GOP House nominee said Jews and Muslims must convert to Christianity

Mark Harris, the Republican nominee in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District,  once said Muslims worship “the anti-Christ” and said there could be no peace between Jews and Muslims until they all converted to Christianity.

Now Harris is locked in a close election with Democratic nominee Dan McCready.

When he was a pastor at a Charlotte’s First Baptist Church, Harris would regularly sow division and misunderstanding by preaching a distorted view of Islam, according to a CNN investigation.

“There is a satanic trinity of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. Satan is always a counterfeit,” Harris said in 2010. “Listen to me, that is why the religion of Islam is so dangerous. It is the great counterfeit of our generation.”

In another sermon, CNN reports, “Harris played on a similar theme, saying that in countries under Islamic rule, people are given no choice but to ‘worship the anti-Christ’ and ‘to bow down to the image of the Beast.'”

And in 2011, Harris had this to say about “the incredible tension” between Jews and Palestinians: “There will never be peace in Jerusalem until the day comes that every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

These sermons of intolerance are coming to light in the aftermath of a domestic terror attack fueled by intolerance of Jews.

In a hate-fueled rage, an armed man walked into a Pittsburgh synagogue and killed 11 worshippers, inspired in part by anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that had been parroted by prominent Republicans, including Trump himself.

Harris’ intolerance also includes misogyny, as he is opposed to women working outside the house. In 2013, the Republican said it is “critically important to ask” whether it is “a healthy pursuit for society” to teach girls that they should have careers and be “independent.”

Harris might be disappointed in November, given that Congress could have a record number of women elected to pursue careers in the House and Senate. Some experts estimate Congress could have more than 100 women for the first time in history.

And candidates like Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib are set to be the first Muslim women in Congress.

At a time when the nation is seeking leaders to bring about healing and unity, Harris has a record of doing just the opposite.

His ideas are better suited to the year 1618, not 2018.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.