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."
I do not say it to convince you. I say it because it is true.
This was in "a A Valentine's card sent by the Foreign Ministry (that) would read something like this:
"Dear Country X, We have enjoyed a deepening strategic partnership of cooperation in recent months and have reached consensus on a number of issues. We should hold hands and strive to take the bilateral relations to new heights in order to create a mutually beneficial, win-win situation."
Capice. Unless Donohue wants to see the pro-euthenasia and infanticde Obama appointing the next few Supreme Court justices, he should "hold hands (with Hagee) and strive to take the bilateral relations to new heights...."
It's as simple as that.
Horsefeathers.
Hagee’s a hater and deserves everything Donohue throws at him.
As to your...
I get the idea that an awful lot of Catholics are too ignorant of normal Protestant religious discussion to be allowed into it.
All I can say is that I am not ignorant of "normal Protestant religious discussion". I spent a bit of time as a Protestant myself. I have a brother who is a Protestant minister. I consider Protestants, by and large, to be my brothers and sisters in Christ.
But, as to backwards ass bigoted ignorami who call my church ‘The Great Whore,’ an ‘apostate church,’ the ‘anti-Christ,’ and a ‘false cult system’... Well, I have little patience for them.
Which shows the power of persistent posting.
You must have gone back and read all of my posts and saw that I generally defend Catholics, particularly when I'm defending a Protestant preacher's right to use words out of the Bible to describe anything he wishes.
You do realize that the supposed "insults to the church" are not well referenced, and are pulled out of the midst of a far larger body of comment.
Like I said at the beginning, a lot of the anger on your part arises out of the same sort of thing you get from angry young African American militants who don't want to hear "niggardly" because of what it sounds like.
BTW, I don't think the particular version of "The Revelation of St. John" the early church fathers chose was the "correct one". That book should be reassessed ~ if only to get the "whore" part out ~ whacha' say ~ but keep that "beast from the pit" part or we wouldn't be able to talk about the "Hildabeast" ~
He's still not a major theologian; does not appear to understand the theological or political consequences of anything he says, and if he were a priest or a preacher, people would be wise to avoid his homilies or sermons.
Bzzzzt. False.
Seriously, doesn't it hurt to be so wrong so often?
Petronski, let’s see your references ~
No no no. That’s not how this works. It’s your premise. YOU prove it.
I can "handle" lots of things. Voting for a man who is proud (and who says he is proud) to associate with someone who calls my church and its member the foulest of names is not something I can handle.
I have struggled to find a reason to vote for McCain. Then I see this and know it is simply not possible. The sorts of things that Farrakan (sp?) says about the Jews Hagee says about Catholics. He is a Bigot with a Capital B. The fact that McCain is proud of his endorsement seals it for me.
That's the RCs, the Anglicans, the Lutherans (of almost all types), the Coptics and Orthodoxy.
That's the claim and that's what Donahue is talking about when he refers to "church being called".
You have a different number?
In a free society, you have to choose between ears and mouths. If we protect ears, we must regulate mouths. If we don't regulate mouths, we must learn to tolerate and be discerning with our ears. That does not translate into embracing all ideas as equal. But it does leave people with the best chance to form intelligent opinions because they have the freedom to hear all sides of all issues. Oh...and it is important to add...it definitely does not translate into accepting all actions as equal. But again, it leaves us able to form the best opinions, find the best solutions, and discern truth from falsehood.
Not the number. The Roman Catholic Church does not prefer that divorced folks attend the Methodist church down the street.
McCain had a choice. He chose to accept this endorsement and post press releases about how proud he was on his website. He could have said a quiet “no thank you”, but he didn’t - he’s proud of and and said so.
I’m sorry that you don’t see the difference between what a church or a minister does and what a presidential candidate does. I can’t control John Hagee and wouldn’t if I could. Let the idiot spout off all he wants. What do I care? But for McCain to accept his idiocy is another matter.
Nothing and no one forced McCain to be “very honored” to accept this endorsement. He did that himself. He gets to live with the consequences.
What?
It’s been a long day. Time to say good night.
Did they invent some sort of procedure to keep divorced folks in good standing?
Still, you're yielding on the numbers ~ which gets us back to what Donahoe is doing when he "speaks for" Catholics ~ he's trying to overwhelm his target with numbers.
That won't work anymore ~ not since the Glorious Revolution that put Charles II on the British throne.
You can disagree with my Mother but you can’t call her a whore.
There is nothing unusual about Hagee's positions in comparison to most conservative protestants (making up the majority of our state populations) for three centuries in America.
The political trick is to avoid stating why you really want to attack the man while you are making him to out to be an extremist outside of historical American religious tradition.
Agree with Hagee or not, he is a conservative who supports Israel and the military and is a man who falls well into the mainstream of American religious and cultural history.
That anecdotal "evidence" proves nothing about where the RCC prefers they worship.
Did they invent some sort of procedure to keep divorced folks in good standing?
Divorced folks ARE in good standing. You don't know what you're talking about.
Still, you're yielding on the numbers ~ which gets us back to what Donahoe is doing when he "speaks for" Catholics ~ he's trying to overwhelm his target with numbers.
You just making this stuff up? LOL
He is accepting an endorsement of his political candidacy. It has nothing to do with Hagee’s religious beliefs. There is no guilt-by-association here. Now, it is fine with me if you don’t vote for McCain. I disagree with Hagee’s endorsement because McCain simply does not represent my poltiical views. But I would be outraged if McCain refused the endorsement just because Hagee has strong theological views which the Roman Catholic Church is offended by. That is Hagee’s right as a citizen of the USA where we all enjoy religious freedom. Use your religious freedom to tell the world how wrong you think Hagee is. Just don’t expect the government to show preferences. It is sooooo the wrong road to ask a politician to renounce a supporters religious beliefs. That would be a big threat to religious freedom. Eventually it would be Catholics who submit to the authority of the Pope who get renounced. I’m sure someone in America finds the Pope offensive.
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