had a chance from day one.

    1. Look at how Germany and Japan lay in ruins after the war. Look at how South Korea was destroyed by the war. Look at all of these countries today.

      1. Look at how Germany and Japan lay in ruins after the war.

        Which war?

        After World War I, the Germans had to pay reparations for a little over a decade. The entire country went insane. Hait had to pay reparations for almost 100 years.

        After World War II, when Germany was given the Mashall Plan and a chance to get back on its feet, it did. Now Germany's a prosperous democracy.

        1. It wasn't the Marshall plan that got Germany back on its feet. This is a big myth. It was the people of Germany themselves. Check out photos and films of Berlin, Dresden – any big German city after the war – the ruins are incredible. Probably much worse then in Haiti today.

          1. I wasn't aware that Germany and Japan were once were little more than giant slave plantations with work forces forcibly removed from their native countries on another continent and then submerged into a brutal totalitarian racial work camp system for the first couple hundred years of their histories. And then – upon gaining their independence being saddled with a debt to pay for their own freedom on top of a blockade from the largest most powerful country in the area for 60 years- only to then see a succession of installed dictators doing the will of that foreign power up until the present day. But other than that- your comparison is really really apt. Do you write for the History Channel- cause that is the sort of dumb dumb analysis they love.

          2. You can say whatever you want, but the fact is that Haiti is the most culturally and demographically black African country in the western hemisphere. Thus it most naturally resembles sub-saharan Africa. Haiti isn't even that poor by sub-saharan standards. There are twenty-two countries in sub-saharan Africa that are poorer then it. As for your comments about slavery, etc, that ended there over 200 years ago. Germany, South Korea and Japan suffered incredible devastation well within living memory. Haiti is simply a little piece of Africa.

  33. I shudder to believe how Mr. Paterson took it upon himself to judge a whole people just like that? How did he come up with such nonsense?. First of all, as a Christian he should know better that physical death is not a punishment. for those like Paul who long 'to be with Christ' for 'it is so much better'. I honestly fail to see what logic he bases this nonsense on; certainly not the Bible or Christ's teachings. Secondly, an evangelist should be an honest Ambassador of Christ to the world, preaching Christ's message of love and salvation. the God who 'so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so whoever believes in Him should not parish, but have eternal life' is also the God that wishes for all His creation to be saved and returned to their God'. This god would never annihilate in anger. God gave His promise never to punish sin in an 'old testament' way' like He did with Sodom and Gomorrah. Mr. Paterson is neither evangelist nor Christian and I feel very sorry for anyone who harbours so much hatred in his heart
    I ask any reasonable human being.

    1. Yes, Robertson is a "believer" indeed – a believer in Amerikan Empire, a believer in war without end as long it benefits the "right" class of people, a believer in the supremacy of temporal power, a believer in state-corporatism, and a believer in the superiority of the white race.

  34. See that all you unbelievers? There you go… How much more proof do you need that god exists? If he didn't, how could anyone be this stupid and still know how to breathe?

  35. You've got to read this hilarious letter to the editor, written by "Satan" to Pat Robertson.

    Satan Speaks Out on Haiti – Do You Believe? – AOL Message Boards

  36. 2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

    Haiti practices voodoo on a large scale. There is an un-seen force that govern us all. That is a part of their culture which has removed some kind of protection from them and the prince of the power of the air.

    (Leviticus 19:31 “Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I [am] the LORD your God.”)

    (Zechariah 13:2 “And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, [that] I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.”).

    It is written

  37. The Devil Sues Pat Robertson for Breach of Contract

    EP: Virginia Beach – The devil filed a lawsuit in the Virginia Beach district court on Thursday suing Pat Robertson for breach of contract. “Pat Robertson has broken the terms of our agreement with him” said Arthur B. Ellzebub, an attorney for satan…..

    http://wp.me/pIP1s-2v

  38. Tell me one country that has witchcraft as its main religion and prospers: it just doesn't happen. Magic and witchcraft are curses to people, families, communities and nations. It may not be conventional wisdom to say it, but it's the truth. Pat Robertson told an unpalatable truth, and he should not have any regrets about it.

  39. Pat Robertson either has been understood wrongly or his statements have been twisted out of shape. He never spoke against ill the ex-colonies that fought against slavery and won freedom. For instance, he didn't speak against Cuba or Columbia or the innumerable other nations that fought against imperialism and won freedom. He spoke about the practice of voodo, which is witchcraft and magic widely practiced in Haiti, and even considered as it main religion. Pat spoke about this spiritual bondage. To twist it out of shape as black against white, or slavery vs freedom is utterly mischievous or naiive.

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