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May 4, 2008
Where's the Coverage of Rev. John Hagee's McCain Endorsement?
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. has certainly done the Barack Obama campaign few favors in recent days. But is the message here that politicians should distance themselves as far as possible from loose cannon clergy for fear of intense media scrutiny? Not necessarily. This week, a MediaMatters for America study found that over the past three months the New York Times and The Washington Post combined have published more than 12 times as many articles mentioning Wright and Obama as they have mentioning Sen. John McCain and John Hagee, the firebrand televangelist whose endorsement McCain sought and received on February 27.
Foggy on Hagee's views? Here's a DNC round-up of statements the Huffington Post published in February:
Hagee on Hurricane Katrina "All hurricanes are acts of God because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that." [NPR Fresh Air, 9/18/06]
Hagee on Islamic Beliefs
Fresh Air host Terry Gross asked if Hagee believed that "all Muslims have a mandate to kill Christians and Jews," to which Hagee replied, "Well, the Quran teaches that. Yes, it teaches that very clearly." [NPR Fresh Air, 9/18/06]
Hagee on African-Americans
The San Antonio Express-News reported that Hagee was going to "meet with black religious leaders privately at an unspecified future date to discuss comments he made in his newsletter about a 'slave sale,' an East Side minister said Wednesday." The Express-News reported:
"Hagee, pastor of the 16,000-member Cornerstone Church, last week had announced a 'slave sale' to raise funds for high school seniors in his church bulletin, 'The Cluster.'
"The item was introduced with the sentence 'Slavery in America is returning to Cornerstone" and ended with "Make plans to come and go home with a slave." [San Antonio Express-News 3/7/96]
Hagee on Catholicism "Most readers will be shocked by the clear record of history linking Adolf Hitler and the Roman Catholic Church in a conspiracy to exterminate the Jews." [Jerusalem Countdown by John Hagee]
Hagee on Women
"Do you know the difference between a woman with PMS and a snarling Doberman pinscher? The answer is lipstick. Do you know the difference between a terrorist and a woman with PMS? You can negotiate with a terrorist." [God's Profits: Faith, Fraud and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters, Sarah Posner]
"[T]he feminist movement today is throwing off authority in rebellion against God's pattern for the family." ["Bible Positions on Political Issues," John Hagee]
Hagee on LGBT Americans
"The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know that there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment." [NPR Fresh Air, 9/18/06]
Hagee on Iran
"The coming nuclear showdown with Iran is a certainty," Hagee wrote [in 2006] in the Pentecostal magazine Charisma. "Israel and America must confront Iran's nuclear ability and willingness to destroy Israel with nuclear weapons. For Israel to wait is to risk committing national suicide." [The Nation, 8/8/2006]
| Posted By John D. Spalding | | Comments (1) | | Email | |
April 28, 2008
He's All Wright
As Wright took center stage at the Press Club, the haranguing, pontificating, insulting stance of the night before was replaced by a calm, articulate, very nearly brilliant discourse on the history of the black church in America, its proud roots in social and political activism, its caring and nurturing attitude toward humanity as contrasted with our governmentýs destructive and immoral policies. Everything he said made sense. He was so passionately rational, in fact, that I found myself falling under his spell.
Read Mary Beth Crain's The Rev. Wright Stuff.
| Posted By John D. Spalding | | Comments (3) | | Email | |
April 18, 2008
Vatican Dreams
Every time I watch Benedict XVI on TV, I'm--may God forgive me--jealous. He doesn't have to lift a finger to do anything for himself. Attendants hover around him, anticipating his every need. There's always somebody on hand to place the proper hat on his head, give him his scepter, his holy reading, his glasses, and whatever else the situation requires. He has someone to dress him in the morning, help him into his jammies at night, and change him during the day, into the appropriate albs of the hour.
Read Mary Beth Crain's Why I Want to Be Pope.
| Posted By John D. Spalding | | Comments | | Email | |
April 15, 2008
A Rapturous Adventure
Daniel Radosh's "Rapture Ready!" is much more than a witty cultural critic's Christian pop odyssey. It's the best kind of travel narrative, the kind in which the storyteller comes back changed. Without ever losing his sense of humor, Radosh emerges from his adventures a little more familiar with and appreciative of Christian pop culture, and a little estranged from and more critical of its mainstream parallel.
Read Timothy Beal's review, Entering the Kingdom of Kitsch.
| Posted By John D. Spalding | | Comments | | Email | |
April 11, 2008
Postcard from Honduras
The Tegucigalpa airport is legendary for dicey landings. Good thing I didn't know that before I blithely boarded with my 15 year-old daughter, cheerfully on our way for a feel-good spring break service trip. According to an American Airlines pilot who enlightened us on our return layover in Miami, it's the most difficult runway in the Southern hemisphereýonly 1.5 kilometers long and surrounded by mountains. Pilots have to be specially trained and certified to land there, and must fly in every 90 days in order to stay on the Tegucigalpa flight rotation.
Unlike the elite daredevil pilots, I wasn't so sure I'd "like that sort of thing" when I signed up for our church's mission trip to Honduras.
Read Stephanie Hunt's trip report, Missionary Reposition.
Check out footage of a landing at the Tegucigalpa airport:
| Posted By John D. Spalding | | Comments (4) | | Email | |
April 28, 2008
The Rev. Wright Stuff
By Mary Beth Crain
Today's prophets aren't any more popular than they were in the time of another Jeremiah.
April 18, 2008
Why I Want to Be Pope
By Mary Beth Crain
The Holy Father has a private jet, a cadre of valets, and a pipeline to God. Wouldn't you want to be him?
April 15, 2008
Entering the Kingdom of Kitsch
By Timothy Beal
Daniel Radosh's excellent adventure in the quirky world of Christian pop culture.
April 11, 2008
Missionary Reposition
By Stephanie Hunt
For our writer, the challenges of a Honduran mission trip began before touchdown.
March 13, 2008
High School Reunion Blues
By Mary Beth Crain
Wondering whether or not to go to your reunion? Take a tip from the Buddha--and stay home.
March 7, 2008
Reading the Jesus Story
By John D. Spalding
A review of Garry Wills' "What the Gospels Meant."
March 3, 2008
Pass the Holy Meatballs
By Mary Beth Crain
The religious experience of IKEA.
February 28, 2008
Adding God to Your Shopping Cart
By Timothy Beal
How religious consumerism is replacing religious literacy.
February 11, 2008
Nobody's Perfect
By Krista Tippett
And that, to NPR host Krista Tippett, is the charm of the Hebrew Bible.
February 8, 2008
Becky Garrison's Immodest Proposal
By Mary Beth Crain
A review of "The New Atheist Crusaders and Their Unholy Grail."
January 30, 2008
Will Rogers, Where Are You?
By Mary Beth Crain
Presidential campaigns used to be weighted with intellect and livened with wit. What happened to the good old days?
January 28, 2008
Eggs Benedict
By Stephanie Hunt
PETA has targeted a South Carolina monastery's egg farm. But with Church's Fried Chicken and KFC down the road, couldn't they find bigger birds to fry?
January 18, 2008
Oh Beautiful for Specious Highs...
By Mary Beth Crain
And ambushed waves of brain? With the candidates in flux, the pundits making too much of too little, and the b.s. meter on overdose, the '08 race wheezes on.
January 15, 2008
New Year's Irresolutions?
By Mary Beth Crain
Struggling with your New Year's resolutions? The key is to stop dreaming and start doing.
January 13, 2008
No Dog's Behind Left Behind
By Billy Frolick
Global warming? World hunger? Forget it. Put your money where it really counts--into a set of wheels for Fido.
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