Politics

Pat Robertson, Christian television pioneer and ex-presidential candidate, dies at 93

Washington, Jun 8 (EFE).- Pat Robertson, an outspoken Christian broadcaster, one-time Republican Party presidential candidate and influential figure in the religious right in the United States, died Thursday at his home in Virginia, the media company he founded in 1960 said in a statement. He was 93.

“Today, June 8, 2023, my father, Pat Robertson, has gone home to be with his Lord,” his son Gordon Robertson, chief executive officer of The Christian Broadcasting Network, said.

“My father was an extraordinary man by any standard. He was an evangelist, a humanitarian, an entrepreneur, an educator, an author, a statesman, a television personality, a man of global influence and tremendous vision.”

Robertson was an influential figure among Christian voters and, according to The New York Times, played a key role in pushing them to back Republicans and give the GOP control of both houses of Congress in the 1994 midterm elections.

He later sought the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in 1988, having previously resigned as a Baptist pastor to pave the way for that run.

Despite falling short in that attempt, he remained a power broker in the GOP and through the Christian Coalition organization he had founded in 1987 urged religious conservatives to vote for candidates opposed to abortion and gay marriage.

He reached millions of viewers as host of “The 700 Club,” the CBN’s flagship program.

But he also had numerous detractors and became known for incendiary remarks such as blaming the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on Americans’ sinfulness and calling for the assassination of leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a vehement critic of the US who died of cancer in 2013. EFE

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