There’s been considerable discussion, at least online, about John McCain reaching out and embracing televangelist John Hagee, despite Hagee’s record of attacking people not like him, most notably Catholics, Jews, and gays. But it’s worth keeping in mind that there’s another right-wing televangelist with close ties to McCain whose background deserves closer scrutiny.
Senator John McCain hailed as a spiritual adviser an Ohio megachurch pastor who has called upon Christians to wage a “war” against the “false religion” of Islam with the aim of destroying it.
On February 26, McCain appeared at a campaign rally in Cincinnati with the Reverend Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, a supersize Pentecostal institution that features a 5,200-seat sanctuary, a television studio (where Parsley tapes a weekly show), and a 122,000-square-foot Ministry Activity Center. That day, a week before the Ohio primary, Parsley praised the Republican presidential front-runner as a “strong, true, consistent conservative.”… McCain, with Parsley by his side at the Cincinnati rally, called the evangelical minister a “spiritual guide.”
The leader of a 12,000-member congregation, Parsley has written several books outlining his fundamentalist religious outlook, including the 2005 Silent No More. In this work, Parsley decries the “spiritual desperation” of the United States, and he blasts away at the usual suspects: activist judges, civil libertarians who advocate the separation of church and state, the homosexual “culture” (”homosexuals are anything but happy and carefree”), the “abortion industry,” and the crass and profane entertainment industry. And Parsley targets another profound threat to the United States: the religion of Islam.
Now, in all likelihood, if Hagee’s anti-Catholic diatribes didn’t cause McCain any real political trouble, McCain probably won’t have to pay too high a price for Parsley’s anti-Muslim harangues. It’s unsettling, but in this political climate, it’s easier for a right-wing religio-political figure to get away with anti-Muslim animus than anti-Catholic.
But if McCain is going to tout Parsley as a “spiritual guide,” it’s certainly worth learning more about where Parsley might “guide” the Republican nominee.
Most notably, Parsley doesn’t just hate Islam, he wants to “destroy” it. Here’s what he wrote in one of his books:
The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore.
From there, the lunacy becomes more predictable. Parsley argues, for example, that “Allah was a demon spirit.” There is no difference, he argues, between violent Islamic extremists and mainstream Muslim believers.
Keep in mind, Parsley is not just some fringe figure. In evangelical circles, he’s something of a powerhouse, and is widely believed to be one of the religious right’s new major players, after Falwell’s death and Robertson’s deterioration. It’s precisely why McCain, desperate for support from a right-wing constituency that has never trusted him, would cozy up to this hateful extremist (or, should I say, another hateful extremist).
I suppose waiting for McCain to denounce Parsley’s anti-Muslim bigotry would take a while, so there’s hardly any point to asking. But it would be worthwhile for campaign reporters, always looking for a new angle or story, to ask the senator why he’d stand alongside a “spiritual guide” who believes the United States has to “destroy” the “false religion” of Islam.
And lest there be any confusion, Parsley isn’t a one-trick pony — sure, he hates Muslims, but his bread and butter includes attacks on gays, abortion, the federal judiciary, and civil libertarians. Best of all, his rhetoric frequently includes what sounds like appeals to violence, telling his followers, “I came to incite a riot! Man your battle stations. Ready your weapons.” (One wants to assume he’s speaking metaphorically, but it’s not entirely clear.)
This is the man John McCain has embraced as a politically ally. Remind me again how he developed a reputation as a moderate?
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There’s a reason LBJ ran the “Daisy” ad in 1964. It’s high time to start pointing out in 2008 between what Republicans offer: war, death, and destruction, and misery.
The stakes are nearly that high again. Another “victory” like Iraq and we’ll be completely undone as a nation.
talk to any fundie, and they simply say “kill ‘em all”. Where’s the love?
(frist?)
The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed
Not according to the Treaty of Tripoli (1797):
Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
Barack Obama is NOT TO BE FUCKED WITH!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZWe8zlVOJw
How do these people not loose their tax exempt status by directly supporting a politician?
Are there no ethical standards or prohibitions or laws that religious leaders will not cross over in their quest to be the wealthiest and most successful preacher of all-fucking-time?
At what point will the gullible minions realize that they are being played for fools by these megalomaniacal sociopaths who convert the altruistic nature of their followers into personal wealth for themselves?
How sad,how sad…….
A Pentecostal pastor talking about Islam as a false religion? Hmmmmmmm
Kettle, meet pot.
anti catholic?
go figure.
I saw we take away Tax Exemtions from ALL Religious organizations!!! FUCK’EM!!!
rtghehe @ 8:
Exemptions!!!
rtghehe @ 8:
I saw the same thing.:)
Rod Parsley? Rod? Parsley?
Do you think that even a childhood of taunts and ridicule could explain this sad adult?
I guess these assholes never learned the lessons from the crusades. One more reason why McNutcase is unfit for any position of authority or influence.
well,their staying true to form.
nothing like bigotry, to see them for what they are.
“The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed,”
Since McCain thinks that the constitution established a ‘Christian nation’ (see http://www.beliefnet.com/story.....001_1.html ), I suppose revisionist history isn’t such a surprise coming from this ‘adviser’. Yikes, can’t we teach basic American history to the right wing? Or are they just plain batty?
So, Hagee is anti-Catholic. I’m no fan of the Catholic Church myself. And Rod Parsley is anti-Muslim. Well, I’m still trying to sort out my thoughts on that “religion of love” and its suicide bombers. And while religious intolerance is, well, intolerable in America, it is an integral part of the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths. You cannot be “the One True Religion” without believing all others are wrong, so I’m not too upset about their hate-spewing bigotry–it’s par for the course.
The real problem with Rod Parsley (and Hagee to a lesser extent) is that he is anti-American. Parsley is one of the most militant “dominionists” in this nation, fighting for the overthrow of our existing Constitution in favor of God’s word. Parsley wants Christians to rise up in arms against the Muslim world, and then he wants them to be ready to “invade” and convert America into a Christian theocracy. Parsley sees himself as some kind of invulnerable prophet intended to lead God’s armies into dominion.
Parsley is a religious terrorist, an anti-American revolutionary, and a TV swindler. At least McCain is consistent in the company he keeps.
He’s allowed a reputation as a moderate, and is not called out for cozying up to hate-inciting bigots and lunatics, because he throws barbecues for the press. The “journalists” from the Politico actually brought him flowers during a presidential campaign.
The relationship between McCain and the pretend-to-be-objective journalists covering him is so farloving it’s self-satirizing of a complacent and complicit press agog over barbecue chicken and being entertained at his ranch.
I always chuckly when I hear the complaints about America by the Religious Right…they have the same ones as Al Quaeda.
I meant ‘chuckle’.
MarkC @ 11:
Well, imagine his poor brother Elvis.
A little over ten years ago, I lived in a hole-in-the-wall apartment complex near Whitehall (one of the more crime ridden neighborhoods of Columbus). I was checking my mail, and this woman in her 30s or 40s sparked up a conversation with me, and I assumed she lived in the same building. She then told me to come to a church on Sunday that was only a few miles away called “something harvest church”, where “they really know how to party”. She kept emphasizing that “know how to party” bit. I said, “Yeah, sure whatever,” and never saw her again.
Thank Siddhartha that I got into Buddhism at the time. ;)
Cunningham, Steve King, Hagee, Parsley, what a line-up to have behind you, McCain.
Are we going to go down the “moral majority” road again?
gemHusseinpei @ 19:
And his sister Rosemary.
McCain’s other crazed evangelist ally
Here’s mine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6YFio_ycfQ
gemHusseinpei @ 23:
Sage and Thyme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
ysbaddaden @ 25:
:)
ysbaddaden @ 25:
and their cousin, they often misunderstood Skunk Cabbage that lives in the swamp behind the tobacco shed………
gemHusseinpei @ 23:
…and their cousin Justin Thyme
I think I’ll send the McCain campaign a dollar, they will spend $10 on literature/postage trying to woo more money out of me, and I’ll send back the requests with notes complaining about the un-American theocrats he has chosen as advisors.
Any literature that comes in a postage paid envelope will get five or six pennies, their literature back, and a note explaining that if his advisors weren’t so crazy and unpatriotic I’d give more. If millions of us did that we’d use up his postage budget and volunteer’s time :) .
McSame is pandering pretty heavily with these evil people. It brings to mind a quote I learned while studying philosophy:
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. - Seneca the Younger
Lauren @ 30:
Send him a check for 50 cents.
This, among other things, is what I see wrong with the Christian church.
Rebel churches spewing hate are becoming the norm, complete with cookie cutter “preachers” vying to become America’s Next Top Wingnut.
Churches preaching love and acceptance rapidly approach the minority, the many good churches out there too busy squabbling to stand up unified against mutations of the faith.
But this reminds me completely of Chuck Palahniunk’s book Survivor. Anybody else see that?
Radically Moderate @ 28:
And their hillbilly kissing-cousin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TQ3pC9W1o4
<em>”The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion (Islam) destroyed….”
- All religions are technically false, as they are based on mythology - you know
MYTHS: things that are made up, figments of the imagination, creations of the
human mind.
“Parsley decries the “spiritual desperation” of the United States……and the crass and profane entertainment industry.”
- Which seems odd, as he and all of his televangelist, money grubbbing, lying
buddies are just that - crass and profane entertainers!!
rtghehe @ 4:
What a surprise! A rightwinger that is a racist! Wow. I never would have thought it possible.
Flip-flop:
John McCain: February 28, 2000 http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRA.....se.01.html
I’m afraid that the SumerAkkaBabylAssyrJudeoChristian faith is showing its roots.
McCain probably won’t have to pay too high a price for Parsley’s anti-Muslim harangues
Unlike Obama,
who attended a church,
who’s minister has a daughter,
who edits a magazine,
that gave and award,
to Louis Farrakan.
See the connection?
Focus people! We’re all gonna die if this ni…I mean this man gets elected.
And just how, exactly, does one go about ‘destroying Islam’?
Blow up their mosques? Burn their holy books? Imprison people and torture them until they recant? Shit, we can’t even hold Afghanistan. We’ve made a dog’s breakfast out of Iraq.
Parsley-boy thinks the righteous will sweep through the land? Hah.
Good luck.
I’m a Muslim, that’s hurt my feelings Parsley bb
rtghehe @ 8:
I once thought this myself. But then I realized that if the churches were taxed, they would become even MORE political. IMHO we should give them their tax exempt status but enforce the tax laws. Yet this cannot be done unless we purge our government of religious zealots and stand up to the fear mongering evangelicals who want to turn the country into a fascist theocracy.
But if McCain is going to tout Parsley as a “spiritual guide,” it’s certainly worth learning more about where Parsley might “guide” the Republican nominee.
Straight to hell I hope…
Do televangelist supporters of McCain baptize their followers on waterboards?
And by the way, you mother fucking americans are crazy :-)
we Muslims need nukes fast.
That would be news to millions of Arabic-speaking Christians. “Allah” is just the Arabic word for “god.”
Shadow Hussein GM @ 40:
Most of these sponges think Islam is a country. Bible school can only take you so far in life.
mooslem @ 45:
Next time Condi’s in your neighborhood, just say “pretty please.” …and keep the receipt.
mooslem @ 45:
Devout Muslims would never refer to us as “mother fucking”.
Fraud.