Sen. John McCain / Rev. John Hagee
Posted on 03/01/2008 6:21:35 AM PST by NYer
.- The endorsement of Senator John McCain by a Catholic-bashing Texas minister won swift rebuke from the president of the Catholic League and a Jewish leader concerned about his “vicious and inflammatory” anti-Catholicism.
Both compared the minister to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
On Wednesday Pastor John Hagee endorsed Senator John McCain’s bid to become the Republican presidential candidate in the 2008 election.
Senator McCain responded to the endorsement by calling Hagee “the staunchest leader of our Christian evangelical movement,” praising Hagee’s pro-Israel stance.
President of the Catholic League Bill Donohue harshly criticized the endorsement.
“There are plenty of staunch evangelical leaders who are pro-Israel, but are not anti-Catholic. John Hagee is not one of them,” Donohue said on Thursday. “Indeed, for the past few decades, he has waged an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church. For example, he likes calling it ‘The Great Whore,’ an ‘apostate church,’ the ‘anti-Christ,’ and a ‘false cult system’.”
Donohue said that in Pastor Hagee’s latest book the minister claimed Hitler was a Catholic who murdered Jews while the Catholic Church did nothing. “The sell-out of Catholicism to Hitler began not with the people but with the Vatican itself,” wrote Hagee, according to Bill Donohue.
Donohue criticized the remarks, saying, “For the record, Hitler persecuted the Catholic Church and was automatically excommunicated in 1931—two years before he assumed power—when he acted as best man at Joseph Goebbel’s Protestant wedding. Hitler even bragged about his separation from the Church. As for doing nothing about the Holocaust, Sir Martin Gilbert reminds us that Goebbel denounced Pope Pius XII for his 1942 Christmas message criticizing the Nazis (the New York Times lauded the pope for doing so in an editorial for two years in a row). Much to Hagee’s chagrin, Gilbert also says that Pius XII saved three quarters of the Jews in Rome, and that more Jews were saved proportionately in Catholic countries than Protestant countries.”
Rabbi Irwin Kula, president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, echoed Donohue’s criticisms. In a Friday statement, Rabbi Kula said, “Just as Jews and other people of good will have appropriately demanded that Barack Obama unambiguously renounce and reject the endorsement of Minister Louis Farrakhan because of his bigotry and rabid anti-Semitism so Jews and other people of good will should demand that John McCain renounce and reject the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee because of his vicious and inflammatory anti-Catholicism.”
Rabbi Kula said Pastor Hagee’s position on Israel “does not mean he should be given carte blanche to denigrate and malign another religion.” He continued, saying, “Barack Obama showed his integrity when he rejected Minister Farrakhan’s hate whatever the political costs and sensitivities. John McCain is also a man of integrity. He needs to similarly reject Pastor Hagee’s hate whatever the political calculations and consequences.”
In a Friday statement Bill Donohue said Senator McCain’s opponent for the nomination, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, had expressed “disappointment and surprise” that Hagee had not chosen him. Donohue also compared Hagee to Louis Farrakhan, wondering why the candidates were fighting over the endorsement of such a figure.
Donohue also called on McCain to shun Hagee’s endorsement.
“Just this week, McCain repudiated the remarks of talk radio host Bill Cunningham,” Donohue said. “He should now repudiate Hagee’s long record of bashing Catholicism. After all, George W. Bush apologized for speaking at Bob Jones University, and Hagee makes Jones look like a lightweight in the ring of bigotry."
The RC understanding is a stumbling block for their progress with Protestants, and vice versa.
No doubt we'll get this stuff straightened out in time for the Second Coming.
BTW, most Protestants reject "apostolic succession" as meaningless, and I'm going to guess you're challenging his status as a preacher (see your use of "masquerading") on that particular doctrine.
Did I guess correctly?
Then you have demonstrated my point that we are discussing theology and not politics ~ ergo, it would be inappropriate for McCain to denounce Hagee on theological grounds.
In fact, it would not only be inappropriate, such a denunciation would be deemed by most Protestants (the greater part of the American electorate) as religious bigotry and none of his business!
My point was that Catholic theology is the “called out ones” are the church, are the Body of Christ, the branches of the vine, instituted by Christ.
Therefore, you cannot say that “Catholics are not being slandered when a Protestant identifies their institution (not them, but the institution) with the Whore that sits above the Earth.”
To a Catholic you are slandering them, the Body of Christ and His Mother as well.
Whether you regard it as slander notwithstanding.
While I agree that we Catholics can handle this I must point out that Mr. Hagee goes far beyond mere disagreement with the Roman Catholic Church, he is a religious bigot.
Remember, slander is found in the "intention of the person speaking" not in the ear of the listener.
Kind of like what "niggardly" means. An uptight militant African-American community activist will not standstill a second for understanding that word according to it's meaning ~ she's going to be offended by the "sound" of the word.
So, for Protestants (and there's all kinds of variations on this) the "Body of Christ" consists solely of Christians. Organizational structures are irrelevant.
What? I didn't intend to slander you, so you can't be slandered?
Kind of like what "niggardly" means.
What? You're equating ignorance and misuse of a word with intent?
Sorry, this is a silly argument.
Besides, you're the guys who put that piece in the Cannon of the Bible ~ Protestants certainly had no part in that!
That means your claim is silly on the face of it and is not really debatable.
Besides, you're the guys who put that piece in the Cannon of the Bible ~ Protestants certainly had no part in that!
The Church established the canon, long before Luther (who removed parts of the OT), true. But I thought Protestants used mostly the same New Testament, on this part at least. What changed was the innovative interpretations 1500 years later and on..
Farrahkan hates Jews and whites in the same way the KKK does. He is comparable to David Duke.
It's like believing Obama is a Christian because he affiliates himself with a church.
It's like believing Obama is a Christian because he affiliates himself with a church.
He fights the battles that need to be fought, against the enemies of Jesus and His Church.
Catholics should take this guy by the shorthairs and toss him under the nearest ecclesiastical bus before he uses any more fighting words.
or perhaps we should keep contributing to the Catholic League to educate the ignorant such as yourself.
You can say that again! ;o)
Since the Treaty of Westphalia only applies to Europe, and the United States did not exist at that time you might want to sit down and do some real research before you embarrass yourself any more than you already have.
Also you might to actually read the treaty before saying anything else
And of course you have definite proof of this?
Perhaps you might want to go to the Catholic League website and they can show you the documented proof of the 800,000 Italian Jews that the Vatican housed at Castle Gondalfo, various Monasteries, and Convents to protect them.
But hey don't the facts get in the way of your ignorance and bigotry
Not all that difficult from what I have seen. You might want to wipe the Kool-aid stains from around your mouth.
Semantics. You know what you were saying.
Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. How’s that for throwing around Scripture? I can play your game too.
BTW, the “beam in your own eye” reference has nothing to do with judging aright. Christians are in fact commanded to judge, to evaluate, to make decisions.
Your tone suggests you find this part of the curriculum particularly consistent with your personality.
How many horrendous deeds did he do two years before he assumed power?
Well according to the article, he committed an excommunicable crime -- "he acted as best man at Joseph Goebbel’s Protestant wedding".
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