By now, everyone has heard what Pat Robertson said on Monday, and the media continues to tell how outrageous his comments were. So I thought I would add my two cents; after all, that’s what I do.

For those of you who keep your head in the sand, or for those who could really care less about what goes on in the world of politics, I’ll give you a synopsis of Robertson’s comments. Basically he said that Hugo Chavez, the current leader of Venezuela, is paranoid, is becoming a threat to national security, and is suggesting that the US plans to assassinate him. Robertson said that if the Bush administration has a plan to assassinate him, they should go ahead and do it. [700Club: Pat Robertson]

Now, for the record, what Robertson said about the concerns surrounding Chavez is true. Venezuela is the fourth largest supplier of oil to the US, and Chavez is a Castroesque dictator who has plunged Venezuela into economic and political turmoil. He has no control over his borders, and is very likely to turn that country into a breeding ground for communism and terrorism that is entirely too close to home.

HOWEVER, there are entirely too many problems with what Pat Robertson said. First of all, Robertson is a conservative, and he had to have known that regardless of the context of what he said, his comments would be replayed over and over again. Robertson’s comments have become a moniker for the conservative movement; painting it as warmongering and extremist. Another problem with this whole scenario is just last week Donald Rumsfield finished a Latin American tour to shore up support for antiterrorism efforts, and some have suggested Robertson’s comments were terroristic in nature. Regardless of how you categorize the comments, they were certainly inciting and dangerous. The third and most poignant problem with Robertson’s comments is the Sixth Commandment. Robertson professes to be an Evangelical Christian; he founded the Christian Coalition, the 700 Club, and Christian Bible Network, and Christian World News. Robertson has campaigned for Godly principles in government, business, and all aspects of life for over 40 years, and yet in one broad statement advocating the murder of another person, Robertson painted the whole Christian right as tyrannical, jagged, and intolerant.

Although Pat Robertson has apologized, if that’s what you want to call it, it’s going to take some time to repair the damage that has been done to the Christian witness. This is the proverbial feather pillow syndrome. If you hit someone with a feather pillow, splitting the seam, you can apologize for hitting that person, but all the feathers remain.