Religious Broadcasters drop Robertson as dinner speaker.

The National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) dropped TV preacher Pat Robertson as closing banquet speaker at its annual convention last month after the volatile televangelist made controversial statements about God punishing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Robertson had been invited to address the Feb. 21 event in Dallas, but some NRB members apparently got nervous after his comments about Sharon generated an outpouring of anger and condemnation.

In late January, Robertson cancelled the speech, citing scheduling conflicts. The turn-about came after a delegation of NRB leaders met privately with Robertson, reported Associated Press Radio.

Robertson made the inflammatory comments about Sharon Jan. 5 on his "700 Club." Sharon had just suffered a stroke, and Robertson told his viewers that the Israeli leader was being punished by God for giving land to the Palestinians.

"Sharon was personally a very likable person," Robertson said. "I am sad to see him in this condition. But I think we need to look at the Bible and the Book of Joel. The prophet Joel makes it very clear that God has enmity against those who, 'divide my land.' God considers this land to be his. You read the Bible, he says, 'This is my land.' And for any prime minister of Israel who decides he's going to carve it up and give it away, God says, 'No. This is mine.'"

Reaction was swift and unfavorable. Even many Religious Right leaders blasted Robertson. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention remarked, "I'm appalled that Pat Robertson would make such statements." (See "Middle East Offensive," February 2006 Church & State.)

The NRB replaced Robertson with Henry Blackaby, who runs a ministry in Atlanta. Blackaby is the author of a popular evangelical tome titled Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing His Will.

Robertson offered a lukewarm apology for his comments about Sharon. But his latest brush with controversy has apparently not led him to think more before be speaks. On Feb. 2, Robertson appeared on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes," where he reiterated his call for the United States to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Pressed by cohost Alan Colmes to say if he still believes the world would be a better place if Chavez should be assassinated, Robertson replied, "I think South America would. He has got hit squads. He's a very dangerous man."

Queried Colmes, "So you're not taking back the comment? You believe assassination of Hugo Chavez would be in the best interests of the world?"

Robertson replied, "Rather than going to war. One day, we're going to have to go to war, I'm afraid, if he continues his policy.... I wrote him a letter. I apologized to him."

Robertson has been making media rounds to promote his new book Miracles Can Be Yours Today. In the book, he tells the story of a 42-year-old woman in Vicksburg, Miss., who was raised from the dead. Robertson told Hannity and Colmes that the woman was "stone-cold dead for 10 minutes" after being struck by lightning.

"And then she came back to life again," said Robertson. "And the doctors said, 'We'd never seen anything like that.' That's just one of the miracles I point out in this book."

The controversy has not hurt Robertson's fund-raising either. The "700 Club" still raises millions, and Robertson's charity, Operation Blessing, continues to receive tax support through the "faith-based" initiative.

The Virginian-Pilot reported in January that Operation Blessing's budget has ballooned to $14.4 million, much of it in the form of donated goods from the federal government.

Operation Blessing received a $1.5-million direct grant under the faith-based initiative, but it has also received other types of support, including $22.7 million in dry milk over the past two years. Under a Depression-era program, the federal government buys surplus dry milk and stockpiles it. When the stockpiles got too large, the government began giving it to charities.

"The powder can be used for baking, but much of it is traded to manufacturers for ready-to-eat puddings, Soups and other products that are then distributed by Operation Blessing trucks," reported The Virginian-Pilot.

The newspaper also noted, "The organization has received smaller grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development to cover freight costs for humanitarian relief shipments to Guatemala and Romania. It is also part of a consortium of eight organizations that recently received a USAID grant for HIV/AIDS treatment, care and prevention in 14 countries, mostly in Africa."