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Wednesday, May 07, 2008

No Thanks Pastor Hagee


As a Catholic I take serious offense to the accusations of Pastor Hagee who is a buddy to John McCain in the latest race for President of all of the United States of America. While the main stream media has been attacking Barack Obama with his association with Reverend Wright they have taken a pass on the McCain/Hagee connection. As a voter I was just as ticked off at the racist comments by Reverend Wright as most people should be and I was glad to see Obama distance himself emphatically from those thoughts. It was a wise move for someone that wants to represent all of the people of America.

John McCain has no problem other than saying he does not agree with Pastor Hagee but is not refuting his endorsement. When questioned he pulls out an attack on Obama and Wright which I find interesting in the fact that he isn’t willing to face the facts behind Hagee. It comes down to more or less blaming your association to someone else to deflect attention and blaming a tree for jumping out in front of your car. Damn those jumping trees and ecologist for it!

Just for giggles I watched one of Pastor Hagee’s television broadcasts and frankly I wasn’t surprised to hear and see what he had to say. Things I have never herd from any of my Catholic priest during Mass in my entire life. Counterfeit Christians was his topic for the days broadcast and in it he referenced my faith in terms not labeling the Catholic faith as directly linked to Satan but we pretty much have Satan as the basis of our faith. He rambled on about fearing God and that runs counter to my faith and understanding of a loving God. Fearing God is far more important in Pastor Hagee’s thought process if it instills fear in his flock to blindly follow him. Then he went on about the direct connection from a child’s bottom and the brain which was his direct reference of spare the rod and spoil the child aka child abuse.

What surprised me with his sermon was the continual thought that fear of God, fear of Jesus not loving you, fear of not being part of his flock was the only message he had to sell. Then the commercials came on and the guy has books and videos and all kinds of self serving profit making devices working for him to sell God to the people. With the commercial break over he goes on to tell us that following his true spirit with God is the only way to go and that you no longer have free will. Doing God’s will is your only path and those that do not follow that path will never see the gates of heaven. Sounds like a radical terrorist statement to me but I could be wrong. What happened to free will? In my opinion, Hagee equates free will to how much he can fleece from his flock and that is what he is all about. Money first, God second. Someone has to pay for the multi million dollar operation he has built based on fear and Catholic bashing.

Pastor Hagee is nothing more than a guy making a dollar off of the fear of many lost souls. I’m not questioning his followers faith in God or their following of Jesus Christ, I am questioning the false thoughts of a man at the pulpit. Anyone that tells you that his Jesus or his God is better than yours is someone to be very skeptical of. In the words of Pastor Hagee, the devil will unleash many false prophets and that pretty much puts him in the hate game. Go sell your hate aka used cars (no offense to used car sales people) somewhere else Pastor.

In Pastor Hagee’s apology to the media on all of the coverage of his Catholic bashing, I’m sure coverage on the blogosphere at sites like this he absolutely denied that he has ever had a message of hate against Catholics. See the post and video that I put up earlier and judge for yourself. Or you could click here for the video. He refers to the Catholic Church and Hitler in the first few minutes of the video. Hitler only proposed doing what the Roman Church has done for eight hundred years but just more efficiently. In his apology he immediately refers to most Catholics as charity grubbing unclean people in need of his divine intervention five days a week. Well thank you Pastor Hagee! We are an unwashed and unclean people, all of us Catholics. That was very big of you but Catholic Charities all across America works seven days a week and it never ends year to year.

For the record, if Pastor Hagee wants to come after my faith, my church, my church leaders, I will be at their back to defend the Catholic faith. I’m an American Catholic Renegade and my faith is the foundation for my existence. We American Catholic’s have pretty much had enough of money grabbing self righteous idiots declaring that they have intimate knowledge of what God or Jesus Christ is to the modern man. Attack our church doctrine and you attack our purpose for existing on this planet that is never about ourselves. When your declare my God and my Jesus Christ, two of the same religious entities, not accepting me or my children into heaven then you are a false prophet from any religious perspective known to man. Some would call Pastor Hagee a Christian Jihadist. I would have to agree with that. I would prefer the term that John Hagee is a Christian Terrorist. You will never see the gates of heaven if your check does not clear.

Why does John McCain still consider this man worthy to associate his name with by the Hagee endorsement? When asked about it he points the finger elsewhere because his own thoughts betray him for the price of a few votes.

Anyone that calls themselves an American Catholic is not about hate or any form of screw you because you think xyz on any issue. John McCain by not speaking up for Catholics and all of the behind the scene charities that we do is spitting in our faces and does not deserve even one Catholics vote.
If you think McCain would not sell his own soul for the White House then check out what the Gun Toting Liberal has in his latest piece. Rod Parsley, another religious fanatic preaching the end of Islam. McCain has no problem with his endorsement either!

Papamoka

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Saturday, April 26, 2008

McCain Respectful Politics, Wink, Wink


Democrat’s should all be thankful to Senator McCain for wanting to run a clean Republican campaign without all the negativity and nastiness aimed at Senator’s Obama and Clinton. Not that Senator Obama does not have a few skeletons in his closet but it will be nice to see a Presidential campaign based on the issues instead of accusation of who stuck a wad of gum under which lunch table in high school.

Now that the North Carolina campaign is in full swing the television ads from all camps will be flying on the airwaves and we all know about those pesky privately funded advertisements. We all know that the candidates technically can not be held responsible for the actions of any politically active groups supporting their election bid for the White House. Wink, wink, wink!

We can’t hold John McCain liable for below the fray politics if it didn’t come from his campaign war chest or even his lips. Wink, wink, wink! Over at CNN they have this piece on John McCain and his very respectful campaign strategy and we should be truly thankful for his personal integrity on running an issue based election…

After McCain effectively clinched the Republican nomination, he called on his party to run a respectful, above-the-fray campaign.

But the ad, conceived by North Carolina Republicans, appears to defy that call.
"For 20 years, Barack Obama sat in his pew listening to his pastor," the TV ad says.

The ad then airs comments from Obama's pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who says: "And then wants us to sing 'God Bless America?' No, no, no. Not 'God Bless America,' God [expletive] America."

McCain's campaign released an e-mail he sent North Carolina GOP Chairwoman Linda Daves that asked her not to run the ad.

"In the strongest terms, I implore you to not run this advertisement," he wrote. "This ad does not live up to the very high standards we should hold ourselves to in this campaign."
North Carolina Republicans refused to pull the ad.

"I can't dictate to them. But I want to be the candidate of everybody. I want to be the candidate of Republicans and Democrats and independents," he said Wednesday.

During one New Orleans appearance, an audience member questioned McCain about an endorsement he received from controversial Pastor John Hagee, who once said on a radio show that "what happened in New Orleans looks like the curse of God."

"When someone endorses me, [it] does not mean I embrace their views," he responded. Later on his bus, McCain elaborated, "I didn't attend pastor Hagee's church for 20 years."
-CNN

Wink, wink, wink. Key phase from McCain himself is; "I didn't attend pastor Hagee's church for 20 years."

Maybe the press should ask Senator McCain what the definition of the phase “Above the fray” means in relation to respectful campaigning? Get the old Maverick in the hot seat like they had Bill Clinton when he had to define the word “It” during one of his “Personal” indiscretions.

One can picture John McCain reviewing the television advertisement being very disgruntled about the negative content and yet nodding his head and winking in full approval while Karl Rove okayed the ads to run all over North Carolina. Technically, McCain did not approve it but maybe his consultant did? This is of course all speculation but the only speculation that makes sense for McCain to utter the phrase in defense of his association and endorsement with and by Reverend John Hagee.

I think if I had the lesser of two evils and associations that I would prefer Reverend Wright’s every single time. McCain with this remark has proven the fact that he has no intention to run a clean fight against Obama for the White House.

Papamoka

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Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Catholic’s, McCain & Hagee

Us Catholic’s are a tough lot. Hell we have to deal with the shame of the child molesting priest issue that went underground for decades but we all own that shame together as Catholic’s. It is a shame that should never be forgotten by every single Catholic.

Mind you as church organizations go the Catholic faith is very strict with its teachings but very liberal with its actions. Caring for the poor, feeding the homeless, clothing people, offering assistance in many areas of life without care as to whether you are a Catholic or not. There are no flares fired off to make notice of our churches response to people in need, its just done.

With that being said, there is a religious Christian war going on in American politics that is based in hate. Christian, and hate are two words that should never go together when talking about the American Christian experience of faith. Love thy brother does not have the word “except” in it. Down at the bottom of the page there is no italicized notes with a list of who is not to be loved. If you think this war is happening in both political parties then you would be dead wrong. This issue is totally owned by the “My God is better than your God” Republican Party and Reverend John Hagee is heading up the battle with his endorsement of John McCain. Over at the Washington Post they have this great read on it…

Hagee Endorsement of McCain Has Risks

By LIBBY QUAID
The Associated Press
Monday, March 3, 2008; 6:23 PM

SEDONA, Ariz. -- Endorsed by an influential Texas televangelist, Republican John McCain endeared himself to one group of voters but risked alienating another with the pastor's anti-Catholic views.

The controversy has been mild so far, but still, every vote counts in a presidential election that is expected to be closely contested.

Evangelical or born-again Christian voters were key to George W. Bush's victories, but so were Roman Catholics, who chose Bush over their fellow Catholic John Kerry in 2004 and over Al Gore in 2000.

The televangelist, San Antonio megachurch leader John Hagee, has referred to the Roman Catholic Church as "the great whore" and called it a "false cult system" and "the apostate church"; the word "apostate" means someone who has forsaken his religion.

He also has linked Adolf Hitler to the Catholic church, suggesting it helped shape his anti-Semitism.

McCain said he does not agree with some of Hagee's past comments. "It's simply not accurate to say that because someone endorses me that I therefore embrace their views," McCain told reporters at a news conference Monday in Phoenix.
- Washington Post

Just checking facts and we have this video from YouTube…



John McCain needs to look in the rear view mirror of his campaign and think about this endorsement more clearly. No matter how McCain spins this in the desire to hold on to the Bush Evangelical right vote he will loose the Catholic vote in large blocks. That is where the weakness of the McCain campaign will be in the general election. Pitting one Christian based religion against another Christian based religion offers no hope or change from the Bush full speed ahead of separation of the people. Good luck with that one Johnny! Here is your cross, you earned it, wear it well.

My family was from the old school, marry an Irish girl and marry a Catholic girl. I got one out of two right but one thing is true of both my wife and I is that our Catholic faith is one issue we never argue over. Our faith is our rock and we stand on it many times to keep our heads above the tides of life. To have someone call our faith a bastardization of religion or a whore just bothers me.

As for John Hagee, from this die hard Catholic, you sir are a money grabbing hypocrite. You call my church a group of “Whores”? You call my faith a “False Cult”. Then you call us a “Nazi” shaping tool of Adolf Hitler! I’ll turn the other cheek. Hit me again as you drive away from your multi million dollar church and studios in your luxury car to go to your personal mansion paid for by believers only looking for any beacon of hope that is the beginning of their faith.

Two words for the most self righteous Reverend John Hagee, “False Prophet”. Somewhere in the bible is a story about being very aware of men preaching God’s word and directing hate towards our fellow man. Again, God and Hate are two words that should not be used together if you are a minister, priest or a Reverend. In politics this endorsement is tantamount to forsaking an entire people for the favor of one.

In the battle for Christian voters John McCain is selling out his own self respect for votes from just one religious political group. What would he do as President? In acceptance of this endorsement he has basically endorsed the same words of Reverend John Hagee and called all of us in the Catholic faith “Whores”! As a practicing Catholic I resent it. If this is what the Republican Party is all about then I would suggest Catholic Republican’s jump ship in the general election simply for this endorsement.

There is no back peddling on this very central Catholic issue and Senator McCain will not back off or denounce John Hagee’s endorsement. That is the issue to stand and fight for as Catholics come November. Our faith is not a whore!

I have to run, as a Catholic I have to say a couple dozen Hail Mary’s and a ton of Our Father’s for this post…

Papamoka

Cross posted at MichaelLinnJones.com

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