Although TV preacher Pat Robertson continues to demand the defunding of the National Endowment for the Arts, new evidence released Monday by a church-state watchdog group shows that Robertson has asked for and received NEA grant money.

According to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Robertson's Regent University applied for a grant from the Virginia Council for the Arts during the Fall 1997 Project Grant round.

Robertson's school was awarded $1,000 for "Pavel's Chariot," a film recently completed and shown in the annual Regent University Film Festival in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The Virginia state agency distributes $3.4 million in arts grants, of which $523,000 comes from the NEA. The film's credits note funding from both the Virginia Council for the Arts and the NEA.

"I don't know about Randy, but I'd hardly call Regent University the 'artistic left,'" Lynn said. "Clearly, Robertson and Company have a double standard. Government subsidies for them are fine, but they don't want anyone else to benefit."

A spokesman at Robertson's Regent University, said, "(Robertson) is not in favor of any money coming from the NEA and is requesting the university administration return the grant they received from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the NEA."

Robertson's war against the NEA has had a long history. In 1990, for example, he took out a full-page ad in USA Today in which he fancied himself playing Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry". The ad's text said: "Vote for the NEA appropriation just like...the gay and lesbian task force want. And make my day."

Barry Lynn added, "This may be the highest level of hypocrisy that Brother Robertson has yet reached."