On March 3, Hagee issued a statement to the press claiming he was “shocked and saddened to learn of the mischaracterization of my views on Catholics.” We knew his claims of “mischaracterization” were bunk, so we trotted out a few of his meatier anti-Catholic allegations and printed them in a news release of our own.
The next day, we were surprised to find that Hagee’s statement had been amended, with a new paragraph added. Hagee’s new statement wailed, “I’ve learned that some have accused me of referring to the Catholic Church as the ‘great whore’ of revelations. This is a serious misinterpretation of my words. When I refer to the ‘great whore,’ I am referring to the apostate church, namely those Christians who embrace the false cult system of Jew-hatred and anti-Semitism.” Hagee continued that this false cult includes some Protestants as well as some Catholics.
The league wasted no time in blasting Hagee for his insincerity. We pointed out that labeling the Church “The Great Whore” has long been a staple of the arsenal stocked by anti-Catholic Protestants. We added that our office contains a whole library of similar preachers to Hagee labeling our Church a “false cult” and the “Whore of Babylon.”
It wasn’t long before we got a call from Hagee’s public relations agent. He was puzzled as to how we had gotten our hands on Hagee’s amended statement. When we explained we read it from reports in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the PR man was stunned. It seems Hagee never approved that paragraph. Apparently, someone at the PR firm had released it accidentally.
We had to laugh. Anyone familiar with the preacher would know the statement was rubbish. Even Hagee—who actually feigned amazement at the idea that anyone would find him anti-Catholic—knew better than to come out and say he doesn’t believe the Catholic Church is the “Whore of Babylon.” It just shows how obvious and how deeply ingrained his bigotry is.
