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Rev. Rod Parsley, McCain's Former Ally, Caught in a Lie?

Rod Parsley has trouble with one of the Ten Commandments.

Parsley is the fundamentalist pastor of an Ohio megachurch who was belatedly renounced by John McCain, two months after Mother Jones reported that Parsley, whom McCain had praised and campaigned with, had declared in a book that Islam was a "false religion" that ought to be "destroyed." (For a video, produced by Mother Jones and Brave New Films, showing Parsley in full anti-Islam throttle, click here.)

Sometime after McCain on May 22 rejected Parsley's endorsement, Parsley put out a video in which he responded to the McCain controversy and sought to explain his "Biblical worldview" on Islam. In this statement, he violated the thou-shall-not-fib rule.

First, he accused "political hit squads" (meaning, yours truly) of describing his views in "the most ominous and extreme terms." You can review the MotherJones/Brave New Films video and decide for yourself how "ominous and extreme" Parsley has been. Then, more telling, he betrayed himself, by running away from his own views. In the video, he says his take on Islam is "in the mainstream" and that "I have always, and I will continue, to make a clear distinction between Muslim terrorists and the vast majority of peaceful Muslims."

Not true. In his own book, Silent No More, Parsley declares,

There are some, of course, who will say that the [Islamist] 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.

In other words, Islamic terrorists are not bad apples; the faith itself is evil. In his book and in a video sermon on Islam, Parsley does not differentiate between Islam and radical Islam. In fact, he says the two are the same. He also claims that the entire Islam religion is a Satanic deception. And he notes that Islam "is an anti-Christ religion that intends, through violence, to conquer the world." All this is not the mainstream view of Islam.

So when Parsley maintains on his recent video that he does indeed distinguish between radical Islam and the rest of the faith, he appears to be lying. Sure, it's not nice to accuse a man of the cloth of being a liar, but I don't know how one gets around such an obvious conclusion in this case. Parsley clearly knows what he has said and written in the past. He must realize that he is now engaging in nothing but spin.

In his own video, Parsley says, "I understand that the raw truth of the pulpit cannot survive untempered in the political sphere." Entering the political sphere, he has denied stating what he actually stated. And there ain't much "raw truth" in that.

(Credit to Right Wing Watch for spotting Parsley's video.)

Comments

When pres. bush started calling people "Islamofascist" he was of course talking to his base. The rest of us know (or better know) that we have theocractic fascists in this country. One of my favorite books, It Can't Happen Here, tells it better than I can.

Posted by: Heretic on 06/09/08 at 3:09 PM Respond

What can one say, it appears Parsley's desperately double-talking in hopes of saving McCain as his conservative RIGHT WING political contact. Too bad. Looks like his original view of Islam has destroyed his political EXTREMIST career, so he will just have to remain a pastor of his flock.

Posted by: MarthaA on 06/09/08 at 4:39 PM Respond

Rev. Parsley needs to become mainstream and not such a nut job Christian Zionist. SWC Geneva, 24 March 2005,World Council of Churches Refuses Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Request To Rescind Israel Divestment Campaign. The general secretary of the World Council of Churches has defended the church body's recent call that its member denominations consider withdrawing investments from firms profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Kobia acknowledged that the WCC move had prompted criticism by US and international Jewish leaders. The WCC called upon Israel to obey international law that bans indiscriminate force against civilians, torture and the wanton destruction of property.The United Methodist Church(Senator Clinton's Church), Presbyterian Church USA, The Episcopal Church, amongst other main line churches call for divestment as well, as well as Obama's spiritual guide, Pastor Wright.
Senator McCain is outside of the mainstream, in fact, he is in the lunatic stream with these crazy Christian Zionists(e.g. Pres. Bush).

Posted by: Mary on 06/09/08 at 5:12 PM Respond

but Parsley's right on all counts,and it has already happened here! look at the wilson and fdr administrations!check out one of my favorite books Liberal Faschism.
amen

Posted by: bigmac on 06/09/08 at 5:19 PM Respond

If you think Parsley is right, then the U.S. is in for a world of hurt. There are millions of Muslims in the U.S., that means if you believe Parsley millions of people that want to hurt us here. This is the fundamental flaw with religious types like Parsley. Ignorance. I say the ones that are destroying the U.S. are the ones in power at the Whitehouse right now and their corporate buddies. The ones that worship the dollar over life.

Posted by: Nick on 06/10/08 at 3:27 AM Respond

I have been saying for years that Parsley is a sham and false prophet. He takes God's Holy Word and twists it far beyond what the Scriptures say. He is a fraud, plain and simple and has misled thousands of people just as the Bible says will happen in the final days. In many ways he is a bigger charlatan than Benny Hinn. I will not listen to either one of them anymore. They absolutely turn my stomach so obvious are their lies.

Posted by: Bill Stanley on 06/10/08 at 4:12 AM Respond

It is refreshing to see the media covering these religious nutball and expossing them as the hypocrites that they are..

They are dangerous people in fact I would say they are just as dangerous as the Islamist extremist

Posted by: doober on 06/10/08 at 7:37 AM Respond

Any person or religion that says of any group of people, "Kill them, Kill them all" is not following the Christ of the NEW TESTAMENT, no matter what they say.

Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." -- Matthew 5:9; which makes it plain that war mongers for private gain, whoever they are, are NOT the children of God. The fruit of righteousness is PEACE: Even in the OLD TESTAMENT, Psalms 29:11, it says, "The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace." and Psalms 34:14, "Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it." And Psalms 34:16, "The face of the Lord is against them that do evil,to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth."

Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you." -- John 14:27.

I Thessalonians 5:15 states, "See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men."

This FIGHTING spirit of KILL THEM, KILL THEM ALL philosophy of greed of the Bush administration and the McBush type churches that pulled America into an unjust war is NOT of God. Apparently Bush and his cohorts skipped over the peace parts of the Bible and totally ignored the part about not bearing false witness and McBush is McSame.

IT IS TIME TO CHANGE FROM WAR TO PEACE AND BRING OUR TROOPS HOME.

bigmac:

As all men, Parsley is a sinful man who is not right on all counts, far from it.

Posted by: MarthaA on 06/10/08 at 1:14 PM Respond

YOU ALL ARE KILLING ME,MOTHER JONES HERSELF GOT ON WOODROW WILSONS BANDWAGON DURING WORLD WAR I. THOSE WHO DON'T STUDY HISTORY ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT! IS PARSLEY A SAINT NO OF COURSE NOT,BUT AT LEAST HE HAS THE COURAGE TO CALL IT AS HE SEES IT.HAVE ANY OF YOU READ THE KORAN, AND SEEN WHAT LIES AT THE ROOT OF THIER RELIGON, IT WILL SCARE THE POOP OUT OF YOU! AND READING BETWEEN THE LINES, I SEE JUST A TAD OF ANTI SEMITISM IN SOME OF THE BLOGS ABOVE. THE BOOK I TRY TO FOLLOW,SAYS WE ARE TO BLESS ISREAL,AND IF WE DON'T WE WILL BE CURSED.SO AGAIN I URGE YOU TO STUDY THE WILSON ADMINISTRATION,AND SEE HOW MANY POLITICAL PRISONERS THERE WERE,AND HOW MANY NEWSPAPERS WERE SHUT DOWN IN THE NAME OF PROGRESSIVE FREEDOM! THE SAME WITH FDR,PUTTING THE JAPENESE IN INTERNMENT CAMPS LET US NOT REPEAT OUR ERRORS,UNDER THE QUISE OF GLOBAL WARMING,CARBON FOOTPRINTS OR WHATEVER GOOFBALL SCHEME THE NEXT NEO-PROGRESSIVE COMES UP WITH! COME UP WITH A SOLUTION AND STOP THROWING MUD!MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL,AND PRAY TO SEE THE LIGHT!
RANT OVER FOR NOW

Posted by: bigmac on 06/10/08 at 4:37 PM Respond

It's easy to write books and lecture from the pulpit. What takes courage is allow one's self to be held accountable for one's beliefs and opinions. The Lahore Ahmadiyya Islamic Society invited Pastor Parsley to debate the merits of his views on Islam. Unfortunately, rather than "silent no more", the Pastor has been nothing but "silent" in response to this invitation. Check it out: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/6/prweb988134.htm.

Posted by: Phil on 06/14/08 at 4:51 PM Respond

What is truly disturbing to me is the popularity of these charlatans.

Posted by: RMurray on 06/15/08 at 9:57 AM Respond

bigmac, When WW-I ended, no one could reconcile the claims of Arabs, Zionists, British & French so, in 1919, Woodrow Wilson "dispatched the King-Crane Commission to the former Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire to ascertain the wishes of their inhabitants regarding the postwar settlement of their territories." [Britannica]
The King-Crane report stated:
90% of Palestine's inhabitants were non Jewish & did NOT want a Jewish state in Palestine;
If they are given Palestine, "Zionists looked forward to a practically complete dispossession of the present non-Jewish inhabitants."
The King-Crane Commission said that a Jewish state in Palestine would violate the Palestinian Arabs' right to self-determination. They recommended that Zionists respect the wishes of Palestine's inhabitants & find another place to plant the Jewish state.
The Zionists were furious! They didn’t want democracy; they didn’t give a damn about “the will of the people.” The Zionists wanted Palestine, no matter what they had to do to get it. So they simply “rewrote” the history of the conflict. The usual versions of Israel's history either don't mention The King-Crane Commission Report or they minimize its importance. Anyone who believes in Democracy must consider the King-Crane Commission's official report—which even now can be documented by any interested party —irrefutable proof that:
In 1919, even after 30 years of intensive Jewish emigration into Palestine (inspired by Theodore Herzl’s The Jewish State, published in 1898), 90% of Palestine’s inhabitants were non-Jewish and did not want a Jewish state in Palestine. The will of the people was clear
The Zionists knew they were acting against the will of the people.
The Zionists knowingly subverted Democracy.
The Government of the United States confirmed the legitimacy of the claim that Palestinians make today.

Posted by: King Crane on 06/15/08 at 5:16 PM Respond