“In a sermon in 1999, I grappled with the vexing question of why a loving God would allow the evil of the Holocaust to occur,” John Hagee, the Texas-based preacher wrote in a letter to Anti-Defamation League director Abe Foxman. “I know how sensitive the issue of the Holocaust is and should be to the Jewish community and I regret if my Jewish friends felt any pain as a result.”

Republican John McCain on Thursday rejected endorsements from two influential but controversial televangelists, saying there is no place for their incendiary criticisms of other faiths.

Taibbi, a contributing editor for Rolling Stone, spent more than four months in 2006 and 2007 pretending to worship at the San Antonio megachurch whose pastor, John Hagee, has lately aired regrets if his past comments, including a reference to the “great whore” in the Book of Revelation, proved hurtful to Catholics.

Hagee backed off his stinging criticism of the Roman Catholic Church and for having “emphasized the darkest chapters in the history of Catholic and Protestant relations with the Jews.”

The mostly American audience waved Israeli flags and cheered as Hagee joined keynote speaker Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of Israel’s hardline opposition Likud Party, to insist Jerusalem remain united and under Jewish control.

A controversy about San Antonio televangelist John Hagee’s endorsement of GOP presidential aspirant Sen. John McCain heated up this afternoon, as Hagee responded for the first time to accusations that he is anti-Catholic.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain moved to distance himself Friday from the views of a San Antonio televangelist who Democrats say peddles anti-Catholic and other intolerant speech.

The Rev. John Hagee, a nationally known pastor from San Antonio, Texas, told a gathering at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg on Sunday night that America must win the war against terrorists who embrace radical Islam.

San Antonio Express-News, June 20, 2003