Is Fox News' Anti-Gay, Anti-Jewish, Anti-Catholic Pastor Being Courted By Rand Paul?

Pastor Robert Jeffress Has Been Denounced For Extreme Rhetoric By Republicans Like Mitt Romney And Karl Rove

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Written by Eric Hananoki

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Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has been meeting with conservative Christian leaders “to gain support for his presidential campaign,” including Fox News contributor and Pastor Robert Jeffress, according to U.S. News & World Report. Jeffress has condemned the LGBT community, Mormons, Catholics, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and Buddhists.

Reporter Kenneth T. Walsh wrote on March 26 that “Paul has been quietly meeting with scores of leaders from the Christian right to gain support for his presidential campaign” and added that he has “talked in recent months” with Jeffress. 

During the 2012 campaign, Jeffress created a firestorm when he denounced Mormonism, the faith of then-Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, as a “cult.” Jeffress' remarks drew wide condemnation from Republicans. Then-Romney challenger Rick Perry was forced to distance himself from Jeffress, who had introduced Perry at an event.

Romney called the remarks divisive and said they didn't have a place in this country. Former Reagan cabinet member Bill Bennett said Jeffress was pushing “bigotry.” Karl Rove said the remarks are “the kind of thing that doesn't belong in politics.” Former Gov. Jon Huntsman called Jeffress a “moron.” MSNBC host and former Rep. Joe Scarborough wrote: “Modern American politics as practiced by Jeffress and his ilk require that Jesus Christ be thrown under the bus with great regularity by the very same people who claim His name.”

Jeffress has attacked other religions. He's said that “religions like Mormonism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism ... lead people to an eternity of separation from God in Hell.” He's called Islam an “evil, evil, religion,” referred to Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism as “false religions,” and said Catholicism is a “counterfeit religion” that rose from a “cult-like, pagan religion.” Jeffress said of Judaism: “Judaism, you can't be saved being a Jew, you know who said that by the way, the three greatest Jews in the New Testament, Peter, Paul, and Jesus Christ, they all said Judaism won't do it, it's faith in Jesus Christ.”  

In 2011, Anti-Defamation League national director Abraham H. Foxman called on presidential candidates to “reject” Jeffress, saying there's “no place in our society for divisive appeals based on a person's religious faith.” 

Jeffress' numerous attacks on the LGBT community include claiming that those individuals: 

  • Are engaged in an “immoral” and “wrong” lifestyle that's a sign of the coming “apocalypse.”
  • Are doing activities that “is filthy. It is so degrading that it is beyond description. And it is their filthy behavior that explains why they are so much more prone to disease.”
  • Lead a "miserable lifestyle."
  • Are engaged in promiscuity and "brainwashing activit[ies]." 
  • Are linked to pedophilia.

Jeffress is so extreme that former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow was forced to withdraw from a service at his church after media outlets criticized his "hate date" with Jeffress.

The Fox News contributor is predictably not a fan of Obama, saying that while he “is not the Antichrist,” “he is choosing to lead our nation is paving the way for the future reign of the Antichrist.”