NPR: McCain Has His Own "Pastor Problems"

McCain Has His Own "Pastor Problems"

There has been a fair bit of ink spilled (and 1s and 0s digitally written) about the relationship that Sen. Barack Obama has with the controversial pastor of his church, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

But it turns out that Obama may not be the only one with a connection to a controversial religious leader. It turns out that Pastor James Hagee, who gave his endorsement to Sen. John McCain on Wednesday, has made some statements that already have several groups calling for McCain to distance himself from the religious leader.

One of those groups is the Catholic Church. As CBS News' Dante Higgins writes, church leaders want McCain to "distance himself from Hagee over anti-Catholic comments he has made about Catholics.

The always on-guard head of The Catholic League Bill Donovan (who has made a few questionable cross-faith comments himself, particularly about Jews) said, ""There are plenty of staunch evangelical leaders who are pro-Israel, but are not anti-Catholic. John Hagee is not one of them. 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.' "

In an interview with Terri Gross on Fresh Air in 2006. Hagge said " ... those who live by the Koran have a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews."

In the same interview he also said "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. 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 would was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other gay pride parades."

McCain started to backtrack a bit Friday, saying that he was "very proud of the Pastor John Hagee's spiritual leadership to thousands of people and I am proud of his commitment to the independence and the freedom of the state of Israel" but that it "does not mean that I support or endorse or agree with some of the things that Pastor John Hagee might have said or positions that he may have taken on other issues."

As the The New Republic's Dayo Olopade writes, "not a rejection or denouncement in sight."

Update: NPR's Scott Horsley sends along more of the statement Sen. McCain made this afternoon about Pastor Hagee: ""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."

4:05 PM ET | 02-29-2008 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

The only "controversial" thing about Rev. Wright is the NPR and the MSM's inability to deal with individuals or entities who are strongly pro=black empowerment. Equating Rev. Wright and Hagee is intellectually weak and almost willfully misleading. Hagee has endorsed the abolition of the Arab-Israeli peace talks as part of an effort to speed the End Times and has been courted by Bush, Blount and other major Republican figures - with no commensurate hand-wringing by the press. Please get your background startight with Rev. Wright, the Islam-baiting attacks on Obama and then stop and put some real thought into the McCain/ Hagee relationship. http://blog.beliefnet.com/godspolitics/2008/02/defending-the-facts-on-obamas.html

Sent by Mikel Ellcessor | 2:08 PM ET | 03-01-2008

Dear Tom,

I'm sorry to see you've drank the Kool-Aid of those accuse Bill Donohue of anti-Semitism. On November 17, 2007, Bill Donohue appeared on Rabbi Joseph Potasnik's "Faith to Faith." He put to rest his sociological analysis --he holds a PhD in sociology-- as being anything but anti-Semitic.

Sent by Matthew C. Scallon | 1:21 AM ET | 03-02-2008

In his 2006 book "Jerusalem Countdown" that has sold over 1.1 million copies so far, Pastor John Hagee writes that Jews themselves are responsible for antisemitism, for their own persecution, and for the Holocaust itself :
"It was the disobedience and rebellion of the Jews, God's chosen people, to their covenantal responsibility to serve only the one true God, Jehovah, that gave rise to the opposition and persecution that they experienced beginning in Canaan and continuing to this very day....
As a Jew I found this Statement very offensive and antisemetic, I would like McCain to reject Hagee as Obama rejected Farakhan.

Sent by Yose Khen | 8:55 PM ET | 03-02-2008

There's a difference between McCain and Obama's "spiritual advisers.

Senator McCain is looking for the biggest church guy on TV to be his "adviser". The motivation is to get the conservative vote. He is not a member of either crazy Hagee or crazy Rod's churches.

Senator Obama has walked with Rev Wright for over 20YRS. It's a relationship of mutual trust and love. His spiritual adviser has been his pastor and he has been a member of that church all that time.

Unlike a 'crazy uncle', we can choose our pastors and our churches.

That Obama not only stayed there for 20YRS, but was married there, had his children baptized there, and used this hate-full man's quote for the inspiration of his book speaks volumes.

Christian or not, Obama says that he wants to be a "bridge" across the racial divide. NO ONE who was truly sincere about such a statement would have sat under ONE sermon of such a race hating man, let alone for 20YRS.

Sent by nehmeth | 12:24 PM ET | 03-14-2008

Should I start looking over my shoulder?

First there are people at work who I occasionally go to lunch and picnics with. I spend hours with them each week day. I have known some of them for years. Do I know all that they have ever said and done at work and elsewhere? DO I know their political and religious affiliations?

Then there are those I meet once in a while. For instance, the priest in my local church. Should some revelation come out that - like thousands of former and current priests in USA - he has molested kids in the church for years, will I be responsible?

I take heart in the fact that the parents who had prayed, taken the sacrament and baptized the molested kids at those churches have so far not been chastised by the public and especially the pious conservative Newt Gingrich - as far as I know.

But, I worried. Can someone tell me all that my associates and close friends have ever said and done?

Sent by chokora | 7:41 PM ET | 03-22-2008

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