North Carolina GOP Candidate Mark Harris Believes Islam Is ‘Satanic’

The Republican candidate in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District, former Southern Baptist minister Mark Harris, thinks that Jews and Muslims need to accept Jesus Christ for peace to happen between Israelis and Palestinians, and that Islam is part of a “satanic trinity.”

I can only imagine what conversation at the dinner table is like with this guy.

CNN’s KFile delved into the 52-year-old Republican’s past and found some disturbing statements in sermons Harris delivered over the years. In a 2014, sermon, Harris showed a video that claims European and American cultures are threatened by Muslim immigrants and fertility rates.

After showing the video, Harris asked his congregants: “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” according to KFile.

In a November 2010 sermon (audio archived here), Harris discussed the Bible’s Book of Revelation and related its dark prose about the devil to Islam and modern events.

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

KFile also noted that in another sermon the same year, Harris said countries under Islamic rule “bow down to the image of the Beast”:

“If you reject Jesus and you go into the great tribulation that we’re describing in Revelation 13, the Devil’s not going to give you that choice,” he said. “You’re going to be forced to worship the anti-Christ. You’re going to be forced to bow down to the image of the Beast. And you know as well as I do in some countries of the world this very morning under Islamic rule, men are given no choice, but God’s given you a choice this very morning.”

As a pastor for more than 30 years, Harris has plenty of material to examine to determine his fitness for political office. In addition to his hatred of Islam, Harris also is a misogynist and a homophobe.

In 2013 and 2014, he said women should “submit” to their husbands. In 2015, he blamed “homosexuality” for causing a nation “floundering in moral decay.”

As The Charlotte Observer observed, “In North Carolina, few preachers have been more prominent” than Mark Harris.

Harris is running against 34-year-old Democrat Dan McCready, a Marine Corps veteran who studied at Duke University and Harvard Business School and started a solar farm company, Politico reported.

North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District has been solidly Republican in House elections since 1962, the report noted. In late October, President Donald Trump held a rally in Charlotte to stump for Harris.

The most recent poll shows the race in a statistical tie, with Harris leading McCready by 1% point.