B50. Franklin Graham's Religion Is Not His Father's

Franklin Graham is using the power of his father’s name for his own political agenda.

Throughout history there may not have been a more respected Christian leader than the Rev. Billy Graham.  He ministered for a lifetime without serious controversy or compromise, focusing on preaching the message of Jesus Christ and keeping himself clean of all political factions.

In the 1970s when Jerry Falwell changed the face of American Christianity by marrying it with conservative politics, Rev. Graham refused to be a part of it.  Although a Southern Baptist and a registered Democrat, he never let either of those distinctions rule his life.  Graham willingly pastored all presidents regardless of political party, from Truman to Obama.

He refused in 1979 to join Falwell's Moral majority, saying, "I'm for morality, but morality goes beyond sex to human freedom and social justice. We as clergy know so very little to speak with authority on the Panama Canal or superiority of armaments.  Evangelists cannot be closely identified with any particular party or person.  We have to stand in the middle in order to preach to all people, right and left."

In 1981 he told Parade magazine, “I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form.  It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right.  The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it.”

In 2005, struggling with Parkinson’s disease and then 86 years old, Rev. Graham handed the reins of his Billy Graham Evangelical Association powerhouse to his son Franklin, whose ministries include the popular Samaritan’s Purse shoebox ministry which delivers Christmas gifts to needy children around the world.

Franklin, however, is unquestionably a proponent of the Christian right that his father so avoided and denounced, and now, with the aging minister approaching his 94^th birthday and struggling more and more with his failing health, including substantial vision and hearing loss, his Association, led by Franklin, is using his name and face to press a political agenda the respected minister would never have advocated. 

Most recently there have been photos circulated on-line of Gov. Mitt Romney’s visit with Franklin and his father, implying an endorsement by the elder Graham of Romney for president.  Yet, the only quote they could get from him was “I’ll do all I can to help you.”  Had there been anything more substantial from his lips than that, we surely would be seeing it in videos all over the internet.

Following this visit and the deceptive implications of an endorsement, the Association’s website deleted its description of Mormonism as a cult. Does this mean the organization has decided to embrace Mormons into its Christian box?  No, Franklin does not call Gov. Romney a Christian.  It’s all just politics.

Earlier this year when NC was voting on an amendment to define marriage, Billy Graham’s name and face were used in ads in favor of the amendment.  No voice.  No meaningful quotes.  No video.  But there was his face, implying that he initiated the ads.

It was Franklin, also, who won the fight to make the Billy Graham Library the burial site of his parents where it will be a tourist attraction, despite his mother’s plea to be buried near Asheville where they had lived for many years, and despite his brother Ned’s strong support of his mother’s wishes.

Franklin is devoted to the political religious climate of his time, but we should be very wary of accepting anything we see or hear that appears to be coming from his father, especially during this volatile election season.  Franklin now has control of the Billy Graham Association, but Franklin’s Christianity is not his father’s.  More newspaper ads are coming.  Look at them, but be sure to notice the details that are missing and the voice that is not really speaking.  If we can hear the words as those of Franklin, not his father, we can protect the respected name of a dear man who deserves to live his last days as he so carefully lived the rest, according to his own spiritual wisdom and conscience.

Gov. Romney's recent visit with Rev. Graham
(photo from Washington Post)

President Obama's 2010 visit with Rev. Graham
(photo from Wikipedia)

" . . . (Billy) Graham always functioned as a 'paramedic' rather than a 'policeman' for the Kingdom of God."  - A. Larry Ross (B. Graham's principal spokesperson since 1981)

B38. Liberals Are Taking Our Country

Preacher says liberals are taking our country, and we need to be ever watching and alert.  Preacher says we are becoming a minority and must stand up for Jesus amidst a sea of persecution.  Blessed are we when we are persecuted for righteousness sake, he quotes to the situation.

Name-calling is nothing new.  We did it as children.  We do it as adults.  It puts us above other groups of human beings, even if only in our own minds.  If we call them a harsher name than they call us, we can feel like the victors.

Rarely, however, do the names we call each other really mean what we wrap inside them.  Let’s look together at this “liberal” word.

What the preacher means when he says “liberal”

When the preacher calls people liberals, he means “worldly” people who are without Jesus in their lives.  People who make ungodly choices and want to erase God and Christiainity from our culture.  People who are going to hell if they don't repent.

What does “liberal” really mean?

The word “liberal” comes from the Latin liber, meaning “free,” the same root from which we get the word “liberty." Interesting how two words from the same root can be interpreted so differently in our emotions, one appealing to our national pride and the other having evolved into a Christian slur.  Have you ever heard the preacher call someone a “liberal” and mean it kindly?

So who are the liberals?  Those so called are often very educated people, unfortunately another trait often degraded in our churches, even to the point of teaching that education is detrimental to our spiritual consciousness.  Interestingly though, have you noticed that whatever level of education a preacher has, whether a seminary degree or an 8^th grade education, that is the most spiritual level, according to him, and anything above that is useless or harmful?

“Liberals” are often well-traveled people.  They have worked with and befriended people of different races, religious backgrounds, and ideologies, and often they have given up their prejudices and judgments of those who are different.  They generally believe that every human being has the right to live his/her life as s/he chooses so long as it doesn't impinge on someone else's rights.

And what about the “godless” accusation?  “Liberals” are both Christian and non-Christian.  For those who are Christian, what they have rejected is not Christianity but the particular brand of Christianity preached in many of our churches.  This brand is fundamentalism.

Fundamentalism was not born with Jesus.  Jesus was as unfundamentalist as they come.  Our particular brand of fundamentalism was born in the 1970s when there was an unprecedented wedding between Christianity and right-wing politics.  This movement was led by Jerry Falwell who started the Moral Majority, and other men like Adrian Rogers, James Dobson, and Pat Robertson.  These men turned the Christian culture into a political powerhouse, thus changing the very nature and focus of our so-called faith. This fundamentalism is characterized by a literal interpretation of the Bible and by anything Republican.

As an aside here, Billy Graham was never a part of this movement.  His Association, now led by his son Franklin, is very much entrenched in it and has recently used the evangelist’s good name to push some politics in which he would never have become involved during his days of leadership.  Billy Graham was the spiritual advisor to all the presidents of his day, without regard to political party, and in 1981 he actually made this powerful statement in an interview with Parade magazine:  “I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form.  It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right.  The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it.”  Perhaps it would surprise you that one of his ghost writers (celebrities rarely write their own books) was a gay man.  (If interested, read Stranger at the Gate by Mel White.)

A “liberal” Christian is likely to be more interested in reaching out to the poor and oppressed, feeding the hungry, fighting for rights where they see them being trampled, than in our traditional rituals.  Although there’s certainly a place for both, I offer the question of which one most resembles the life and ministry of Jesus.  Perhaps we should be less harsh?  Perhaps there's a place for us all?

Preacher also warns us about “feminists.”  We should avoid them.  Trouble-makers they are.  Worldly.  Can we examine that word too, before we move on?  What does the preacher mean when he says “feminists”?  He means women who do not adhere to the fundamentalist interpretation of women’s roles in the home and church.  A woman’s main purpose, according to fundamentalist understanding, is to support her husband.  Her role in life is centered on child-rearing and home-making.  At church she is a hard worker in multiple behind-the-scenes support roles, and she might teach other women or children, but she does not preach, serve as a deacon, or teach where men are present.

So, what are “feminists” really?  I suppose they are women (no, actually many are men) who dare to think that women have the God-given right to choose their own lives.  To marry or not to marry.  To have children or not to have children.  To be housewives or to be doctors, lawyers, professors, politicians, pastors, gardeners, soldiers, or welders.

Is our current Christian culture helping us share Jesus with those around us?  I don’t think so.  Do you?  What I see is that the Church’s hatred of “liberals,” “feminists,” and let’s not even talk about gay people, is driving them as far away from us as they can get.  And sadly, they might never see Jesus’ reflection in us at all, but Falwell’s instead, or Dobson’s, or maybe even Rush Limbaugh’s.

We have fallen away, my Christian friends, and we must find our way back, or else watch the younger generations, who have rejected our foolishness, find God on their own and develop their own churches which will not resemble ours at all.  Be assured though that God is not dead.  Be assured that God is speaking and working with the younger folks, the educated folks, the Democrats, yes, even the gay people . . . God is a God of open arms, open even to us who have strayed without meaning to stray.

If I am a liberal, if I am a feminist, if I am any other label anyone might want to pin on me, I wear it proudly, along with my Christian label.  Maybe the “liberal” Christians can claim the same Scripture of justification:  blessed are they who are persecuted for standing for Christ, even if the persecutors are other Christians.

The last prayer Jesus prayed was for our unity.  How did He know way back then that we would be fighting amongst ourselves about how to interact with the world and how to read the Scriptures?  Maybe he even knew we’d be calling each other names.  Was his prayer in vain?

Related posts:

I'm Not Stupid, but I'm a Christian

Why You Can't Reason with Evangelical Christians

God Did Not Write the Bible

Sexual Orientation: It's Not a Sin

The Flaw in Biblical Guidance

Leaving Church

Change? Who? Me?