While the Republicans are cheering over the issues created for Senator Barack Obama by his former Reverend, Jeremiah Wright, they won’t be smiling for very long.
You see, the Republicans chosen one, Senator John McCain, has his own “reverend” problem in the form of Pastor,TV evangelist and author, John Hagee.
John Hagee is the founder of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas. His style of preaching has been classified as a ‘hellfire and brimstone’ style; kind of like a car salesman with whose pants are on fire. Outside of normality, Hagee denounces Romans chapter 9 through 11 and believes that belief in Jesus Christ is not necessary for salvation and that all Christians are ‘duty bound’ to support Israel no matter what it’s government does. Hagee has written in his book Jersualem Countdown that war in the Middle East will bring about the Second Coming of Christ. Hagee also has a history of being accused of being anti-Catholic, anti-Islamic and has been criticized by Jewish leader, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, as an ‘extremist’.
Hagee has continuously denounced abortion and homosexuality which are common ‘cornerstones’, to borrow a word, of the conservative movement. He took this movement to new heights, however, when he claimed that Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the City of New Orleans in 2005, was brought upon because of “the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.” “….New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God,” Hagee said, because “there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came.”
Apparently, San Francisco, New York and Las Vegas and several other major cities across the globe were spared God’s wrath.
Hagee endorsed McCain on February 27, 2008 whereupon McCain has been quoted as saying, “”I’m very proud to have Pastor Hagee’s support.”
Really, what else is there about Mr. Hagee we should know about?
Hagee on Hurricane Katrina
“All hurricanes are acts of God because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that.” [NPR Fresh Air, 9/18/06]
Hagee on Islamic Beliefs
Fresh Air host Terry Gross asked if Hagee believed that “all Muslims have a mandate to kill Christians and Jews,” to which Hagee replied, “Well, the Quran teaches that. Yes, it teaches that very clearly.” [NPR Fresh Air, 9/18/06]
Hagee on African-Americans
The San Antonio Express-News reported that Hagee was going to “meet with black religious leaders privately at an unspecified future date to discuss comments he made in his newsletter about a ’slave sale,’ an East Side minister said Wednesday.” The Express-News reported:
“Hagee, pastor of the 16,000-member Cornerstone Church, last week had announced a ’slave sale’ to raise funds for high school seniors in his church bulletin, ‘The Cluster.’
“The item was introduced with the sentence ‘Slavery in America is returning to Cornerstone” and ended with “Make plans to come and go home with a slave.” [San Antonio Express-News 3/7/96]
Hagee on Catholicism
“Most readers will be shocked by the clear record of history linking Adolf Hitler and the Roman Catholic Church in a conspiracy to exterminate the Jews.” [Jerusalem Countdown by John Hagee]
Hagee on Women
“Do you know the difference between a woman with PMS and a snarling Doberman pinscher? The answer is lipstick. Do you know the difference between a terrorist and a woman with PMS? You can negotiate with a terrorist.” [God's Profits: Faith, Fraud and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters, Sarah Posner]
“[T]he feminist movement today is throwing off authority in rebellion against God’s pattern for the family.” ["Bible Positions on Political Issues," John Hagee]
Hagee on LGBT Americans
“The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know that there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment.” [NPR Fresh Air, 9/18/06]
Hagee on Iran
“The coming nuclear showdown with Iran is a certainty,” Hagee wrote [in 2006] in the Pentecostal magazine Charisma. “Israel and America must confront Iran’s nuclear ability and willingness to destroy Israel with nuclear weapons. For Israel to wait is to risk committing national suicide.” [The Nation, 8/8/2006, http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060814/new_christian_zionism]
It is pretty apparent that McCain will not be laughing at Senator Obama for very long as ‘guilt by association’ is the new guideline for choosing a candidate for President. If this keeps up, with Senator Clinton already having a closetful of skeletons, this type of rosetta stone for President will leave very few people able to accept the nomination come August.
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This just shows how out of touch John McCain and the Republican party are.