Robertson A Global Warming Convert

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson said Thursday that he hasn't been a believer in global warming in the past, but this summer's record-breaking heat is "making a convert out of me."

On his "700 Club" broadcast taped in Virginia Beach, Robertson said, "It is getting hotter, and the icecaps are melting and there is a buildup of carbon dioxide in the air."

Switching sides on an issue that divides evangelical Christians, Robertson said, "We really need to address the burning of fossil fuels."

Robertson told viewers, "If we are contributing to the destruction of this planet, we need to do something about it."

This spring, Robertson said God had told him severe weather, in the form of storms and possibly a tsunami, will hit America's coastline this year.

"If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms," Robertson said May 8. He added, "There well may be something as bad as a tsunami in the Pacific Northwest."