Why hasn’t McCain already distanced himself from such a radical as Parsley? Well, first because Parsley apparently says what the “base” wants to hear, and McCain, who, in February of 2000, denounced the two best-known leaders of the Christian religious right, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, as “agents of intolerance,” needs the base to win. Of course, it helps that McCain reversed himself and went to Liberty University in the spring of 2006 to deliver the commencement address, defend the war and try to make up with religious conservatives.

Even so, what Parsley says is so over the top on Islam that it would make it virtually impossible for McCain, should he be elected President, to communicate any kind of respect for Islamic nations in his foreign relations and be believed. Even President George W. Bush has been careful to communicate respect toward Islam.

In his writings, Parsley has called upon Christians to actively confront the "false religion" of Islam with the aim of destroying it. He urges his readers to realize that a confrontation between Christianity and Islam is unavoidable: "We find now we have no choice. The time has come." He ramps up the fear: "We may already be losing the battle. As I scan the world, I find that Islam is responsible for more pain, more bloodshed, and more devastation than nearly any other force on earth at this moment." Parsley claims that Islam is an "anti-Christ religion" predicated on "deception." The Muslim prophet, Mohammed, he writes, "received revelations from demons and not from the true God."

Bill Moyers, when he and his wife Judith received the Union Medal from Union Theological Seminary in 2005 “for their contributions to faith and reason in America,” chose to focus, in his speech, “9/11 and the Sport of God” in large part, on Rod Parsley.

He spoke of Parsley, the “Ohio Restoration Project” and Parsley’s “Patriot Pastors” who were identified and trained to “get out the conservative religious vote” in 2006. “According to press reports, the leader of the movement - the senior pastor of a large church in suburban Columbus [Parsley] - casts the 2006 elections as an apocalyptic clash between ‘the forces of righteousness and the hordes of hell.’ The fear and loathing in his message is palpable: He denounces public schools that won't teach creationism, require teachers to read the Bible in class, or allow children to pray. He rails against the ‘secular jihadists’ who have ‘hijacked’‘ America and prevent school kids from learning that Hitler was ‘an avid evolutionist.’ He links abortion to children who murder their parents. He blasts the ‘pagan left’ for trying to redefine marriage. He declares that ‘homosexual rights’ will bring ‘a flood of demonic oppression.’ On his church website you read that ‘Reclaiming the teaching of our Christian heritage among America's youth is paramount to a sense of national destiny that God has invested into this nation.’"

In his wonderful book American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, Chris Hedges, spends a lot of time on Rod Parsley as well and Parsley’s advocacy of “dominionism,” a view that Christians should have “dominion over the nation and eventually over the earth itself.” Hedges describes “Christian dominion” as the plan for an America where “the 10 Commandments form the basis of our legal system, creationism and ‘Christian values’ form the basis of our eductional system,and the media and the government proclaim the Good News to one and all. Labor unions, civil-rights laws and public schools will be abolished. Women will be removed from the workforce to stay home, and all those deemed insufficiently Christian will be denied citizenship.”

It is shocking enough that there are American citizens who hold these views. But it must be said, in no uncertain terms, that this is a vision of a repressive, theocratic society so at odds with the American Constitution that a president who held these views would be unable to swear to uphold the Constitution in the oath of office.

Parsley cannot be a “spiritual guide” for a reputable candidate for President of the United States. Senator McCain must immediately renounce Rob Parsley and all his extreme and dangerous views, not only his hate mongering views of Islam, but also Parsley’s fundamental opposition to core American democratic principles.

And we all need to pay a LOT more attention to what the so-called conservative “base” is actually advocating.