“Religious US Political Figure Pat Robertson Dies at 93”

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, who founded the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) and played a key role in making religion a central part of Republican Party politics in the US through his Christian Coalition, has died at the age of 93. Robertson also founded Regent University, an evangelical Christian school in Virginia Beach, the American Center for Law and Justice, which defends the religious rights of Christians, and Operation Blessing, an international humanitarian organisation. He regularly made anti-Muslim statements, particularly after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, and helped to make Islamophobia mainstream in the Republican Party. Robertson also tried to run for president in 1988 and pioneered the strategy of courting Iowa’s network of evangelical Christian churches. He started the Christian Coalition in 1989, which became a major political force in the 1990s. Robertson’s impact on both religion and politics in the US was described as “enormous”.