McCain Embraces Pastor Who Calls Catholicism A Cult
Republican frontrunner John McCain is facing mounting pressure to rescind his embrace of an endorsement from controversial Texas pastor John Hagee. Hagee, as Catholic League president and conservative darling Bill Donohue charged yesterday, "has waged an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church," having calling it "the Great Whore" and other unflattering epithets. Yesterday, Catholics United called on the good senator to take a principled position and distance himself from Hagee's statements.
Pastor John Hagee has a long history of criticizing the Catholic Church. In his book, Jerusalem Countdown, Hagee has a chapter entitled "Centuries of Mistreatment" where he makes derisive claims against the Catholic Church. In one alarming and unsubstantiated passage, Hagee suggests that Hitler's attendance at a Catholic grade school produced Hitler's anti-Semitic world view. This rhetoric is part of a pattern of behavior employed by Pastor Hagee to discredit the Catholic faith.
Despite McCain's support from Hagee, Catholics have been a prominent focus of the McCain campaign. This past December, his campaign launched an initiative called Catholics for McCain with a host of prominent Catholic leaders. In a press release dated December 27th, the campaign stated that "Catholics for McCain will play an active role in educating and communicating with fellow Catholics about why John McCain is the best candidate to successfully promote Catholic values in the upcoming election."
The campaign's response? No comment.
That Sen. McCain is once again drawing fire from conservatives like Donohue should be cause enough for alarm within his campaign. That he's now seen as an ally of someone who has insulted the faith tradition of 1 in 4 U.S. voters should only heighten this concern.
The so-far absence of mea culpa from the McCain camp is astounding. Of equal concern is Donohue's relatively soft response to McCain's silence on the issue -- at least compared to the usual way he handles such matters. Donohue, as many may remember, opened the floodgates on John Edwards last year over the candidate's hiring of bloggers Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan. When Edwards balked, Donohue called for "a nationwide public relations blitz that will be conducted on the pages of the New York Times, as well as in Catholic newspapers and periodicals." But so far, Bill has let the likely GOP nominee off easy. Now Catholics, he says, should only "take note."
UPDATE: Sen. McCain has issued a head-scratching response to the growing controversy over the Hagee endorsement. According to a statement the candidate released Friday.
"Yesterday, Pastor John Hagee endorsed my candidacy for president in San Antonio, Texas. However, in no way did I intend for his endorsement to suggest that I in turn agree with all of Pastor Hagee's views, which I obviously do not.
"I am hopeful that Catholics, Protestants and all people of faith who share my vision for the future of America will respond to our message of defending innocent life, traditional marriage, and compassion for the most vulnerable in our society."
In other words, the "Great Whore" stuff isn't really a big deal; let's move on.
Of course Hagee's endorsement doesn't mean he and McCain agree on everything. But there's a big difference between divergence over something like, say, health care policy, and a disagreement over Hagee's apparent bigotry and intolerance -- none of which, by the way, McCain has specifically distanced himself from. (If you're still not sold on Hagee's dubious credentials see Friday's release from the DNC).
And let's not forget that McCain didn't just accept this endorsement, he actively sought it. In fact, the pair even held a joint press conference to celebrate.
McCain can equivocate all he wants; the fact remains that until he rejects this endorsement, it's going to continue to be a thorn in his side.
Follow Chris Korzen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/chriskorzen
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Give McCain a break. He's a little groggy from his nap.
Where is Tim Russert? Where is Tim Russert? Is he going to question McCain and ask him to disavow Hagee like he did with Obama in regards to Farrakan?
I don't think so!!!!
But the media isn't biased and Tim Russert is an objective real journalist. Yeah! Right!
Hagee is of course an ignorant troglodyte and a disgrace to the faith he professes to hold so dear. The leaders of the Catholic church should perhaps tone down the rhetoric regards Hitler and Catholicism. Although I seriously doubt Hitler's attendance of a Catholic school, if indeed that is what he attended, significantly influenced his anti-Semitism (this sentiment was widely held throughout pre-World War I Germany and Austria), make no mistake, the Catholic church has a very long history of anti-Semitic policy and it did play a roll in the rise of the Nazis. Perhaps even more directly relevant to Hitler, are the personal attitudes of Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacell, who was appointed Cardinal Secretary of State under Pius XI. Pacell was responsible for the 1933 Concoradat with Germany and Hitler that forced the German Center Party, a Catholic religious party, out of politics in 1933. The Center Party was the only one with a reasonable chance of stymieing the Nazis and Pacell traded Catholic involvement with German politics for a signed Concordat.
Whether John Cornwell is accurate in calling Pacell, later Pope Pius XII, Hitler's Pope, or whether Rabbi David Dalin is correct in his claims that Cornwell's accusation is a myth is I suppose a matter of perspective (I would entertain that individual Parrish priests did more for Jews than the Papacy). I'm very familiar with Cornwell's scholarship and read his book on Pius; what he wrote can hardly be called myth since Pius' behavior is very well documented. I certainly don't wish to suggest Pius didn't make efforts to rescue Jews as Dalin argues, only to point out that he could have done much more but elected not to do so for political and personal reasons. In any event, the record of the Catholic church regards Jews is a matter of well documented history and this is why Pope John Paul made the trip to the Western Wall. John Paul understood the significance (and ugliness) of church history and wanted to clearly demonstrate that what had occurred in the past would never occur again. The church has plenty of valid reasons for blasting Hagee without mentioning Hitler since the period 1933 to 1945 was hardly the Papacy's finest hour.
The double standard that the media show is mind numbing. Mcain should catch more flak for not denouncing Hagee. But to embrace and accept his support should repulse Catholics throughout America. I'm no fan of Donahue but I hope he makes a really big deal about this.
SUNG TO THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES THEME
Gonna tell you little story
bout a fella name McCain
An Arizona senator who's known to be insane,
But Ol mac's hedaed fer some trouble dontcha see?
Cos all the Bible-whackers got it bad for huck-a-bee..
(Dobson that is..Hotline to God..)
Well the first thing ya know
Ol Mac is in the lead
But the God folks say, "hey wait a minute, please"
If mac is gonna run we need a Bible beater too,
Cos we're speedin' Armageddon to a Planet earth near you!"
(The big snatch..killin' fer jay-zusssssssssss)
Donahue cannot go too far in his dispute with Hagee. The Bishops won't let him. To do so would endanger the political alliances they have forged with the evangelicals. The politics of abortion, of gay marriage, of "morals" has become more important to the Bishops than the religious beliefs of the Church.
Hagee calls the Catholic Church a whore. He is right, but for the wrong reason. I have been saying for years the Bishops have prostituted the Holy Mother Church and put her abed with the foulest of the evangelical extremists in order to advance their political agenda. They have been dealing with the Devil to enjoy the adrenelin rush of flexing their moral muscles. I suspect also an ulterior motive of deflecting attention from the unresolved questions of pedophile priests and the flight from justice to the haven of the Vatican by Bernard Cardinal Law. The moral authority of the Bishops seems to have become paramount in the American Church in contravention to many of its religious teachings, not the least of which is free will.
I would say the Bishops have a real dilemma about how to condemn the Democratic nominee and embrace McCain now that he has been endorsed by a bona fide Catholic hater. But I doubt that any of this little tempest will ever be reported in any Catholic publication. By November nobody will remember this. And I have complete confidence that the Archbishop of St. Louis will figure out some slick way to pull it off, no matter how many traditions of the Church or Words of Jesus he has to violate in doing so.
I'm glad you're talking about this Chris, because now it's clear this story is picking up a little steam.
PS---The Young Turks had an AMAZING response to this issue the other night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo1fRjw2DsE
TO ALL OBAMA SUPPORTERS:
For the certain Republican onslaught to come, a suggested show of support against at least one probable tactic, using Obama's middle name as a way to instill fear and bigotry.
Start signing your posts and include as your middle name: "Hussein"
Signed: H 'Hussein' Galal
So, McBush gets Humpty-Dumpty's endorsement.
This is fun: the cult that brought us the auto da fe, waterboarding and burning at the stake v. the cults that want to bring 'em back.
3/1/08
2:53pm
Alexandria, VA
What's next? He gets Christmas cards from the KKK???
It is obvious, in spite of McCain's run to the right, he does not have a clue about religious beliefs or tolerance. Not to worry too much about all this, Earlier, McCain even went so far as to claim he was a member of North Phoenix Baptist Church all the while he was never even baptized. The guy is a simply religiously ignorant plus being a religious opportunist. Whether he is baptized or not is not the point. It is, after all, his business. But, he was dishonest just so he could try to suck it up to the far right. He is so religiously ignorant that he has no clue that Hagee is such a despicable bigot. All McCain wants is the vote form the thousands of members of Hagee's church. Never mind McCain has to sell his soul to the devil to get the votes. When you have to lie about church membership just to suck up to the far right, you had best realize there are some things that folks find beyond the pale and a hate campaign by one of McCain's "religious" supporters, no matter the target of that hate, is very likely to make McCain look totally out of touch on church matters. Both for moderates and even some conservatives who are, after all, CATHOLICS.
Mary2JJ
All organized religions are cults.
Except for the Church of Obama, which is the one true religion.
Good Catholics already know that it's a SIN to vote for a Repuplican...........................................................tm
Actually in certain Catholic circles it's considered a sin to vote Democrat. And I'm serious. During the last election there were even some parts of the country where the clergy was hinting that to vote for a pro-choice candidate (aka the Democrat, Kerry) meant excommunication.
I voted for Kerry anyway. And I blame that whole debacle as one big factor in how the chimp got "reelected".
One Cleric said that it was a sin to vote for Kerry.
A Bishop said though that if you vote for Kerry because of all his other stances it's ok.
You probably won't always agree with any candidate 100%
But this Bishop did say that if you only were voting for Kerry Because he was not taking
a pro life stance THEN it would be a sin.
Very few bishops did that, and they've recently released a document that allows Catholics to vote for even a pro-choice candidate, so long as they are not voting for the candidate BECAUSE she or he is pro-choice. Which I think is fair. This is an interesting topic, in that many people of the ilk of readers of this blog are anti-Catholic bigots themselves.
That probably explains why Capital Punishment is a sin only in odd-numbered years (except 2007). I can see a "pro-lifer" supporting the Death Penalty under strict conditions: First, if the Death Penalty is a deterrent and we don't use it, that's an error of omission. If it isn't a deterrent and we think it is, that's an error of commission. Therefore the burden of proof is on the supporters. They would also insist that the penalty be administered conscientiously. When he was Governor of Texas, Bush was a serial executioner who mocked one plea for clemency (from Karla Faye Tucker), and allowed executions to be carried out when the defense lawyer had slept through the trial.
I can see a "pro-lifer" supporting a standard of the "Just War." The Iraq War fails on several Jus ad Bellam criteria (wrong attitude as shown in Abu Ghraib, etc.) It fails more flagrantly on a couple of Jus in Bella criteria. A Just War must be fought expeditiously and not frivolously. Bush fought a "Wishbone Offense" for 44 months, wishing that doing the same thing would produce a different result from the previous 43. Similarly, a Just War should be fought with priority. Even a total war like WWII can't keep us from wanting some entertainment. That's different from a war being fought with a third the forces the Army Chief of Staff recommended because that permits the President to keep an elitist tax cut.
How can anyone even feign disbelief at the hypocracy demonstrated by the religious right in holding a republican candidate to a different standard? There is nothing strange about these bedfellows, unfortunately in today´s America. Obviously there are not going to cut off their nose in spite of their face. They know which side of their bread is buttered... etc.
but, but, butt,
the gays have switched to obama....
omg, what a big surprise.
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