Dire predictions, cheerfully made

He sees dead people...or really, really hopes to, at least

The upside to predicting the worst is that should your ominous warnings come to pass, you look like a prophet whose every word must be heeded. Should the unimaginable - that is, nothing - happen, you get to smile and say, "Sometimes I miss." Such are the standard tactics of radical Christian cleric Pat Robertson, the archconservative evangelist whose self-touted status as God's chief correspondent is rivaled only by the vindictiveness and disaster lust inherent in his "prophecies." So what's God sayin' today, Rev?

Evangelical broadcaster Pat Robertson said Tuesday that God has told him that a terrorist attack on the United States would cause a "mass killing" late in 2007.

"I'm not necessarily saying it's going to be nuclear," he said during his news-and-talk television show "The 700 Club" on the Christian Broadcasting Network.

"The Lord didn't say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that."

Robertson said God told him about the impending tragedy during a recent prayer retreat.

God also said, he claims, that major cities and possibly millions of people will be affected by the attack, which should take place sometime after September.

The God of the Fathers was a bit stingy on the details, eh? Interesting that a deity famously possessed of omniscience - i.e., perfectly and eternally knowing all things which can be known, past, present, and future - couldn't provide more specific intelligence on which cities and precisely how many people would be affected by the predicted attack, or even whether a nuclear device would be involved. It's possible that God doesn't sweat such details, though it's much more likely that Mr. Robertson has been listening only to the echoes of his own voice in the unlit recesses of his squirming brain. We should all hope so, for the only alternative left us is that God is addled, spiteful, and ultimately uncaring - that is, cast perfectly in the image of His loudest television prophet.

(Cross-posted hither and yon...)