Pastors, rejected and repudiated

by Frank Mazzaglia,

Anybody who believes that God sent Adolf Hitler to earth in order to help Jews reach the promised land is probably in serious need of psychiatric help. Yet that was part of the rusty stuff that came out of the mouth of Texas preacher John Hagee.

You may remember that the influential televangelist recently made news by endorsing Republican John McCain. It should be noted, by the way, that Hagee's weekly television show is regular viewing for millions of Americans.

Last week, McCain finally rejected Hagee's month-old endorsement by calling that comment "crazy and unacceptable."

Another well-known preacher who tossed his support to McCain was Rod Parsley, the pastor of World Harvest church in suburban Ohio. Parsley called Islam "inherently violent" - the critical word here being "inherently." You would have to be a dripping yo-yo to not recognize that certain extremist elements of Islam suffer from a lack of cognitive sufficiency. However, to brand all Muslims as "inherently" violent is a real stretch into loo-loo land.

Parsley has also called the Muslim prophet Mohammed "the mouthpiece of a conspiracy of spiritual evil."

So it was refreshing to hear that Sen. McCain rejected Parsley's support too. He told an Associated Press reporter, "I believe there is no place for that kind of dialogue in America, and I believe that even though he endorsed me, and I didn't endorse him, the fact is that I repudiate such talk, and I repudiate his endorsement."

While Hagee's version on the formation of Israel was what caused McCain to reject his support, Catholics have been particularly offended by the televangelist's endorsement. From his mega-church in San Antonio, Hagee has referred to the Roman Catholic Church as "the great whore" and called it a "false cult system" and the "apostate church."

McCain, who sent two of his children to Catholic school, said, "I categorically reject and repudiate any statement that was made that was anti-Catholic, both in intent and nature. I categorically reject it, and I repudiate it," McCain said.

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