McCain ‘Very Honored’ By Support Of Pastor Preaching ‘End-Time Confrontation With Iran’
Yesterday, hard-line conservative
Pastor John Hagee, founder of
Christians United for Israel, endorsed John McCain. Hagee said that McCain “
is a man of principle, [who] does not stand boldly on both sides of any issue.” McCain, who had been courting the endorsement
for over a year, said that he was “
very honored by Pastor John Hagee’s endorsement.”
Demonstrating how wildly out of the American religious and political mainstream Hagee’s views are, McCain’s acceptance of Hagee’s endorsement was
condemned today by conservative William Donohue, president of the Catholic League. Calling Hagee a “bigot,” Donahue said the right-wing pastor has waged “
an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church” by “calling it ‘The Great Whore,’ an ‘apostate church,’ the ‘anti-Christ,’ and a ‘false cult system.’”
Hagee holds
many other radical beliefs. In a 2006 address to CUFI,
Hagee declared:
The United States must join Israel in a pre-emptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God’s plan for both Israel and the West… a biblically prophesied end-time confrontation with Iran, which will lead to the Rapture, Tribulation, and Second Coming of Christ.
Speaking to the 2007 AIPAC conference, Hagee compared supporters of a two-state solution in the Middle East
to Nazis. Hagee also echoed right-wing
Israeli politician Binyamin Netanyahu, telling the audience that “Iran is Germany and Ahmadinejad is the new Hitler.”
Paging
Tim Russert: Someone should ask John McCain if, unlike Hagee, he supports a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, and whether he believes that a military strike against Iran would “fulfill God’s plan for…a biblically prophesied end-time confrontation” as Hagee does.
UPDATE: Faith in Public Life has
more.
UPDATE II: Hagee’s tv show, “John Hagee Today,” is also broadcast on
Cornerstone Television. In 1999, McCain wrote to the FCC on behalf of campaign contributor Lowell “Bud” Paxson, urging a deal that would have made
$17.5 million for Cornerstone.
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