God, Judges & Reverend Pat

CBS' Meyer: Liberal Judges More Dangerous Than Terrorists?

(CBS)  This commentary was written by CBSNews.com's Dick Meyer.

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Nobody, but nobody clarifies a controversy like Rev. Pat Robertson.

On Sunday, Rev. Robertson helped the nation put this whole flap about activist judges, filibusters and "nuclear options" into perspective while talking to George Stephanopoulos on ABC. He offered a perspective few of us have considered -- the threat from liberal judges is more serious than Islamist terrorism:

"It depends on how you look at culture. If you look over the course of a hundred years, I think the gradual erosion of the consensus that's held our country together is probably more serious than a few bearded terrorists who fly into buildings. I think we're going to control al Qaeda. I think we're going to get Osama bin Laden. We won in Afghanistan. We won in Iraq, and we can contain that. But if there's an erosion at home, you know, Thomas Jefferson warned about a tyranny of an oligarchy and if we surrender our democracy to the tyranny of an oligarchy, we've made a terrible mistake."

The oligarchy, I take it, is composed of judges he disagrees with.

To be fair, Robertson has never been impressed with al Qaeda. A few days after the attacks of 9/11, Robertson had Rev. Jerry Falwell on his "700 Club" show. Falwell said the terrorist attacks on the U.S. were "probably what we deserve."

Robertson immediately said, "Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror."

Robertson's remarks were not a gaffe or a slip of the tongue. In an essay distributed by his Christian Broadcast Network, Robertson wrote, "We have insulted God at the highest level of our government. Then, we say, "Why does this happen?" It is happening because God Almighty is lifting His protection from us…. But I want to say as surely as I am sitting here today, this is only a foretaste, a little warning, of what is going to happen."

So I guess part of what Rev. Robertson means is that if we continue to let the oligarchy of liberal judges insult God, God will lift "His protection from us" and more terror like 9/11 will come to the nation. That's really scary.