Return of the 'Reverend'

摘要

The ceremony was grand and a little odd, which isn't surprising, since Pat Robertson scripted it. In an auditorium he named after himself on the campus of the university he founded in Virginia Beach, Va., Robertson recently led a "service of reaffirmation of ordination vows"—and reattached to his name the title "reverend" 13 years after he jettisoned it to run for president. To play Handel, there was an austere trio of flute, harp and cello; to hear his witness, a semi-ecumenical set of clergymen that included a fiery charismatic from LA.; an Episcopal bishop from Orlando, Fla., and an evangelist named Dhinakaran who saves souls on the Indian subcontinent. Robertson knelt before them as they laid on hands. VIP guests at Regent University shouted "Hallelujah!" Employees of his Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc., watched on closed-circuit TV.