Rev. John Hagee with his wife Diana
Posted on 12/21/2007 6:19:32 AM PST by NYer
According to Mike Huckabee’s campaign website, the controversial stop at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas will take place this Sunday, December 23. He will speak at the church's two Sunday services at 8:30 and 11:00 a.m.
The Catholic League’s president, Bill Donahue, told CNA that the pastor of the church, Rev. John Hagee, is militantly anti-Catholic.
As the senior pastor of Cornerstone, Rev. Hagee is best known for his “End-Time” writing but also focuses on bringing evangelical Protestants and Jews together.
The Catholic League asserts that John Hagee has another goal as well, “slandering the Catholic Church.”
John Hagee’s Anti-Catholic Record
It’s not hard to find evidence that Rev. Hagee does not think highly of Catholics or the Catholic Church. In a video discussing the biblical book of Revelation, John Hagee suggests the Pope is the anti-Christ, and that the Catholic Church is "The Beast" (17:30 and following) mentioned in the book.
Another cause for concern is the pastor’s latest book “Jerusalem Countdown”, which has recently been revised and updated. “Though most of his rantings in this book are directed at Muslims, he just can't help but take another shot at Catholicism,” says Donahue.
“In one chapter, ‘Centuries of Mistreatment,’ he misrepresents the history of the Catholic Church so badly,” explains Donahue, “that it would be hard for any anti-Catholic bigot to beat.”
Hagee sees anti-Semitism as being born out of the Catholic Church.
“Anti-Semitism in Christianity began with the statements of the early church fathers, including Eusebius, Cyril, Chrysostom, Augustine, Origen, Justin, and Jerome .... This poisonous stream of venom came from the mouths of spiritual leaders to virtually illiterate congregants, sitting benignly in their pews, listening to their pastors. They labeled the Jews as 'the Christ killers, plague carriers, demons, children of the devil, bloodthirsty pagans who look for an innocent child during the Easter week to drink his blood, money hungry Shylocks, who are deceitful as Judas was relentless,'" writes Hagee.
At another point, Rev. Hagee says, "The Roman Catholic Church, which was supposed to carry the light of the gospel, plunged the world into the Dark Ages.... The Crusaders were a motley mob of thieves, rapists, robbers, and murderers whose sins had been forgiven by the pope in advance of the Crusade ....The brutal truth is that the Crusades were military campaigns of the Roman Catholic Church to gain control of Jerusalem from the Muslims and to punish the Jews as the alleged Christ killers on the road to and from Jerusalem."
"The Spanish Inquisition was perhaps the most cynical plot in the black history of Catholicism,” relates Hagee, “[it was] aimed at expropriating the property of wealthy Jews and converts in Spain for the benefit of the royal court and the Roman Catholic Church."
The influential preacher’s historical narrative even goes so far as to depict Adolf Hitler as being taught anti-Semitism by the Catholic Church. "Adolf Hitler attended a Catholic school as a child and heard all the fiery anti-Semitic rantings from Chrysostom to Martin Luther.”
According to Mr. Hagee, the Church even implicitly supported the Nazi dictator. “When Hitler became a global demonic monster, the Catholic Church and Pope Pius XII never, ever slightly criticized him. Pope Pius XII, called by historians 'Hitler's Pope,' joined Hitler in the infamous Concordat of Collaboration, which turned the youth of Germany over to Nazism, and the churches became the stage background for the bloodthirsty cry, 'Pereat Judea'.... In all of his [Hitler's] years of absolute brutality, he was never denounced or even scolded by Pope Pius XII or any Catholic leader in the world. To those Christians who believe that Jewish hearts will be warmed by the sight of the cross, please be informed—to them it's an electric chair," wrote the pastor.
Bill Donahue did not rule out debate with John Hagee and added that “as long as the debate is civil, that is all that matters.” Yet, the Catholic leader does not view Hagee's teaching in that light, but rather as instruction that “clearly distorts Catholic teachings, or misrepresents its [the Church’s] history”.
CNA attempted to reach the Huckabee campaign for comment, but a phone call and an email were not returned before press time.
I read somewhere that the Catholic Curch is just a Cult.....
A religious bigot speaking at the pulpit of a religious bigot. Who would’ve thunk it?
John Hagee is EXACTLY the kind of “born again” preacher who gives godless Democrats red meat for bashing all Christian conservatives.
Hagee regularly rages against Catholics, Mormons, anyone who doesn’t believe exactly what he preaches. IMHO, Mike Huckabee and Hagee are sympatico in their beliefs, Huckabee is just more laid-back in delivery. The problem with these kinds of evangelicals is they’re so used to slandering Catholics, they don’t even think about what they say.
I thank God for the Catholic League and William Donahue.
I’m a Chirstian and I don’t feel I get bashed. Liberal, socialist leaning Christians on the other hand, they deserve a good bashing.
Hagee will be in for a rude awakening during his particular judgment.
Hagee needs to study history more. He knows little about the crusades.
So ... Pope Pius XII really, really hated Jews. Worse than Hitler did. In fact he taught Hitler how to hate Jews.
And then he went and saved 860,000 of them. More than all the other ‘heroic agencies’ combined.
Well, I think we’ve turned a corner in FReeper historical research here.
So will the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio lose it’s tax exempt status for this episode?
“I don’t believe a single one of the “polls” that claim he is leading. It’s all made up.”
I’d love to believe you. Why don’t you think he’s up in the polls?
He’s the most ham handed inept politician I’ve ever seen.
It’s guilt by association here. I’ve seen this Haggee guy on TV and his congregation is basically pro-Jewish. Huckabee is not anti-Catholic I’m confident. It’s a smear.
“I remember him portraying the Jesuits as a sort of “black-ops” for the Pope. Perhaps some day in the past but I laughed then.”
In “Elizabeth” (1998) with Kate Blanchette, Daniel Craig plays a gruesomely violent assassin priest sent by (Catholic) King Ferdinand to murder Elizabeth. Craig was literally dressed up like a Star Wars Sith Lord and in one scene bashes a man’s head to a bloody pulp with a rock.
If any Freepers know how to do this, they should post two pictures alongside each other: Anakin Skywalker in his Sith Lord garb (going to murder the tiny tot Jedis) and Daniel Craig as the assassin priest.
Hubby and I couldn’t help laughing at the blatant anti-Catholic themes in “Elizabeth”—they were completely over the top.
This so called pastor is another example of the NEW wave evangelicals who think they are the only ones who are right and its their way or else.
Hagee is just and flim flam artist who has proven that scripture is true when it says “Many will come in my name saying I am the Christ” refering to the latter days.
Sobs like Hagee are the reason I dont go to church anymore. I can keep faith well enough without the turmoil of these people.
LOL, I like it, I like it.
Hitler was a Jew. Did you know that? He had Jewish blood in him thourhg his Moms side.
Leaving the religous aspect aside, Huckabee is a dolt for doing this. Catholics are the largest single denomination in both Ohio and Florida.
Way to loose the general election before you even have the nomination, Huckabee.
We have to realize that the world is never going to love us and that truth is brought home to us everyday. I'm more in favor of a dignified silence when these accusations are thrown around, in the manner of Jesus before Pilate, rather than a shrill "Ma, they're saying bad things about us again" type approach which is often how Donahue comes across. There is a certainly a place for the Catholic League when it comes to civil legal issues of freedom of religion and combating the shenanigans of organizations like the ACLU, but he's starting to sound like a Catholic version of those whom he criticizes. It's like he wants to duke it out with every anti-Catholic flake on the planet.
Let Huckabee go to Cornerstone and let Hagee say what he wants. Catholics should bear these crosses with dignity and patience.
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As long as we are engaging in idle speculation about things that we can not possibly know, might I suggest that working at say, the Post Office for say, a few decades might render one incapable of cogent thought.
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