Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a preacher through and through. From the images he invoked, to the cadence of his speech, to the values which shaped his every decision, Dr. King, whose life and work we formally honored yesterday, was a public pastor with a ministry to all of America.
The same can be said of Rev. Pat Robertson, but that is where the similarity ends, as we were once again reminded this week when Robertson offered his explanation for the Haiti earthquake. I can’t help but wish that Robertson was more like King.
It’s not that I wish the two were more politically alike. And it’s not because I am deeply uncomfortable with Rev. Robertson’s theology. In fact, I even appreciate that a deep longing for a good and just God is probably at the root of Robertson’s explanation for the quake.
But it’s precisely when our views are most provocative and potentially destabilizing that we must proceed with care in both our words and our deeds, especially when we base ourselves on what we believe is God’s word, as King did, and Robertson continues to do. And, care need never be confused with timidity about speaking one’s truth, as Dr. King well knew.
King said, “if a man hasn’t discovered something to die for, he isn’t it to live”. Hardly timid words. In fact, they sound as fanatical as do the words of those who most opposed him. So where is the care?

The care lies in the fact that for all his passion, I know of no case in which King condemned his opponents to Hell or described them as cursed by God. Unlike Dr Robertson, the suffering of others was not a proof text for the correctness of his own beliefs.
Ultimately, Dr. King was ever aware of the humanity even of those with whom he most deeply disagreed. And in that too, I wish Dr. Robertson was more like Dr. King.
King appreciated that even when he was right, he was creating new challenges as he addressed old ones. He said, “all progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another”. It’s hard to imagine that Robertson stopped to think about the problems created by his “solution” to the question of why the earthquake happened.
For King, violence was never the answer. One wonders about any preacher, including Robertson, who genuinely believes that violence, whether by humans or by God, ever is. And in that also Dr. Robertson could take a lesson from Dr. King.
Whether we celebrate King’s legacy or not, whether we agree with Robertson or not, we all could.