John McCain's Pastors And Hillary Clinton’s Troubling Religious Cell

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John McCain's Pastors


by Michael I. Niman

Article last modified 3/26/2008

In another Fox News agenda-setting moment, the GOP’s propaganda wing has successfully shifted the election focus away from our endless wars and our imploding economy and environment, over to Barack Obama’s pastor. It started with Fox—playing what sometimes seemed like an endless loop of context-free snippets from some of the fieriest sermons ever uttered by the pastor at Obama’s Chicago church. In what is now a well worn pattern, GOP-talking-points-turned-Fox-News-stories quickly migrated to the Fox Lite networks and the nation’s leading newspapers. Lost amid the newfound obsession with Obama’s pastor and the black church in general was any mention of John McCain’s two lunatic preachers.

Our coming nuclear war

First there’s Pastor John Hagee, who runs an arena-sized megachurch in San Antonio, Texas. Hagee preaches that Muslims—that’s all Muslims—have a “scriptural mandate” to kill Christians and Jews. But don’t worry. America, according to Hagee, is on top of this coming showdown with Islam. He predicts, and seems to pine for, an all-out nuclear war with Iran, as the beginning of a new global war. Writing for the evangelical Pentecostal magazine Charisma, Hagee argues that “The coming nuclear showdown with Iran is a certainty.” In his 2006 book, Jerusalem Countdown, he expanded the first theater of operations for his coming world war to include Russia. This nuclear war, according to Hagee, would eventually end with the second coming of Christ and the whisking away of true believers to the heavens.

Obama-bashers no doubt are currently sorting through parking tickets and assorted databases to determine if he was present for his pastor’s more controversial sermons—with the ultimate story-line centering on why he didn’t shout his preacher down or pelt the man mid-sermon with his prayer book. On the invisible McCain front, however, there’s no question about whether McCain was present for and aware of Hagee’s most lunatic remarks. McCain was onstage with Hagee, receiving his endorsement for president, when he ranted about Allah not being “our” god, warning that “without victory , there is no survival.” Rather then flee the stage and quickly call a news conference to distance himself from the end-timer, McCain went over and clasped Hagee’s hand for a photo op.

In declaring his support for McCain, Hagee cited McCain’s aggressive attitude toward Iran—a country McCain actually sang for the cameras about bombing. Are you worried yet?

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Hillary’s prayer cabal

The story doesn’t end with McCain. While we were all watching YouTube cliplets of Obama’s pastor, the press also continued to ignore Hillary Clinton’s troubling religious cell. The Nation last week ran a book review by Barbara Ehrenreich, about Jeff Sharlet’s forthcoming (to be released in May) book, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. Sharlet, in conducting research for his book, went to live in a group home run by a Washington, DC-based religious group, the Fellowship (known more informally as the Family), which Hillary Clinton joined as First Lady in 1993.

As senator, Clinton is now among the group’s leaders. While the group’s religious calling is unclear, its political leanings are horrifically clear. Former and current members include former Brazilian dictator General Costa e Silva, Indonesian dictator General Suharto, Salvadoran general and convicted mass torturer Carlos Eugenios Vides Casanova and Honduran general and death squad commander Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, as well as American politicos such as John Ashcroft, Ed Meese and Rick Santorum. This is a disturbing bunch of bedfellows for sure—regardless of their religious beliefs. Connect the dots. It ain’t pretty.

So, for the last time, because I clearly miss the point—why should I worry about Barack Obama or his pastor?


Dr. Michael I. Niman is a professor of journalism and media studies at Buffalo State College. His previous columns are available at artvoice.com, archived at mediastudy.com and available globally through syndication. Send your response to this article to [e-mail].


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http://artvoice.com/issues/v7n13/getting_a_grip

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