America’s favorite barking loon, Pat Robertson, says Ariel Sharon is being whacked by God for dividing the Almighty’s Chosen Land. According to today’s news:

• Leading evangelicals do not agree.
• Dubya does not agree.
• Holocaust denying nutjob Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, does agree.

Okay, okay, we can make fun of Rev. Pat all we like – and we should – but let’s not lose sight of the fact that a significant number of Americans believe the Bible is journalism, is literally true word for word (and that the direct contradictions in it are tests of our faith), and that it pretty much tells you everything you need to know to live in this age or any other. (I’ll never forget asking my devout Southern Baptist grandmother, during one such chat, what the Bible said about who got custody of the frozen pre-embryos when a couple divorced. Questions like that always earned me lectures on how I needed to pray more.)

But hey, Pat was simply quoting scripture, and the whole thing is the liberals’ fault anyway:

On Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network website Friday, spokeswoman Angell Watts said that Robertson was simply reminding viewers of what he said the Bible had to say.

She also blamed the controversy on People for the American Way, a liberal advocacy group that issued a transcript of Robertson’s remarks. She said the group had “a clear left-wing political agenda” and had taken his comments out of context.

Make of it what you will.