Let's Make A Deal

Bad enough when environmentalists make shaky connections between their beliefs and bad weather. It's really going too far when religious figures claim natural disasters are due to diabolical curses.

But that seems to be Pat Robertson's theory. As he puts it:

Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French ... and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, 'We will serve you if you'll get us free from the French.' "True story. And the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal.' ...Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after another.

I'm still a little unclear on what sort of deal was made. When it comes to such compacts, you've got three main kinds:

1. Your basic deal with the devil. You receive whatever worldly goods or services you want in exchange for your soul, due upon your death. Generally, you get what you ask for and the devil won't punish you during your lifetime, since he owns you afterward. But you still have to be careful about the terms, even though he seems to have the best of it in any case, as he's also willing to screw you over while you receive what's promised. (He is the devil, after all.) This makes me wonder if the contract is enforceable, since there doesn't seem to be a meeting of the minds. (And in some cases, you can screw over the devil by deathbed conversion--so actually the devil is making a deal for something he can't be guaranteed.)

2. The Monkey's Paw. As implied above, sometimes you don't quite get what you expected. In a Monkey's Paw sort of deal, you're promised something (and don't have to give up anything) but the exact words of your wish are fulfilled in ways you quickly regret.

3. A generational pact. This is rarer than the others, but does occur occasionally. Here, an entire group of people make a deal which they, or their descendants, pay for later. It may seem odd that a future generations can be bound, even condemned, by the decisions of their ancestors, but that's the way it goes.

Now I'm not sure precisely what sort of deal Robertson is referring to, but what I want to know is where does the curse come from? Is it the devil, messing with the people (or descendants of the people) who made the deal? Or did the Haitians go in with their eyes open, understanding they'd throw off French but pay for it afterwards? Or is it some righteous force in heaven, punishing the pactmakers; in other words, the devil came through, but the Haitians are being punished by a third party, as a reminder not to sign with Beelzebub to begin with.