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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Professor Fired for being an Idiot?

Picture courtesy of University of Colorado

I should start off by first saying that I think Ward Churchill is a self serving intellectual moron that thinks that there are no consequences for his own words. It comes as no surprise to me that the man was fired not for saying that the victims of 9/11 were Nazis but for negligence in his duty as a professor to his students and college trust.

Over at the New York Times they have this to say about the Professor with an “I am so wicked smart” attitude….

Colorado Regents Vote to Fire a Controversial Professor
By DAN FROSCH
Published: July 25, 2007

BOULDER, Colo., July 24 — After more than two years of public tumult, the University of Colorado Board of Regents voted Tuesday to fire a professor whose remarks about the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks led to a national debate on free speech. But it was the professor’s problems with scholarship that the board cited as the cause for his termination.

The professor, Ward L. Churchill, was dismissed on the ground that he had committed academic misconduct by plagiarizing and falsifying parts of his scholarly research.

The board voted 8 to 1 to dismiss Professor Churchill.

“We wanted to do what was right for this university,” the board chairwoman, Patricia Hayes, said after the vote. “We did not address Professor Churchill’s freedom of speech as part of our discussion.”

The university president, Hank Brown, who recommended that the board fire Professor Churchill, said he deserved to lose his job because he had “falsified history” and “fabricated history.”

At a news conference after the decision, Professor Churchill, who cut a dramatic figure with his mane of gray-black hair, towering frame and dark sunglasses, criticized the process by which he was fired.

“I am going nowhere,” Professor Churchill said. “If there is a question in anyone’s mind to the political nature of the Regents, this should resolve it.”

He continued, “All this did was confirm what it was in the first place about the nature of the academic process and lack of integrity within this institution as a whole.”

Professor Churchill, a tenured faculty member at Colorado since 1991 who became chairman of the department of ethnic studies, caused an uproar when he criticized United States foreign policy in a 2001 essay written shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, characterizing some of the office workers killed in the World Trade Center as “little Eichmanns,” a reference to the Nazi Adolf Eichmann, who helped carry out the Holocaust. - New York Times

Ward Churchill thinks and believes that he is being fired based on his 9/11 statements and it could be argued that he just might be. Being a Professor at the University of Colorado grants you an audience of young minds that are not just there to be coerced into one professors ideology. Those students have parents that want their children educated with the highest of standards in mind. If my children attended the school I would question the professors teaching and the schools leadership based on such remarks.

Yes, Professor Churchill called the victims of 9/11 Nazis which I disagree with entirely for the record. Freedom of speech lets you do that sort of thing here in America. BUTT, (Big Old Hairy Butt) if you or I said that in our daily jobs, would your employer not look into what else you have said in the past? That is what the University of Colorado did and what do you know there just happened to be more than enough evidence to fire him for multiple reasons.

I was trying to think of why the University of Colorado would fire him given the controversy around him and all I can think of is money. This particular university is no different than any other in America and they all rely heavily on repeat business from their own alumni. If the alumni do not support the University with private donations as well as sending their children to the school then it gets real tough to pay the bills to keep the school going?

I’m thinking that Joe Q. Public that owns a corporation called ABC Widgets is not going to want his companies name on the same stationary as a professor that calls one of our nations greatest tragedies a self inflicted wound because they were Nazi’s? This professor was fired for being an idiot that thought he was better than his employer. The interests of his employer have never entered this mans mind in my opinion. Companies fire people that do that all the time and the University of Colorado finally served Professor Churchill his pink slip.

You can’t teach common sense at any school, it has to be learned the old fashioned way.

Apparently, the Professor was a little deficient in that department. Now that he is free and clear of the bonds of the University of Colorado he can scream at the moon what he thinks. In his mind, maybe the moon will listen and bow to his brilliant intellect.

Pack your desk and don’t let the door hit you in the ass Ward!

Papamoka

Follow up article from Newsweek...