Pastor Apologizes For Controversial Remarks

Another pastor with connections to a presidential candidate is under scrutiny for controversial remarks he’s made in the past. It’s not the Rev. Jeremiah Wright in the news this time but John Hagee, a televangelist who has endorsed John McCain. In a letter to the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights, Hagee is apologizing for once referring to the Catholic Church as “the great whore” and calling it “the apostate church,” reports the AP.

"Out of a desire to advance a greater unity among Catholics and Evangelicals in promoting the common good,” Hagee wrote Catholic League president William Donohue, “I want to express my deep regret for any comments that Catholics have found hurtful." Donohue appears to have accepted the apology, telling the AP, “to me, it’s basically over.”

Hagee has been under increased scrutiny in the wake of the Rev. Wright controversies. While there is no evidence McCain has a close past relationship with the pastor, he accepted his endorsement and the two appeared together at an event earlier this year. Hagee has made other controversial remarks, including apparently an assertion that Hurricane Katrina was the result of planned gay pride parade in New Orleans around that time. “All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that,” Hagee told NPR.