I booker for The Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson show called yesterday afternoon and asked if I would be a guest on the program this week to talk about my pro-choice views (views consistent with official positions taken by the General Synod of the United Church of Christ, most mainline Christian denominations and many other Christian Americans, including Roman Catholics).
I'd never heard of Rev. Peterson before and the booker was vague when I asked about Rev. Peterson's views but finally offered that he would likely disagree with my stance but that he was a fair and honest radio talk show host who liked to hear various points of view. I agreed to be on the show.
That was until I looked up his record.
"Barack Obama hates white people – especially white men." - Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson
It turns out that Rev. Peterson is a radical religious extremist.
"I was born a Democrat but I had no values; it was anything goes, whatever you want to do, and that came from the black leadership, but I finally started to examine it for myself and I realized the Democratic platform was an anti-God, anti-values, anti-American platform."
He views go way beyond offensive.
When Hurricane Katrina hit, and President Bush failed to get aid to New Orleans quickly, Rev. Peterson said:
"I stated that if whites were to just leave the United States and let blacks run the country, they would turn America into a ghetto within ten years … I gave blacks too much credit. It took a mere three days for blacks to turn the Superdome and the convention center into ghettos, rampant with theft, rape and murder.”
Rev. Peterson is himself African-American. What he is not is a speaker of the truth.
This morning I wrote Rev. Peterson's booker and producer and told them:
Thank you for the invitation. Before you called I had not heard of The Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson. However, after reviewing his record last night it is clear that he is a radical extremist and that my appearance on his show could only serve to offer him legitimacy. His hate-filled rhetoric toward people of different faiths and political views are irresponsible and should have no place in American discourse. Therefore, I decline the interview request. I certainly have no problem appearing on conservative religious programs – I did so just this week to discuss economic issues – but Rev. Peterson is no conservative. His record of promoting hate and division is far outside the bonds of common decency.
Rev. Peterson shouldn't even be on the air. No surprise, however, to find that he has been a regular on FOX News.
I'll also mention that nowhere in his bio does it mention which denomination Rev. Peterson is ordained in or where he earned his theological degree. The omission leaves one to question his credentials.
