Pastor Hagee's Views

Shalom All,

People have been asking me about Pastor Hagee lately and concerns about his being anti-Catholic. From what I have seen, I tend to believe that he is very critical about the History of the Catholic Church, but I'm not as sure that he is similarly critical of Catholics of today. In fact, he complimented Pope Benedict on his views recently. I am not necessarily in agreement with his condemnations of the Popes during World War II, though I would say that they could have done more earlier, perhaps. During the war, the lives of Catholics around Europe were in jeopardy and many Catholics were killed by the Nazis. It was not a situation of simply "speaking truth to power" as my friends are wont to say about standing up for what you believe in. Lives were at stake.

Is it wrong to criticize the Catholic Church for the long history of support of persecution of Jews prior to World War II? To criticize the Catholic Church for over 1,000 years of fomenting hatred of Jews and playing no small part in the deaths of tens of thousands whose crime was that of being Jews cannot be considered an "anti-Catholic" position. The fact that Pastor Hagee often talks about the Catholic Church in the past and then brings his argument into the present without explicitly separating modernity from antiquity can and does however lead to people understanding him to be equally critical of modern Catholicism. I can only say that his defenses against charges of being anti-Catholic can only go so far and that it will be important to clarify the separation between the historical church and the modern one. Else, when he speaks, he will indict himself through his words regardless of his intentions.

The real question that faces the Jewish community is whether or not working with Christians United For Israel, founded by Pastor Hagee, on efforts to support Israel should be affected or tempered by what Pastor Hagee preaches through his ministry. I believe that the answer to that question is definitely, "Yes." We have been highly critical ourselves things said by speakers in other venues and on other topics that groups in this community would bring to Des Moines, how can we not do so for our own speakers? The next question is, "How?"

I believe that it will be extremely difficult to promote CUFI in liberal Jewish communities, where support for Israel could be stronger to begin with, if Pastor Hagee's views on other issues, with which the vast majority of American Jews do not agree, become interwoven with CUFI. Certainly, regarding social issues, we, in the Jewish community, disagree vehemently with views held by Pastor Hagee. The list of those issues is way to long to bother to produce here, but provides the concern. If that long list of issues becomes so interconnected with CUFI that CUFI comes to stand for support for Israel AND a whole list of views that most Jews will refuse to associate with, it will be impossible to maintain our relationship with CUFI.

While there are a good number of Republican supporters reading this email, the vast majority of American Jews are liberal Democrats because of social concerns. I believe that we cannot give up on allies for Israel who oppose those concerns, but neither can we abandon those concerns to embrace allies for Israel. A strong ongoing connection between CUFI and John Hagee Ministries thus endangers the collaboration between Jewish communities and CUFI.

I must point out that very few of my colleagues in the Reform movement would even bother to discuss this and few in the Conservative movement would either. Out of fear alone, they might abandon CUFI so as not to potentially upset their local social issue allies. The difficulty for most Jews in understanding the nuances of Evangelical Christianity make arguments against Pastor Hagee's views well beyond possible defense and adding in the political implications in many communities of trying to do so, even equipped with understanding, and you will have fewer and fewer Jewish communities rising to support CUFI even as the need to do so for the sake of Israel continues to grow. That is the practical reality. It is not pretty, but it is what it is.

I believe that Israel needs the support of groups like CUFI and that we in the Jewish community need to encourage that support. It just isn't always easy to do and in many places may not be possible to do.

-David