Press Release on 26th May 1999 from

National Abortion Campaign

Print House, 18 Ashwin Street, London E8 3DL
tel: 0171 923 4976        |        fax: 0171 923 4979        |        email:  nac@gn.apc.org

re:  PAT ROBERTSON / BANK OF SCOTLAND

We wish to raise the following as a matter of great concern, especially in view of the recent increase in far-right activity in this country.  We have recently become aware that American right-wing televangelist Pat Robertson and the Bank of Scotland are jointly setting up a new direct banking subsidiary in the USA.   Pat Robertson is a powerful man who advocates anti-Muslim, anti-Hindu, anti-women, anti-gay policies, and who believes 'feminism is about being anti-family and that it encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians'(1).  This makes him a very dangerous man.

If the deal goes through Pat Robertson will have millions of dollars with which to pursue his right-wing anti-abortion policies.   Pat Robertson suggests that Christians who murder abortion providers may be granted immunity from prosecution on the grounds of religious beliefs by separate church tribunals(2).  Pat Robertson is president of the Free Congress Foundation - Christian Coalition, which includes in its membership one John Tyndall, prominent in the British National Party(3).

We have featured this in our Spring Newsletter which is free to all members.   If you would like to join NAC in the campaign for abortion on request for all women who want one, please contact us at our snail mail address at the top of the page.   Meanwhile we urge you to bring this matter to the attention of any organisation you may belong to as a matter of urgency.   You can do the following:

Sainsburys Bank is a joint venture with the Bank of Scotland(4).   Are you a Sainsburys customer or considering becoming one? Sainsburys is very sensitive to bad publicity.  

We must be under no illusions, Pat Robertson is a danger to everyone who supports inclusive societies(5).   Pat Robertson has an astoundingly intolerent attitude toward people who believe differently to himself(6).   We must do what we can to impress upon the Bank of Scotland and Sainsburys that they will lose a massive amount of business if they insist on ignoring the wishes of their customers by supporting, however indirectly, the policies of their new business partner.   Sainsburys need to become aware that they cannot, however indirectly, do business with someone like Pat Robertson, and ignore the implications of this relationship.  

We therefore urge you to take action against the Bank of Scotland and Sainsburys until such time as the Bank of Scotland dissolves its partnership with Pat Robertson.   If you would like more information please do not hesitate to contact NAC.     

LAURA ASHLEY and PAT ROBERTSON

Laura Ashley has recently taken on Pat Robertson as non executive director, and in reply to letters informing them of his racist anti-women anti-abortion views replied that everyone is entitled to their own opinion.   If you think differently please contact them at:

Laura Ashley Ltd, Third Floor, The Chambers, Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 0XP or write to David Selby, General Manager, Customer Services, PO Box 19, Newtown, Powys, SY16 1DZ   

More Information:

In response to a complaint about their connection with Pat Robertson Sainsburys wrote: '…the proposed banking venture with Robertson Financial Services in the US is the initiative of the Bank of Scotland and therefore has no connection to Sainsburys Bank or Sainsbury's Supermarkets.   As a result Sainsburys Bank is not in a position to offer any comments or opinion on the transaction and I can only suggest that all matters relating to Robertson Financial Services are directed to the Bank of Scotland.   However I would add that Sainsburys Bank does not subscribe to Mr Robertson's view'.

Sainsburys must appreciate they have a relationship with Robertson through the Bank of Scotland, and if his views conflict with their stated policy (as they do) they must recognise it is unethical to support him however indirectly.     

  1. from a Pat Robertson fundraising letter in 1992
  2. Gerard Thomas Straub, write and TV Executive, worked for Robertson as producer of the 700 Club.   In a speech on 11 September 1995 he said '…Robertson would mix church and state, rather than keep them separate.   Let's say that a Christian thinks God is directing him or her to blow up an abortion clinic or kill a doctor who performs abortions, and this Christian does in fact commit such a crime.   In a September 1984 edition of the 700 Club, Robertson suggested that special church tribunals could be called upon to discern if a believer had in fact received authentic word from God which compelled him to break a civil law….  if this tribunal did determine this, then Robertson said the church tribunal would have the civil authority to provide the believer with immunity from prosecution.  '
  3. Searchlight October '98
  4. Sainsburys Bank is not in any way involved with the new subsidiary being set up by the Bank of Scotland and Pat Robertson in the USA, but they have a commercial relationship with the Bank of Scotland.  
  6. 'It is interesting that termites don't build things, and the great builders of our nation almost to a man have been Christians, because Christians have the desire to build something.   He is motivated by love of man and God, so he builds.   The people who have come into (our) institutions (today) are primarily termites.   They are into destroying institutions that have been built by Christians, whether it is universities, governments, our own traditions, that we have….  the termites are in charge now, and that is not the way it ought to be, and the time has arrived for a godly fumigation' - Pat Robertson, New York magazine, 18/8/86

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