Pat Robertsonmost infamousely stated that Haiti was cursed because of a pact with a Devil. He's said similiar things about New York after 911, and New Orleans after Katrina.
His comments mark a quite common line of though in Evangelical Christianity, that god still punishes people for their sins and natural disasters such as the one that occurred in Haiti are caused by god's Wrath.
It struck me as I was visiting my parents the other day, both strong evangelical christians, as the topic turned to Haiti. My father and mother both felt sympathy for the suffering that the Haitian people were going through. And my father brought up that Pat Robertson had said things that were a bit out there and he probably should retire.
My mothers response was..
Yeah, he can't learn to keep his mouth shut. He said that the people Haiti were cursed, I mean we all think that secretly, that they are being punished, but we don't say it.
For many Evangelical Christians, this line of thought is natural. Pat Robertson's comments are only a symptom of a bigger problem in the thought of many Christians. Just because many are not willing to say what they are thinking do not make the thoughts any less heinous.
This kind of Old Testament idealism, that God punishes nations or cities for their "sins" is outright disgusting. Yet it is so common to see in the practices and ideas of many of Christians in today's America. Even those some would describe as moderate.
So for a lot of people Pat Robertson's only mistake was to speak what they were all thinking, for them their thoughts were something to hide from the rest of America. The fact that they feel they need to hide it is almost as scary as the fact that they think it.
In the end the ideas brought up by Robertson are a lot more common than anyone thinks, and very unlikely to dissipate anytime soon.