,So, in addition to being crazy, the fucker lies! Or, he copulates with the Great Whore...

Wonder if Cincy McCain has a stable for this animal?

At the age of 9, I asked a Baptist friend of mine if he wanted to go to a Church thing we were doing. He said no, he couldn't because "you Catholics worship the devil..." Obviously, it made an impression on me. Kid's name was Johnny something, and he had a clover shaped birthmark on his forehead. So, I said no we don't and even then, having the Crusader AXE approach to business, in the true Irish-Catholic spirit of ecumenism and Christian fellowship, I beat him up.

So, the idea of the Catholic Church being "the great whore" or the "Apostate Church" is an essential part of some Protestant Theology that percolated to my pre-teen buddy. Any study of the Reformation and the theology of Luther, Calvin, Cramner, Knox, Wycleff, the Anabaptists, Billy Sunday; Jonathan Edwards,Cotton Mather, Billy Graham...well, you get the picture -- they all hated the Catholic Church. Ian Paisley whom I believe has some tenuous connection with Hagee, Pat Robinson, Bob Jones Univesity and the like would preach that the IRA was funded by the Vatican to help set the stage for a successful invasion of the British Isles by the Communists along with their ally, the Pope in Rome. So, disingenuous isn't strong enoughfor this nonsense:

Hagee has often made references to "the apostate church" and the "great whore," terms that Catholics say are slurs aimed at the Roman Catholic Church. In his letter, Hagee said he now better understood that the Book of Revelation's reference to the Catholic Church as "the apostate church" and the "great whore" are "a rhetorical device long employed in anti-Catholic literature and commentary." He stressed that in his use, "neither of these phrases can be synonymous with the Catholic Church."

Not unlike the claim of some racists that when they use the word Nigger, they aren't talking about Blacks. Or, the "some of my best friends are..." So, either this guy is a lying sack of shit or he doesn't understand the history and traditions of his faith. Of course, the Catholic League's Bill Dougherty is equally batshit here.

Donohue, one of Hagee's sharpest critics, said he accepted the apology and planned to meet with Hagee Thursday in New York. "I got what I wanted," Donohue said in an interview. "He's seen the light, as they like to say. So for me it's over."

Well, Bill is easier satisfied than I. Then again, his blovations are similar enough in style and tenor to be from Hagee's pulpit. For me to believe Hagee, he needs to go to Rome and submit to the Pope as the head of the one true Catholic, Apostolic Church. Because unless he's lying, incredibly ignorant or has had a stroke, his claims in this case are equivalent to McCain's discussion of Obama as Hamas favorite son. While not as offensive since they are in the form of a psuedo-apology, they are at least as ludicrous. 

Somewhere in the canon of James Joyce, there is a passage where Buck Mulligan asks Stephen Dedalus why he doesn't just become a Protestant. The response is classic, to the effect that he refused to exchange a logically consistent absurdity for a logically inconsistent absurdity. Believing Hagee's apology is an example of a logically inconsistent absurdity.

y

Comments

[uncle buck]

AXE:
I believe the correct phrasing is: "the one true, holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church".
(Some words stick, even decades after almost burning down the altar as a boy.)
Frank McCourt has a line - I think it's in "Tis" - similar to J.J.'s brilliant argument.
I heard somewhere that one of my collegiate heroes - Garrison Keillor - became an Episcopalean.
I can see that attraction, especially for someone with his background.
I can't submit to the Roman Catholic Church anymore in this life, but I am grateful for the training I recieved in it.
Dug the Latin Mass.
And, the Jesuits sharpened the mind (before excessive dubbage smoking undid much of their work).
Donahue and Hagee...now there's a pairing of odd ducks for ya!

[Josh]

I hope your family's finances are not one of your lost causes

This is just brutal
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3939490.ece