Friday, March 07, 2008

John McCain Continues to Embrace Far Right Anti-Gay Christianists

One would think now that John McCain has locked up the GOP nomination he’d be backing off a bit from the lunatics of the far right so as to not frighten away moderate voters, but just the opposite seems to be the case. First he cuddled up to anti-Catholic, anti-gay crazy John Hagee as I previously reported. Then he called nutcase Rod Parsley his “spiritual advisor.” To say that Parsley is anti-gay is an understatement. He truly strikes me as a Neanderthal who has no concept of a separation of religion from the civil laws. Here are highlights of what Right Wing Watch is reporting (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2008/02/mccain_brings_p.html):

McCain campaigned . . . in Cincinnati, where he appeared with the Rev. Rod Parsley of World Harvest Church of Columbus. McCain called Parsley a "spiritual guide," while Parsley later labeled McCain a "strong, true, consistent conservative." … Parsley shared the stage with McCain during a rally at Hamilton County Memorial Hall in Cincinnati but didn't speak. In a later interview, Parsley said he supports McCain because the senator will be tough on national security and "protect the unborn."
Thus far, Parsley has kept his distance from the presidential race, while continuing to use his TV show to oppose
abortion and hate-crimes protections. But now he’s jumped in to help John McCain lock up the Republican nomination.

A spiritual invasion is taking place!”
shouted Rod Parsley at the “War on Christians” conference in 2006. “… Man your battle stations! Ready your weapons! Lock and load!” Parsley, an Ohio megachurch pastor and televangelist, promised to build an army of “Patriot Pastors” to march to the polls, an even bolder political machine than the one he led in 2004 that helped pass an anti-gay amendment in the state and nudge George W. Bush to reelection. Parsley’s 2006 candidate, Ken Blackwell, ultimately lost the governor’s race, but the televangelist remains an outsized political force, and his “Patriot Pastors” machine is still a model for church-based electoral organizing

Here are some examples of Parsley’s views on gays (http://www.alternet.org/story/31942/):

Gay sex is a veritable breeding ground for disease," he said. "Only 1 percent of the homosexual population in America will die of old age. The average life expectancy for a homosexual in the United States of America is 43 years of age. A lesbian can only expect to live to be 45 years of age. Homosexuals represent 2 percent of the population, yet today they're carrying 60 percent of the known cases of syphilis."

No comments: