McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam

motherjones.com ^ | March 12, 2008 | David Corn

[Tailgunner Joe]

Senator John McCain hailed as a spiritual adviser an Ohio megachurch pastor who has called upon Christians to wage a "war" against the "false religion" of Islam with the aim of destroying it.

On February 26, McCain appeared at a campaign rally in Cincinnati with the Reverend Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, a supersize Pentecostal institution that features a 5,200-seat sanctuary, a television studio (where Parsley tapes a weekly show), and a 122,000-square-foot Ministry Activity Center. That day, a week before the Ohio primary, Parsley praised the Republican presidential front-runner as a "strong, true, consistent conservative." The endorsement was important for McCain, who at the time was trying to put an end to the lingering challenge from former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a favorite among Christian evangelicals. A politically influential figure in Ohio, Parsley could also play a key role in McCain's effort to win this bellwether state in the general election. McCain, with Parsley by his side at the Cincinnati rally, called the evangelical minister a "spiritual guide."

The leader of a 12,000-member congregation, Parsley has written several books outlining his fundamentalist religious outlook, including the 2005 Silent No More. In this work, Parsley decries the "spiritual desperation" of the United States, and he blasts away at the usual suspects: activist judges, civil libertarians who advocate the separation of church and state, the homosexual "culture" ("homosexuals are anything but happy and carefree"), the "abortion industry," and the crass and profane entertainment industry. And Parsley targets another profound threat to the United States: the religion of Islam.

In a chapter titled "Islam: The Deception of Allah," Parsley warns there is a "war between Islam and Christian civilization." He continues:

I cannot tell you how important it is that we understand the true nature of Islam, that we see it for what it really is. In fact, I will tell you this: I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications. The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore.

Parsley is not shy about his desire to obliterate Islam. In Silent No More, he notes—approvingly—that Christopher Columbus shared the same goal: "It was to defeat Islam, among other dreams, that Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World in 1492…Columbus dreamed of defeating the armies of Islam with the armies of Europe made mighty by the wealth of the New World. It was this dream that, in part, began America." He urges his readers to realize that a confrontation between Christianity and Islam is unavoidable: "We find now we have no choice. The time has come." And he has bad news: "We may already be losing the battle. As I scan the world, I find that Islam is responsible for more pain, more bloodshed, and more devastation than nearly any other force on earth at this moment."

Parsley claims that Islam is an "anti-Christ religion" predicated on "deception." The Muslim prophet Muhammad, he writes, "received revelations from demons and not from the true God." And he emphasizes this point: "Allah was a demon spirit." Parsley does not differentiate between violent Islamic extremists and other followers of the religion:

There are some, of course, who will say that the violence I cite is the exception and not the rule. I beg to differ. I will counter, respectfully, that what some call "extremists" are instead mainstream believers who are drawing from the well at the very heart of Islam.

The spirit of Islam, he maintains, is one of hostility. He asserts that the religion "inspired" the 9/11 attacks. He bemoans the fact that in the years after 9/11, 34,000 Americans "have become Muslim" and that there are "some 1,209 mosques" in America. Islam, he declares, is a "faith that fully intends to conquer the world" through violence. The United States, he insists, "has historically understood herself as a bastion against Islam," but "history is crashing in upon us."

At the end of his chapter on Islam, Parsley asks, "Are we a Christian nation? I say yes."

[MistrX]

I’m starting to like McCain.

[elcid1970]

If McCain in his heart of hearts wants to make war on Islam, that’s good enough!

I’ll vote for him without holding my nose.

(BTW, the current Obama’s-pastor flap is allowing McCain to fly under the radar, for miles on end. Can’t help but benefit Republicans.)

[Fiji Hill]

“He urges his readers to realize that a confrontation between Christianity and Islam is unavoidable: ‘We find now we have no choice. The time has come.”

THE CONFLICT OF THE AGES

Lo, the conflict of the ages is upon us today,
And the armies are assembling all in battle array;
Are you numbered with the faithful, one of God’s loyal few,
Who have sworn Him full allegiance? can He count upon you?

Have your eyes caught the vision?
Have your hearts felt the thrill?
To the call of the Master do you answer, “I will”?
For the conflict of the ages, told by prophets and by sages,
In its fury is upon us, is upon us today.

Catch the vision of a lost world going downward in sin,
While the Master’s great commission long unheeded has been;
See the children of the kingdom joined in heart and in hand,
Pressing forward in the struggle to redeem this fair land.

Have your eyes caught the vision?
Have your hearts felt the thrill?
To the call of the Master do you answer, “I will”?
For the conflict of the ages, told by prophets and by sages,
In its fury is upon us, is upon us today.

See the Church of God awaking and with glorious zest
She is laying on her altars now her noblest and blest;
T’ward the final consummation we are hastening on,
And the time for loyal service will forever be done.

Have your eyes caught the vision?
Have your hearts felt the thrill?
To the call of the Master do you answer, “I will”?
For the conflict of the ages, told by prophets and by sages,
In its fury is upon us, is upon us today.

—Leila Morris, 1912

[dbacks]

It’s our only hope.

[aristotleman]

History always repeats itself.

[Jabba the Nutt]

"As I scan the world, I find that Islam is responsible for more pain, more bloodshed, and more devastation than nearly any other force on earth at this moment."

This is true, but to 95% it hits the Muslim world.

[Nanny7]

The intent is, of course, to try and paint McCain’s connection to this guy as the equivalent of Obama’s to his “pastor”. .... absolutely right. Big difference between receiving an endorsement from a church and being actively involved in that church. But you said it better than I.