CBN 'Regrets' Pat Robertson's Comments on Muslims and Wife-Beating
The Christian Broadcasting Network has responded to Muslims offended by its chairman Pat Robertson's recent comments suggesting that Muslim men beat their wives.
"We regret these comments and subsequently edited them out of the later broadcast," Chris Roslan, spokesman for the CBN, told local Virginia news station WAVY-TV, an affiliate of NBC.
Dr. Ahmed Noor, a local resident in Virginia, contacted WAVY shortly after the Sept. 10 airing of Robertson's comments on "The 700 Club," telling the news station that he found the CBN founder and chairman's words to be "unfortunate."
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"It is most unfortunate that Dr. Robertson would make such a statement because he definitely knows our religion and he can go essentially to our Holy Book which is the standard by which we behave and act and respond toward others, and you will find that in our holy book the basis of the religion between the spouses is mentioned in more than one verse which focuses very much on affection and mercy towards each other," Noor said.
Noor went on the invite Robertson to visit his mosque, adding that he feels Robertson, a Southern Baptist, has misunderstood the facts of the Muslim religion.
Robertson attracted criticism from the Muslim community for comments he made earlier this week on the "Bring It On" segment of his Christian program, "The 700 Club," when he responded to a listener's question about getting his wife to respect him as the head of the house.
"Well you could become a Muslim and you could beat her," Robertson jokingly responded. "You can't divorce her according the Scripture so I say move to Saudi Arabia."
"I don't think we condone wife-beating these days but something has got to be done to make her," Robertson added.
Co-host of the show, Terry Meeuwsen, laughed off Robertson's comments and tried to steer him back to the subject at hand.
Robertson has acquired a reputation for making controversial statements, and his most recent comment could prove slightly more incendiary as he has recently been linked to GOP candidate Mitt Romney, due to his prominent appearance at a Virginia Beach rally on Sept. 8.
