Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
I John 4:20-21
The Rev. Franklin Graham has been in the news recently, declaring his determination to “fight the tide of moral decay that is being crammed down our throats by big business, the media, and the gay & lesbian community.”
On his Facebook page, Graham wrote:
Have you ever asked yourself–how can we fight the tide of moral decay that is being crammed down our throats by big business, the media, and the gay & lesbian community? Every day it is something else! Tiffany’s started advertising wedding rings for gay couples. Wells Fargo bank is using a same-sex couple in their advertising. And there are more. But it has dawned on me that we don’t have to do business with them. At the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, we are moving our accounts from Wells Fargo to another bank. And guess what—we don’t have to shop at Tiffany & Co., there are plenty of other jewelry stores. This is one way we as Christians can speak out—we have the power of choice. Let’s just stop doing business with those who promote sin and stand against Almighty God’s laws and His standards. Maybe if enough of us do this, it will get their attention. Share this if you agree.
This is not a new crusade for Graham, who is the director of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association started by his famous father. In seminary, my Old Testament professor, Dr. Harrell Beck, frequently expressed his dismay at the shallow theology and limited biblical scholarship of the elder Graham. The Rev. Franklin Graham and his sister, the Rev. Anne Graham Lotz share their father’s aversion to scholarly inquiry and theological reflection, but they have added something new to the mix.
They are mean in ways that their father never was.
In his most recent pronouncement, Franklin Graham is calling for a boycott of businesses that are, in his mind, promoting the gay agenda. His target this week is Wells Fargo Bank, and Graham announced that he will lead the boycott by withdrawing all the funds of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (nearly $300,000,000, as I recall) and depositing them in another bank.
The story has its own amusing punch line. The bank Graham chose as the new repository for his funds, BB&T, received an 80% score on the Corporate Equality Index of the Human Rights Campaign and this year they are sponsoring the Miami Beach Gay Pride Parade as well as something called the “Legacy Couples” program, which honors gay and lesbian couples who have been in committed relationships for ten years or longer.
But let’s get back to the Wells Fargo ad that touched off this most recent outburst. Where Graham sees moral decay I see joy and commitment and God at work in the world. It’s simply wonderful and you have to see it.
How can you not love those two moms? How can you not love that little girl? And if you cannot love the moms and the little girl, then how can you possibly love God?
Franklin Graham appeared on CNN interviewed by John King shortly after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast to say that it was God's way of cleansing the city of evil.
ReplyDelete“There has been Satanic worship in New Orleans. There’s been sexual perversion. It is a city that has strong ties to the gay and lesbian movement and these types of things… God is going to use that storm to bring a revival. God has a plan. God has a purpose…” (Source: CNN The Situation Room, Interview with John King, October 3, 2005)
Don't he and those of his ilk realize that while he spews venom toward people he hates, he also implicitly says just awful things... about God? It there any wonder that fewer and fewer people want anything to do with Christianity if he is an accurate spokesman?
Graham is among the worst of the worst proponents of graceless Christianity - bigoted, mean, judgmental - and yes, all the worse because he's trading so viciously on his father's - and his Father's - name.
Thanks for your excellent comment. And thank you for documenting some of the mean things Franklin Graham has said. His sister Anne has made similar pronouncements.
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