700 Club website scrubbed Robertson's controversial comments calling Muslims "satanic"

Summary: The Christian Broadcasting Network has scrubbed from its website Pat Robertson's comments on The 700 Club that Muslims who protested controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad were "satanic" and "crazed fanatics" who were "motivated by demonic power." Robertson added that "the goal of Islam ... is world domination."

After 700 Club host Pat Robertson declared that Muslims who protested controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad were "satanic" and "crazed fanatics" who were "motivated by demonic power," adding that "the goal of Islam ... is world domination," the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) program removed Robertson's comments from its website "out of concerns they could be misinterpreted if taken out of context," according to a Robertson spokeswoman who was cited in a March 14 Associated Press report.

From the AP report, which cited Robertson spokeswoman Angell Watts:

Robertson's Virginia Beach-based network did not include his remarks when it posted the program on its Web site, however. That decision was made out of concern Robertson's remarks could be misinterpreted if viewed out of context, Watts said.

The AP also cited Watts's claim that it was "very clear" from the 700 Club news segment on the protesters that preceded Robertson's comments that he was "talking about radical Islam."

Robertson has frequently asserted that "Islam is not a religion of peace," as he did during the March 13 broadcast. For instance, as Media Matters for America previously noted, on the July 14, 2005, broadcast of The 700 Club, Robertson blurred the distinction between radical Islamists and the Muslim community at large, claiming that Islam instructs its followers to commit acts of terrorism. Robertson stated: "Islam, at least at its core, teaches violence. It's there in the Quran in clear, bold statements." The AP report noted that during a 2002 broadcast of the program, Robertson reportedly declared that Islam "is not a peaceful religion that wants to coexist. They want to coexist until they can control, dominate and then, if need be, destroy."

Robertson has also made other controversial remarks, such as at least twice calling for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez; proclaiming that then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's recent stroke was the result of Sharon's policy of withdrawal from the Gaza Strip; and suggesting that God would punish Disney World's annual Gay Days festivities by bringing "destruction of your nation" through "earthquakes, tornadoes, and possibly a meteor."

From the March 13 broadcast of CBN's The 700 Club:

ROBERTSON: Imagine one cartoon, one cartoon showing Mohammad with a turban with a missile out of it. I mean, we have stuff like that, that is vastly worse against our politicians all the time. It's part of free expression. The fact that this elicited this incredible outpouring of rage just shows the kind of people we're dealing with. These people are crazed fanatics, and I want to say it now: I believe it's motivated by demonic power; it is satanic; and it's time we recognize what we are dealing with. But, political correctness will not face one religious ideology with the strength of another because they don't have the strength of another. And, so, they're caving in before this vicious assault, and the goal of Islam, ladies and gentlemen, whether you like it or not, is world domination. These people are saying it over there in Europe -- world domination. "We're going to take over Europe. We're going to take over England. We're going to take over Denmark. We're going to take over France." That's their goal! And, why don't we wake up to the fact of who we're dealing with? And, by the way, Islam is not a religion of peace.

—J.M.