Evangelical leader pushing 'End Times' war with Iran

My friend Sarah Posner has been all over televangelist John Hagee in The American Prospect. In June, she wrote a lengthy exposé of Hagee, who preaches that an apocalyptic war with Iran "is foretold in the Bible as a necessary precondition for the Second Coming."

Hagee founded an outfit called Christians United for Israel (CUFI), and has been lobbying hard for a big Middle East conflagration in rightwing evangelical circles.

Yesterday, Sarah shed some light on the recent wingnut debates over whether we're fighting World War III or IV or XII or whatever. She noted a possible connection between the ramblings of Newt Gingrich, William Kristol, John McCain and others, and Hagee's bloodthirsty ideology:

Hagee has spent the past six months mobilizing popular support for a war with Iran. Based on his end-times prophecy … and false claims that Iran is just months away from a viable nuclear weapon, Hagee maintains that confrontation with Iran is necessary to fulfill God's plan for the future of the world.

While it hardly seems like a sound basis for foreign policy, as the violence between Israel and Hezbollah escalates at the Israel-Lebanon border and beyond, Hagee's view of Iran's central role in a world-altering showdown seems to be catching on.[…]

The Jerusalem Post reported this week that remarks by Newt Gingrich and John McCain that the Israel-Lebanon violence marks the beginning of World War III have their roots in Hagee's book. Knesset member Benny Elon told the Post that Gingrich and McCain "said this because they think it will lead to Iran getting involved, which they believe will set off World War III,'" adding that their "comments originated with American evangelist John Hagee." As Hagee and his minions from CUFI descend on Washington this week to lobby Congress, armed with Hagee talking points claiming that Iran will have a nuclear weapon in six months, could it be a coincidence? […]

It certainly could be. But think about Bush's No Child Left Behind legislation, a phrase with distinctly different meanings for those hanging around waiting impatiently for Armageddon and those of us who aren't all that keen on meeting our maker anytime soon.

Preachers like Hagee seem easy to ignore because we think their audiences, while vast, consists of rank-and-file religious extremists who have no real sway over American policy-makers. But Benny Elon's statement shows that Hagee does have such influence.

That's the important point. I couldn't care less about what people believe or what they worship -- it doesn't touch me at all -- but when people like Hagee, people who are trying to bring about the end of the world, get a seat at the table and can push for a war that any dolt can see would be disastrous, that's an imminent threat to the republic.

PS: See Jim Lobe's "From Beirut to Tehran" over at Tompaine.