[The Hill] Senate candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) on Sunday night denounced the pastor expected to speak at Monday's ceremony celebrating the opening of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.
"Robert Jeffress says 'you can’t be saved by being a Jew,' and 'Mormonism is a heresy from the pit of hell.' He’s said the same about Islam. Such a religious bigot should not be giving the prayer that opens the United States Embassy in Jerusalem," Romney tweeted.
Jeffress, a Dallas-based pastor and known supporter of President Trump, said over the weekend that he would be leading the prayer at the dedication of the new embassy. Trump announced in December that he was relocating the embassy to Jerusalem, a move that drew international condemnation and sparked concerns of a widening conflict in the Middle East.
According to a report from Haaretz, Jeffress has made derogatory remarks about Islam in the past, calling it "a religion that promotes pedophilia" and a "heresy from the pit of hell." |