Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Catholics and Evangelics for McCain

In the previous post, I noted the disenchantment of many evangelical voters with the GOP, many leaving to become Democrats and others Independents. In this post, one sees the persistence of GOP loyalty among both conservative Evangelicals and conservative Catholics.

Anyone who knows anything about the past 500 years of history realizes that Catholics and Protestants haven't always gotten along very well (again, I like to understate things). But the politics of the past two and a half decades has shown a rapprochement not necessarily in terms of ecumenical understanding (which usually occurs among more liberal-leaning believers, although not exclusively so), but in terms of political expediency.

Thus, Texan Evangelical leader, John Hagee, has recently made anti-Catholic remarks and has recently endorsed John McCain. Prominent Catholic figures on the conservative side have pushed McCain to reject Hagee's endorsement. McCain, however, needing Evangelical voters (who have generally looked askance at McCain), has accepted the endorsement while noting that he does not support everything Hagee says and does.

Hagee, though, has issued a formal apology to William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights, saying: "Out of a desire to advance a greater unity among Catholics and evangelicals in promoting the common good, I want to express my deep regret for any comments that Catholics have found hurtful." The "common good" they are promoting is, in fact, the Republican party. Donohue has accepted the apology, saying that in conversation with Hagee, he thinks Hagee "has seen the light." Thus, while tension remains between the "papists" and the "schismatics," they put aside their differences with each other and even with McCain in order to have a united political front, all the while the Democratic party is torn in two with its extended Primary season.

For more on this story, see this article from Yahoo.

2 comments:

Liam said...

Yeah, I don't know what to say about that, except that I think those two or overbrimming with hypocrisy. Hagee's ideas about Catholicism are deep set, and they're only part of his scary and hateful beliefs.

Donahue is always offended and red-faced, but he does his best to be upset about people on the left. If Jeremiah Wright had made anti-Catholic comments, he would never accept an apology from him.

I don't know why the media accepts the fact that Donahue gets to speak for the rest of us Catholics. Who gave him a mitre?

NJZimmermann said...

I find both Hagee and Donohue to be hypocrites. As a practicing Catholic I am more offended by Donohue's sanctimonious nature.

The media is foolish to listen to the leadership Catholic League if they had their way everything wouls revert to the way it was in 1054 A.D.