Pat Robertson

The "700 Club's" Pat Robertson has apologized for his remarks that Ariel Sharon's massive stroke last week was God's retribution for Sharon giving the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority.

In a letter dated Wednesday and marked for hand delivery to Sharon's son Omri, Robertson called the Israeli prime minister a "kind, gracious and gentle man" who was "carrying an almost insurmountable burden of making decisions for his nation."

"My concern for the future safety of your nation led me to make remarks which I can now view in retrospect as inappropriate and insensitive in light of a national grief experienced because of your father's illness," the letter said. "I ask your forgiveness and the forgiveness of the people of Israel," Robertson wrote.

The 77-year-old prime minister suffered a devastating stroke Jan. 4 and remained hospitalized Thursday in critical but stable condition.

The day after Sharon's stroke, Robertson suggested he was being punished for pulling Israel out of the Gaza Strip last summer. The pullout was seen by many evangelical groups as a retreat from biblical prophecy of Jewish sovereignty over the area.

This isn't the first time that he has run his mouth before engaging his brain. It wasn't that long ago that the good reverand sought the head on Hugo Chavez on a silver platter...not that there is anything wrong with that.

I can't say that I am a real fan of Pat Robertson's, or that I have spent a lot of time watching the 700 Club. I guess that he can be credited with at least being a pioneer of televangilism, but I am not a real fan of that either. Not that it doesn't have it's place. If a person is home bound by physical or mental handicaps, then I don't see anything wrong with receiving your evangilism through television. If you are too lazy to get off your butt and go to church, then that is another thing altogether.

All in all this is probably a non-issue, but seeing as he is a national figure, it didn't really help the fundamental Christian movement. I for one will probably not send him a Christmas card this year. But then again, I never have.