The Rev. Al Sharpton, who visited Chicago on Sunday to ask churches to contribute to Haitian relief funds, took umbrage at comments by an evangelical broadcaster that the people of Haiti might have brought upon themselves the earthquake that left tens of thousands dead.
Christian televangelist Pat Robertson said last week on his TV show that Haitians “swore a pact to the devil” to obtain their freedom from French colonial authorities more than 200 years ago. Robertson said the Haitians told Satan, “We will serve you,” and that “ever since (the pact), they have been cursed.”
Sharpton, at Christ Universal Temple on the South Side on Sunday, said the statements were “repulsive” and “un-Christian.”
“To bring this kind of negative and wicked spirit into a scene where we are watching children’s dead bodies stacked up is abominable to me,” said Sharpton, who also criticized radio commentator Rush Limbaugh’s musings that the tragedy would play into President Barack Obama’s political plans. “This kind of foolishness, while people are laying in the rubble in Haiti fighting for their lives, shows a contempt some people have for the human condition.”
Carlton Pearson, minister at Christ Universal Temple, told the congregation he hoped they could donate $25,000 in one day for Red Cross for relief efforts.
ggarvey@tribune.com
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