Hagee Regrets
We ran the first open letter petition for McCain to renounce Haggee’s support due to his preaching that “Jews are responsible for our own persecution”. Thankfully McCain un-accepted the endorsement, and Hagee owned up to his anti-catholic remarks. While we are still waiting for McCain to drop Nixon’s Jew-Counter Fred Malek from his campaign staff, this just came in from the NYTimes;
Last month he expressed regret for offending Roman Catholics. Now the Rev. John Hagee is extending his regret to Jews.
Mr. Hagee, a televangelist and megachurch pastor who had publicly endorsed Senator John McCain, the Republican candidate for president and was repudiated last month by Mr. McCain after a Web site posted a troubling sermon by Mr. Hagee about the Holocaust.
In the sermon he gave in 1999, Mr. Hagee said that God allowed the Holocaust to happen in order to get the Jewish people to return to Israel in order to fulfill Biblical prophecy. The remarks created an uproar, which prompted Mr. McCain finally to cut his ties with Mr. Hagee, after months of escalating outrage about Mr. Hagee’s views on the Roman Catholic church.
On Friday, Mr. Hagee sent a letter to Abraham D. Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish organization that combats anti-Semitism.
In the one-page letter, Mr. Hagee said he had “devoted much of my adult life to combating anti-Semitism and supporting the state of Israel,” and sought to clarify his views on Jews and the Holocaust.
He wrote:
“Also central to my faith is a belief in an omnipotent, sovereign God. In a sermon in 1999, I grappled with the vexing question of why a loving God would allow the evil of the Holocaust to occur. I know how sensitive the issue of the Holocaust is and should be to the Jewish community, and I regret if my Jewish friends felt any pain as a result. I have always believed that the Holocaust was a tragedy unique in its evil and horror.
“I canot deny the tenets of my faith. However, I will work to express my faith in a way that is sensitive to and respectful others, including the Jewish community. This includes acknowledging the limits of our understanding in seeking to comprehend the mind of God.”
Mr. Hagee is the author of several best-selling books about end-times prophecy which predict that Jews will gather in the Holy Land before the arrival of Armageddon. Despite his controversial teachings, in recent years he has been embraced by some Jewish leaders for his ability to raise money and support among evangelical Christians for the state of Israel, through an organization he founded, Christians United for Israel.
Mr. Foxman, who had recently spoken to Mr. Hagee about the controversy by phone, released a response on Friday that suggested that Mr. Hagee was forgiven, at least by Mr. Foxman.
Mr. Foxman wrote:
“We welcome Pastor Hagee’s letter clarifying his views on Jews, the Holocaust and Israel. We appreciate his regret over the pain his statements may have caused to any in the Jewish community. We value his acknowledgment that the Holocaust was a tragedy unique in its evil and horror and the limits of our understanding in seeking to comprehend the mind of God.
“Pastor Hagee has devoted his life to combating anti-semitism and supporting the State of Israel. We are grateful for his efforts to eradicate anti-Semitism and to rally so many in the Christian community to stand with Israel.
“We look forward to continuing to work with Pastor Hagee to promote dialogue between Christians and Jews based on mutual respect, reconciliation and the recognition of God’s eternal covenant with the Jewish people.”
After Mr. Hagee wrote a similar letter of apology to William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, some other Catholic leaders questioned Mr. Donohue’s acceptance of the apology and his claim to speak for all Catholics.
Jewish leaders may well be similarly divided on this exchange as well.