VIRGINIA BEACH, USA - Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson said Tuesday's terror attacks occurred because Americans have insulted God and lost the protection of heaven.
``We have imagined ourselves invulnerable and have been consumed by the pursuit of ... health, wealth, material pleasures and sexuality,'' Robertson wrote in a three-page statement issued Thursday by his Christian Broadcasting Network.
``It (terrorism) is happening because God Almighty is lifting his protection from us,'' said Robertson.
Robertson is host of CBN's ``the 700 Club,'' a religious television program viewed by 1 million Americans daily. He founded the Christian Coalition and unsuccessfully ran for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination.
In the statement, Robertson said he was filled with compassion for victims of Tuesday's attacks, and called for a religious revival in America. ``We must come back to God as a people,'' Robertson wrote.
Robertson said Americans have insulted God by allowing abortion and ``rampant Internet pornography.'' He also chided the U.S. Supreme Court for, among other things, limiting prayer in public schools.
``We have a court that has essentially stuck its finger in God's eye,'' Robertson wrote. ``We have insulted God at the highest level of our government. Then, we say, 'Why does this happen?'''
AP-NY-09-13-01 2224EDT
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.