The gospel according to Pat: don't ask me to say Amen!

I recently finished Robert Boston's book The Most Dangerous Man in America ? Pat Robertson and the Rise of the Christian Coalition. It took me longer than expected because of my propensity to read many pages over and over to absorb what Robertson, this self-professed man of God, is really like.

After laying the book down, I fought the urge to pick up my Catholic Bible or a second Bible I own and search through them, I know of the Books of Genesis and Exodus and Revelation among others, but for the life of me I could not recall the "Book of Hate" or the "Book of Doom and Gloom," as one might expect from reading about Robertson's viewpoint.

In fact, there are many unexpected revelations in the Gospel according to Pat. I did not know thai after all these years that I was a "persecuted" Christian. I did not know that my wife is not my equal and must be as subservient as possible. I did not know after all the praying in public schools that I and my kids have done - and my grandkids are doing today - that prayer is not allowed.

I did not know that if we do not meet certain religious criteria set by Robertson that my entire family and I are going straight to hell with no plea bargaining. I did not know that all members of all other denominations, if not converted to Pat's approach, haven't a prayer of staying out of hell either.

My lovely wife and I, married for 44 years, raised two fine kids and worked most of our lives. We worked hard, always thought we were good Christians and did our best to do the right thing. After my 66 years on this planet, l now read that according to Robertson we did everything wrong, especially the fact that we were not the "right kind" of Christians.

In January of 1988 we lost our son of 30 years. On December 4, 1991, the company I worked for for 26 years suddenly went out of business. I was 60 years old at that time and found myself without a paycheck, without health insurance and just a third of my pension when I planned to retire. Unemployment was at that time as high as 8.5 percent. What savings I had was soon gone.

This was a dark and difficult time in our lives. Unlike Pat Robertson, however, I did not blame the liberal news media, the gays, the First Amendment or the Fifth Amendment, the Supreme Court, the Democratic (or Republican) Congress, liberal or conservative judges, the president, the United Nations, our teachers and our public schools, sex education, the ACLU, the porno store down the street, John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men, condoms, the absence of assault weapons on our streets, our failure to return to the gold standard, "one world" government, the slow leak in my left front tire or anything else that he insists are the causes of all my troubles and the certain demise of the United States of America. My family and I did what most Americans do after being knocked down - they bitch about it, and even though they are hurting real bad, they get up and start again.

We Americans are a unique bunch. There is no other society on earth like ours. This uniqueness is a result of the 200-plus years of absolute freedoms guaranteed to us by our Constitution. Now, men like Robertson, Ralph Reed and Jay Sekulow are tel ling us that that most precious document needs to be defaced, scribbled on and changed radically, because of their betels that all men and women are not created equal and that all Americans cannot make decisions or think for themselves.

Obviously, Robertson fails to see that if all our constitutional rights were to stay the same for the next 500 years, we will survive as a democracy and will continue to be the greatest nation on earth simply because of the freedoms in place now.

It appears to me that it is not blind faith that motivates Robertson but blind greed. Robertson's business actions in Zaire - supporting a cruel dictator while trying to exploit that country's resources - are unconscionable. What was done with CBN donations that placed a neat $90 million profit in Robertson's and his son's pockets was despicable. When Robertson is not praying, he is "preying," and his real fear should be when he has to answer to all of the American people. Robertson ran for president in 1988 and the voters told him that they were not buying what he was selling. Now, in the 1990s, he is again underestimating seriously the intelligence of the American people.

One wonders if Robertson realizes that his oratory, whether unintentional or intentional, is reciting hate among people all over the country. He continues to divide the nation more and more each day, and I have a terrible fear that the result could again be brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor, a possible second civil war, without the same results or conclusions as the first.

Millions upon millions of Americans, including myself, have helped shape this great country for over two centuries, doing a lot of complaining, but doing what was asked of us. Robertson and his misguided cronies want to destroy all of this work. I abhor hearing Robertson's assertions that what he is doing is what the American people want. How dare he speak for me. I do not want this individual representing me or my Christian family at any time. Never!

Is this where I say Amen?