With America caught up in an Islamophobic whirlwind, anything remotely tied to the Islamic faith sets off paranoid hysterics over an impending Muslim takeover. Rather than responsibly debunk these delusions, the Fox News network has contributed to the hysteria by promoting extremely radical guests, polarizing rhetoric, bigoted punditry, and racial profiling. Last week, FoxNews.com unveiled a new “investigation” targeting Muslim staffers on Capitol Hill. According to the report, the Congressional Muslim Staff Association’s (CMSA) have sought to bring the “Who’s Who” of jihadist sympathizers to its weekly Friday Jummah prayer meetings “for more than a decade.”

Right on cue, the right-wing American Center for Law and Justice demanded that the Justice Department to investigate and “take immediate action to halt” the congressional prayer sessions. Channeling its founder and indefatigable anti-Muslim Rev. Pat Robertson, the ACLJ said the “absurdity” of inviting “the very terrorists who want to destroy America” to Capitol Hill “raises a host of significant questions-including concerns about national security” and, based on Fox’s “report,” warrants a “thorough investigation”:

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) is calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to launch an investigation concerning reports that Islamic terrorists have appeared before a Congressionally sponsored Muslim group that meets at the U.S. Capitol. The investigative report by Fox News reveals that a number of well-known terrorists-including U.S. born Anwar al-Awlaki, the Al Qaeda cleric believed to be hiding in Yemen and the lone American on the U.S. government’s capture or kill list-have appeared at what’s been described as weekly ‘prayer’ sessions on Capitol Hill.

“It is unbelievable that that the very terrorists who want to destroy America are permitted to meet in a Congressionally-sanctioned setting on Capitol Hill,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ. “This raises a host of significant questions-including concerns about national security. We’re demanding that the Department of Justice conduct an investigation and take immediate action to halt to what appears to be a pattern of inviting Islamic extremists with ties to terrorism to participate in these events. The absurdity is clear: the U.S. government disinvites Franklin Graham to a prayer service at the Pentagon, while Islamic terrorists take part in Capitol Hill events. A thorough investigation is warranted.”

In ginning up the hysteria over terrorist infiltration, Fox and the ACLJ missed one small fact – the Friday prayers have nothing to do with the CMSA. As Religion Dispatches’ Sarah Posner explains, the prayers are held by individual staffers “under the auspices of the House chaplain; they are not an official function of the CMSA.” In fact, the CMSA, which does not receive funding or support from the government, “didn’t exist” when Fox says the people with terrorist ties supposedly went to the prayer sessions. The report, says Posner, is less fact and more “red meat” for the “conservative culture that feeds on paranoia.”

Just ask the Muslim Republicans who are involved. Suhail Kahn, a conservative Republican who served as a political appointee in the Bush administration and who currently serves on the American Conservative Union board, was once a Republican hill staffer. According to Khan, the services are open to the public and are “very pro-American, and tend to be about public service, and the honor of public service.” In fact, the member who granted Khan’s room request for a small number of Muslim staffers to pray was then-Speaker and current Islamophobe Newt Gingrich. If CMSA truly posed some national security issue, Gingrich or Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) — who’s staffer is CMSA’s vice-president — would avoid any semblance of support.

But, as Khan points out, unfounded “guilt-by-association” claims like this are nothing more than “good old fashioned bigotry.” “Ninety-nine point nine percent of honest reporters” would “know a smear when they see it” and “toss it into the garbage can,” he said. Kudos to Fox News for making that 0.1 percent.

Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson frequently stresses the importance of monogamous heterosexual relationships and is happy to offer his viewers advice on how to maintain them. As Media Matters documents, Robertson fielded a question on yesterday’s edition of the 700 Club from a woman who was concerned that her husband frequently flirts with “other women he finds attractive.” Naturally, Robertson blamed the wife, advising her to “make yourself as attractive as possible,” and to not “hassle him about it,” lest she “drive him away”:

CO-HOST: Pat, this is from Anne who says, “My husband has always been a flirt and loves to talk with other women he finds attractive. He says he would never cheat on me but his actions are starting to get to me. What should I do?”

ROBERTSON: Anne, first thing is you need to make yourself as attractive as possible and don’t hassle him about it. And why is he doing this? Well, he’s doing it because he wants affirmation that he is still a man, that he is attractive — and he gets an affirmation of himself. That means he’s got an inferiority complex that’s coming out. And he’s not gonna cheat on you. He’s just playing.

But you need to not drive him away or start hassling and hounding on him, but make yourself as beautiful as you can, as fun as you can, and say let’s go out here, let’s go there, let’s go to the other thing.

Roberts has a long history of making outrageously chauvinistic comments. He famously once said, “The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women,” but is rather “a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.” On the proper role of a wife, Robertson has said, “Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that’s the way it is, period.”

Last week following the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti, hate radio host Rush Limbaugh controversially said that President Obama was politicizing the disaster by trying to boost his credibility with the “light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country.” Fox News host Glenn Beck also said that Obama was “dividing the nation” by reacting “so rapidly to Haiti.” Today on NBC’s Meet the Press, host David Gregory asked President Bush about these criticisms (without specifically mentioning either Limbaugh or Beck). Bush rejected their characterizations:

GREGORY: In some circles, the President’s been criticized for politicizing this disaster. Do you think that’s fair?

BUSH: I don’t know what they’re talking about. I’ve been briefed by the President about the response. And as I said in my opening comment, I appreciate the President’s quick response to this disaster.

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Televangelist Pat Robertson has also been receiving a significant negative backlash to his remarks that Haiti’s earthquake was a result of the country’s “pact to the devil” many years ago. As the earthquake has brought out the “fundamental goodness” in many Haitians who are helping to rebuild their country, many religious leaders are incensed by Robertson’s remarks. “I get mad when I hear that Haiti is somehow being punished,” said Arsene Jasmin, head of Haitian outreach for the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. “It’s unacceptable and wrong.”

Despite his controversial remarks this week tying Haiti’s devastating earthquake to the country’s “pact to the devil,” televangelist Pat Robertson still attended Bob McDonnell’s gubernatorial inauguration prayer breakfast today. McDonnell, who was sworn in as Virginia’s new Republican governor today, attended law school at Robertson’s Regent University and took some heat on the campaign trail over his graduate thesis. Although Robertson went to McDonnell’s prayer breakfast this morning, he was not given the honor of sitting behind the governor on the podium during the actual ceremony:

However, according to McDonnell’s aides, Robertson has not been given the honor of an invitation to sit behind McDonnell on the portico of the Capitol during the swearing-in. Despite McDonnell’s long time friendship with the Virginia Beach televanglist, this marks a departure from the Inauguration of Virginia’s last Republican governor, when Robertson was seated not far behind incoming Gov. Jim Gilmore. He also attended the inauguration of Gov. George Allen in 1994.

The Washington Post notes that at the prayer breakfast, “a line of well-wishers formed to have a few words or a picture taken with Robertson. Asked whether he regretted his remarks about Haiti, Robertson flung up his hands and replied: ‘This is Bob’s day! I’m talking about Bob McDonnell today!‘”

McDonnell has said that he disagrees with Robertson’s comments on Haiti.

Yesterday, soon after the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit much of Haiti, Rush Limbaugh took the opportunity to attack President Obama, saying the White House will “use this to burnish their…credibility with the black community — the both the light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country.” But televangelist Pat Robertson took it one step futher, saying the earthquake happened because Haitians “swore a pact with the devil.” Today on his Fox Business show, Don Imus went after Limbaugh. “One would think that you could just wait a few days – Rush – until you know you can run your fat mouth about it then,” he said. But Imus had some particularly harsh words for Robertson:

IMUS: You know, I’m not sure whether sometimes I’m ambivalent about whether I support the death penalty or not. I guess I do if I didn’t have to do it, but in his case, I’d pull the switch on him myself. I mean he should be put to sleep. How does that contribute anything? It’s insanity.

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Today on his 700 Club broadcast, televangelist Pat Robertson said that the horrific earthquake that hit Haiti was a result of the country’s “pact to the devil” “a long time ago.” This afternoon on Fox News, Shep Smith did a segment on the devastation in the country and played a clip of Robertson’s remarks, which he then sharply condemned:

SMITH: The people of Haiti have been used and abused by their government over the years. They have dealt with unthinkable tragedy day in and day out. And we’re in the middle of a crisis the Western Hemisphere has not seen in my lifetime, and 700 miles east of Miami, hundreds of thousands of desperate human beings need our help, our support, our money, and our love. And they don’t need that.

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Haiti is now struggling to recover from a devastating earthquake that hit the island nation on Tuesday, with the death toll reaching far into the thousands. The disaster “left the country in a shambles, tangling efforts to provide relief to an estimated 3 million people who the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said had been affected by the quake.” Many aid groups, however, are also struggling with their own dead and wounded employees.

Today on his 700 Club television show, Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson highlighted the tragedy and said that his network will be there “to help the people.” However, he then tried to offer an explanation for the earthquake, blaming Haiti’s own people for once making a “pact to the devil”:

ROBERTSON: [S]omething happened a long time ago in Haiti and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. Napoleon the Third and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, “We will serve you if you get us free from the prince.” True story. And so the devil said, “OK, it’s a deal.” They kicked the French out, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free.

But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other, desperately poor. That island of Hispaniola is one island. It’s cut down the middle, on the one side is Haiti, on the other side is the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island.

They need to have, and we need to pray for them, a great turning to God. And out of this tragedy I’m optimistic something good may come. But right now, we’re helping the suffering people and the suffering is unimaginable.

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It’s highly doubtful that Robertson knows anything about why the earthquake occurred. This is the same person who said that then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had a stroke in 2006 because he was “dividing God’s land” and claimed that God sent Hurricane Katrina as punishment for the country’s sins, such as legalized abortion.

(HT: Greg Mitchell and Political Carnival)

Last week, while discussing the Fort Hood massacre on his program The 700 Club, notorious right-wing evangelist Pat Robertson told his audience that Islam is “not a religion, it’s a political system. It’s a violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and world domination.” Yesterday, a reporter asked Virginia Governor-elect Bob McDonnell (R) — who took thousands of dollars from Robertson for his campaign and frequently appeared on The 700 Club — if he thought the evangelist’s comments were “appropriate.” While stressing that he wants “people of all faiths” to part of his administration, McDonnell refused to condemn Robertson specifically, citing the First Amendment:

MCDONNELL: You know, I’ve got probably 15,000 donors to the campaign, and I can’t stand to defend or support every comment that every donor might make …. I think people are entitled under the First Amendment to express whatever opinions they may have.

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“[McDonnell's] sending the message that he wants it both ways–he wants the support of a Muslim-basher. And he wants to work with Virginia Muslims. I think those two things are incompatible,” said Council on American-Islamic Relations spokesman Ibrahim Hooper.

This past weekend, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned against allowing “anti-Muslim sentiment” to emanate from the shooting at Fort Hood by Major Nidal Malik Hasan. But that is exactly what some conservatives are doing. Dave Gaubatz, the controversial author of the controversial Muslim Mafia, called yesterday for “a professional and legal backlash against the Muslim community and their leaders.” On his 700 Club TV show yesterday, Pat Robertson claimed that Islam is “not a religion,” but “a violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and world domination”:

ROBERTSON: That is the ultimate aim. And they talk about infidels and all this, but the truth is that’s what the game is. So you are dealing with not a religion. You’re dealing with a political system. And I think we should treat it as such and treat its adherences as such as we would members of the Communist Party or members of some fascist group. Well, it’s a tragedy. Our hearts go out to the families who suffered. But those in the Army should be held on account for the fact they let this man loose.

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Anti-Islam rhetoric is nothing new for Robertson. He has previously called it “a violent religion” and “a political system…bent on world domination.”