Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain (AZ) was recently endorsed by Pastor Rod Parsley, a televangelist mega-church pastor from Ohio, whom McCain has referred to as his "spiritual guide." Pastor Parsley has called for Christians to wage a "war" against "the false religion of Islam," and argued that "America was founded in part with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed."

In reality, Pastor Parsley doesn't just hate Muslims. He continually takes public stands beyond the lines of proper discourse by rejecting the separation of church of state, and has gone so far as to compare Planned Parenthood to the Nazis. Despite this long track record of vitriol, Senator McCain has refused to renounce Pastor Parsley or reject his endorsement.

Similarly, Pastor John Hagee, an evangelical preacher who has a history of anti-Catholic statements, also endorsed Senator John McCain. Pastor Hagee stated that Hurricane Katrina was "God's punishment on New Orleans because it had planned to host a gay pride parade." Not only did Senator McCain seek the endorsement of Pastor Hagee, but he also refuses to renounce the endorsement of the bigoted pastor.

Contrast this to uproar surrounding Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) and his pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright. In a sermon specifically related to the African American community, he stated in April 2003, "The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no. God damn America." Senator Obama publicly decried Wright's remarks as "a bunch of rants that aren't grounded in the truth" and has repudiated the comments. Senator Obama also accused his former pastor of exploiting racism, and "giving comfort to those who prey on hate."

Both Barack Obama and John McCain have religious allies who have made controversial and offensive public statements, but the media have treated them very differently. Pastor Hagee's videos never had the same circulation on television as Reverend Wright's. The watchdog group Media Matters points out in a recent report that the New York Times and the Washington Post have paid 12 times as much attention to Obama's clergy as to McCain's.

If Obama is running into trouble because of his pastor, then why isn't McCain running into trouble with his Islamophobic and anti-Catholic religious endorsers? Regardless of Reverend Wright's comments, Pastor Parsley preaches to his congregation that Islam as a religion has to be eradicated.

The glaring inconsistency between the condemnation of Wright's comments and the continued feigned ignorance about Rev. Hagee's and Pastor Parsley's comments should be offensive not only to the Muslim American community, but also to the broader American public. Such religious bigotry has no place in a democracy founded on the principles of religious liberty and equality.

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