Senator John McCain on Thursday rejected the endorsements of two prominent evangelical ministers whose backing he had sought to shore up his credentials with religious conservatives.<\/p>\n
Mr. McCain repudiated the Rev. John C. Hagee, a televangelist, after a watchdog group released a recording of a sermon in which Mr. Hagee said Hitler and the Holocaust had been part of God\u2019s plan to chase the Jews from Europe and drive them to Palestine.<\/p>\n
Later in the day, he also rejected the endorsement of the Rev. Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, Ohio, whose anti-Muslim sermons were broadcast on ABC\u2019s \u201cGood Morning America\u201d\u009d on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Controversy has dogged the Hagee endorsement since Mr. McCain announced it at a February news conference, and just last week Mr. Hagee issued a letter expressing regret for \u201cany comments that Catholics have found hurtful.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n