By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer

Posted March 26, 2008 – It looks like Sen. Barack Obama isn’t the only one with problem preachers in his camp.  McCain has joined the chorus, “renouncing” two lofty ministers who have “dissed” the Catholic Church and implied the Holocaust was God’s will. 

McCain, had accepted the endorsements of the Rev. John Hagee and the Rev. Rod Parsley, both conservative evangelical pastors, but was forced to distance himself from both of them following the release of inflammatory excerpts from their sermons.  

Hagee, a televangelist and pastor of an evangelical mega-church in San Antonio, remarked in a 1990 sermon that God had sent Hitler to deliver Jews to the Promise Land.

“Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them,” McCain told reporters Thursday. “I feel I must reject his endorsement.”

McCain’s decision was a tough one.  Because denouncing the popular evangelist pastor could hurt the Republican candidate with the Christian right who’ll be an important constituency, needed in wooing voters in swing states like Ohio and Florida.

But this isn’t a first for Hagee. He’s also made disparaging remarks about the Roman Catholic Church, implying it supported Adolf Hitler.  So, McCain made a calculated decision. It was time to cut the pastor loose and disavow his endorsement. 

Smart move.

But as soon as McCain shook off the Hagee flap, comments from Ohio preacher Rod Parsley were discovered.  On a DVD version of one of Parsley’s sermons, the pastor says, “Islam is an anti-Christ religion that intends, through violence, to conquer the world.”

Parsley, pastor of the World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio, like Hagee endorsed McCain in February when he was battling former Gov. Mike Huckabee for the support of religious conservatives.  At the time of Parsley’s endorsement, the Arizona senator praised him as a “truly great leader in America.”

But on Thursday, McCain withdrew the platitudes. “I believe there is no place for that kind of dialogue in America, and I believe that even though he endorsed me, and I didn’t endorse him, the fact is that I repudiate such talk, and I reject his endorsement,” McCain told the AP.

McCain is now faced with a situation, not unlike the one Obama has endured regarding the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.  McCain, however, contends a difference in their cases, saying he can’t be responsible for everything a supporter might say.

Both Obama and McCain had one perception of who these men were and what they stood for and found out later a different side of them.

From here on out, politicians and pastors might want to keep some distance.

These philosophical and religious differences could be why the founding fathers thought the separation of church and state would be a good idea. 

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