John Hagee: deviant theology, dangerous foreign policy

By John Taylor
Online Journal Contributing Writer

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_3263.shtml


<snip>

Worse, Hagee wants to jump start what he sees as the inevitable battle between Israel and the US and an alliance of the Islamic states and Russia: “The United States must join Israel in a preemptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God’s plan for both Israel and the West.” Hagee’s bizarre interpretation of the Bible sees war with Iran as a “biblically prophesized End Time confrontation . . . which will lead to the Rapture, Tribulation and the Second Coming.”

If Hagee were just another kook, walking around Times Square carrying a sign saying “The End is Near,” there would be no need to worry. In fact, Hagee is senior pastor of the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, with a congregation of 18,000, appears weekly on 150 TV stations around the world and is the head of Christians United For Israel (CUFI), a lobbying group founded to advance the interests of the State of Israel in the U.S. Congress. Not only does Hagee advocate aggressive war against Iran, he is a strong supporter of our continuing misadventure in Iraq and he opposes any Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, arguing that God has given all of Palestine to the Israelis.

John Hagee’s end time theology transmogrifies Christianity into little more than a death cult in which the State of Israel is worshipped like a latter day Golden Calf. Despite his weird views, Hagee has access to senior politicians in the US and Israel; he likes to brag that he has met every Israeli prime minister since Menachem Begin.

<snip>

Senator Joe Lieberman is also a Hagee fan and praised him at last year’s CUFI meeting in Washington, likening him to Moses, “a man of God . . . leading a mighty multitude.” If comparing Hagee to Moses seems over the top, remember Hagee and Lieberman have a lot in common. Both men were keen to see the US invade Iraq and both would like to have Uncle Sam attack Syria and Iran, a wish shared by many in Washington, especially arms makers, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and neocons in the White House and the Pentagon.



John McCain recently thanked Pastor Hagee for endorsing his run for the presidency. Eight years ago, McCain made a point of denouncing Hagee’s fellow evangelical Jerry Falwell as an “agent of intolerance” and an “evil influence on the Republican party.” Clearly times have changed.

Let's push that meme!

I think I will appropriate it and use it.

Thanks.

ugliest most addled dipshits out there. i guess they are wearing their evil on their faces.

and they are deviant. :)

Keep it up Hagee! No way McCain can distance himself from the conservative fundies. I still have to wonder though that after Ronnie and Bush I & II how many of the flock feel they've been manipulated and used?

if you're a Democrat. It's okay if you're a Republican.

Sort of like how Obama is an elitist, but John McCain and his 8 homes are not

:nuke:

Death is the ultimate arbiter.

Let's hope Hagee takes his deviant theo-fascist mindset with him to the grave.

Calling his rhetoric theology is a stretch of the imagination.

Let's hope he's as adept as Junior when handed the business.

and he sings too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=douJIQmGD5g

AAAAAAArrrrrrrggggghhhhh!! My ears, my ears!

This kind of doomsday cult faction of Christianity worries the hell out of me. It's symbiotic with extreme-right politics, virtually unique to the US and seems to be rapidly infecting the armed forces.

don't you think? Though I don't remember the Taliban wanting the world to end.

The interesting thing is that teh Taliban, for all it's faults, wasn't as racist.

They're all the same, just different flavors of the same bitter tonic.

wasn't it a few years back that the far right candidate won a huge percent of the vote in France (La Pen or something like that?)for basically running a racist campaign?

And, in the recent re-election of Berlusconi in Italy, there were plenty of references to fascism by his supporters.

The recently defeated leadership in Poland had views on homosexuality that made Bush look progressive...

Yep, there are right-wing extremists in every nation including my own England but for most of them, religion is a fairly minor part of their agenda. The kind that seems to take an extremist religious view and run with it into fascism, that's almost unique to the States.

It's an interesting difference. Perhaps it's because religion tends to be less of an issue in Europe, I dunno.

NEW UPDATE MARCH 21, 2008: According to a New York Times magazine interview this week, John McCain sought out the endorsement of Hagee:

"It's true that McCain's campaign sought my endorsement."
NEW UPDATE MARCH 11, 2008: John McCain defended Pastor Hagee's comments today, saying he believe Hagee's claims that his statements were taken out of context:

I will say that he said that his words were taken out of context, he defends his position. I hope that maybe you'd give him a chance to respond. He says he has never been anti-Catholic, but I repudiate the words that create that impression.
NEW UPDATE MARCH 6, 2008: John McCain, in response to condemnation by Nancy Pelosi yesterday, has made a stronger denunciation of Hagee's anti-Catholic statements:

"We've had a dignified campaign, and I repudiate any comments that are made, including Pastor Hagee's, if they are anti-Catholic or offensive to Catholics," McCain said.
However, McCain has still not rejected the support of Hagee himself, and has said nothing about Hagee's claims that American foreign policy towards Palestine is causing God to attack the United States with terrorists.

NEW UPDATE MARCH 3, 2008:
John Hagee has released a statement defending his comments:

Throughout my career I have been a strong critic of Christian anti-Semitism. But any fair review of my record will demonstrate that I have consistently criticized all Christians - Protestant and Catholic alike - for the sin of anti-Semitism. In fact I rarely address this topic without castigating the founder of Protestantism, Martin Luther, for the horrendous anti-Semitism he spouted towards the end of his career. It is a bitter irony that in my zeal to hold my fellow Christians accountable for our past anti-Semitism, I now find myself compared to an anti-Semite.

To call me "anti-Catholic" makes about as much sense as calling me "anti-Protestant." I am, most assuredly, neither.


Meanwhile, Catholic League president Bill Donahue has answered back:

"Did we also mischaracterize Hagee when he called my religion 'The Great Whore,' the 'apostate church,' the 'anti-Christ' and a 'false cult system'? McCain cannot ignore Hagee's lies any more than he can tolerate his bigotry. This is getting out of control."
** NEW UPDATES BELOW **

ABC reports:

Calling Pastor John Hagee a "bigot," the conservative Catholic League is calling for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to denounce/renounce/reject his endorsement Wednesday.

With a Youtube link to prove his point, Catholic League president Bill Donohue said Hagee "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.' ..."Senator Obama has repudiated the endorsement of Louis Farrakhan, another bigot. McCain should follow suit and retract his embrace of Hagee." ...

McCain spox Jill Hazelbaker says, "Hagee endorsed John McCain. While we welcome his support, it shouldn't be seen as a wholesale endorsement of all of Mr. Hagee's views."


Donohue's full statement is here, and Salon.com's Glenn Greenwald has a fascinating interview with him here. Watch Hagee compare Catholicism to a cult below:



The progressive group Catholics United has also written a letter to McCain asking him to "publicly distance himself" from Hagee's views.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/29/john-hagees-mccain-endor_n_89189.html