Interesting character:
John Hagee - Wikipedia
John Charles Hagee (born April 12, 1940) is the founder and senior
pastor of Cornerstone Church, a
megachurch in
San Antonio, Texas.
[2] Hagee is also the
CEO of his non-profit corporation, Global Evangelism Television (GETV). He is the 5th of 6 pastors in his family, all of whom were named John Hagee, dating back to the colonial era.
Hagee is the President and CEO of John Hagee Ministries, which telecasts his national radio and television ministry carried in the United States on ten television networks. He is shown on networks around the globe, including
The Inspiration Network (INSP),
Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), and Inspiration Now TV.
[3] John Hagee Ministries is in Canada on the
Miracle Channel and CTS and can be seen in places including Africa, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
[4] Hagee is the founder and National Chairman of the
Christian-Zionist organization
Christians United for Israel, incorporated on February 7, 2006.
[5]..........
Hagee has been criticized for his statements about Israel, the
Roman Catholic Church, and Islam. Journalist
Bill Moyers claims that Hagee and other evangelicals are working toward supporting the
religious right. He states, "Someone who didn't know better could imagine from the very name Christians United For Israel—CUFI—that pastor John Hagee speaks for all Christians. Well, he doesn't ... What these fellows have forged is a close connection between the [George W. Bush]
White House and the religious right."
[27]
Some Jewish leaders, such as
Reform Rabbi Eric Yoffie, criticized Hagee for being an "extremist" on Israeli policy and for disparaging other faiths, including Islam and Roman Catholicism.
[28]
Accusations of anti-Catholicism
[
undue weight? – discuss]
After Hagee's 2008 endorsement of
U.S. Presidential candidate John McCain, a furor arose over comments, broadcasts, and writings made by Hagee that were seen as
anti-Catholic. After discussions with Catholic leaders, Hagee made an apology, which was publicly accepted by
Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights president
William A. Donohue.
[29] When Hagee made the endorsement, Donohue issued the following remarks regarding McCain's ties to Hagee:
Now that he has secured the
Republican nomination for president, and has received the endorsement of President Bush, McCain will now embark on a series of fundraising events.
When he meets with Catholics, he is going to be asked about his ties to Hagee. He should also be asked whether he approves of comments like this: "A Godless theology of hate that no one dared try to stop for a thousand years produced a harvest of hate."
That quote is proudly cited by
David Brog in his recent book,
Standing with Israel. Both Brog and Hagee clearly identify the Roman Catholic Church as spawning a "theology of hate".
This is nothing if not
hate speech. There are so many good
evangelical leaders in this country — Dr.
James Dobson, Dr.
Richard Land,
Tony Perkins,
Gary Bauer, Dr.
Al Mohler,
Chuck Colson — and none has ever insulted Catholicism.
[30]
Despite Hagee's professed "Christian Zionist" beliefs and public support for the state of Israel, Hagee has made statements that some have interpreted as antisemitic. In his book
Jerusalem Countdown, Hagee claims that
Adolf Hitler was born from a lineage of "accursed, genocidally murderous half-breed Jews."
[39] On page 149 in a chapter with the title 'Who Is a Jew?', Hagee writes:
It was
Esau's descendants who produced the half-breed Jews of history who have persecuted and murdered the Jews beyond human comprehension ... Adolf Hitler was a distant descendant of Esau.
[39]
Hagee has attributed the persecution of Jews throughout history, implicitly including the Holocaust, to disobedience, thereby attracting accusations of antisemitism:
[40]
It was the disobedience and rebellion of the Jews, God's chosen people, to their covenantal responsibility to serve only the one true God, Jehovah, that gave rise to the opposition and persecution that they experienced beginning in Canaan and continuing to this very day ... Their own rebellion had birthed the seed of antisemitism that would arise and bring destruction to them for centuries to come ... it rises from the judgment of God upon his rebellious chosen people.
[41]
In the book, Hagee cites material from the
Jewish tradition (
Jeremiah 9:13–16; 44:2–4, 15–17) to justify this view. According to Hagee, his support for Israel has brought him death threats.
[25]
