Graham has said in interviews and social media posts that he believes Jesus would approve of the COVID-19 vaccine, saying "that's what Jesus Christ would want us to do, to help save life. It's just a tool to help save life."[13][14][15] He has compared the vaccine to the oil and wine the Good Samaritan used to treat the wounds of the injured traveler, saying "Now the oil and wine were the medicines of that day."[15] He told ABC News, "I think for a pastor to tell someone not to take the vaccine is problematic because what would happen if that person got coronavirus and died?"[13][14]
Graham has also cited the work of Samaritan's Purse in describing his support for the vaccine. "We have seen what COVID can do," said Graham, citing Samaritan's Purse work to help during the outbreaks in Cremona, Italy; Los Angeles; North Carolina and the Bahamas.[15]
Graham has also spoken of seeing the effects of the virus in his own organization. "I've had some of my own staff, one of them was on a ventilator for three months, Graham said in an interview with CBS News, "...from what I have seen and experienced myself, I don't want COVID and I don't want anybody else to get it."[15] Graham stated that he and his wife are both vaccinated. He also stated, "I want people to know that COVID-19 can kill you. But we have a vaccine out there that could possibly save your life. And if you wait, it could be too late."[16]
Franklin Graham visited Ukraine in March 2022, immediately after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Graham conducted an Easter Sunday sermon from Ukraine and addressed both Presidents Putin and Zelensky, calling for a 10-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in observance of the Easter holiday.[17]
In March 2022, Samaritan's Purse deployed an Emergency Field Hospital in Lviv, Western Ukraine, to provide medical care amidst the ongoing war. During the organization's work in Ukraine, Franklin Graham visited the teams operating the hospital and offering medical assistance.[18]
According to the Ukrainian government, Samaritan's Purse has been operating in Ukraine since the start of the hostilities in Ukrainian Donbass in 2014. Since the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, the organization, through local partners, has been delivering food, water, warm clothing, and medical assistance. More than 9.6 million Ukrainians have benefited from this aid. The organization has established cooperation with 2,000 Ukrainian partners. [19][20]
In the August 30, 2010, issue of Time magazine, "Does America Hate Islam?" Graham reportedly said that Islam "is a religion of hatred. It's a religion of war." Building the cultural center near Ground Zero, he says, means Muslims "will claim now that the World Trade Center property...is Islamic land."[27]
Franklin Graham drew scrutiny in 2009 for drawing a full-time salary from Samaritan's Purse while simultaneously receiving a full-time salary from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA). This was called into question after his 2008 compensation from both organizations totaled $1.2 million. (Most of this was the result of a new IRS rule that required him to re-report deferred retirement contributions that had already been reported over the previous three years.[29]) Some experts on non-profit organizations have questioned whether one person can perform two full-time jobs leading organizations that employ hundreds and spend hundreds of millions around the world.[30] In response to the questions about his compensation, Graham decided to give up his salary from BGEA, stating his calling to the ministry "was never based on compensation." He also had contributions to his retirement plans suspended until the economy bounced back.[31] However, Graham was again criticized in 2015 when it was revealed he had again taken up his salary from BGEA where his annual compensation was significantly higher than that of the CEO's of similar, but much larger, non-profit organizations. [32]
According to 2014 data, Graham is the highest paid Samaritan's Purse employee at $622,252 annually and leads other charities in compensation.[33] The preacher gave up a salary at the evangelistic association during the late economic downturn,[34] but the leaders urged him to accept compensation again and he now receives increased retirement contributions as well as a regular salary.[35] The evangelistic association reported 2013 revenues as $106.5 million and 2014 as $112,893,788.[36][37]
Barack Obama (2009–2017)
On August 19, 2010, when asked by CNN correspondent John King if he had doubts that President Barack Obama is a Christian, Graham stated, "I think the president's problem is that he was born a Muslim; his father was a Muslim. The seed of Islam is passed through the father like the seed of Judaism is passed through the mother. He was born a Muslim, his father gave him an Islamic name." Graham continued, "Now it's obvious that the president has renounced the prophet Mohammed, and he has renounced Islam, and he has accepted Jesus Christ. That's what he says he has done. I cannot say that he hasn't. So I just have to believe that the president is what he has said."[38][39] In a March 2011 interview with the conservative Internet publication Newsmax, Graham claimed officials in the Obama administration had connections to the Muslim Brotherhood:
The Muslim Brotherhood is very strong and active in our country. It's infiltrated every level of our government. Right now we have many of these people that are advising the US military and State Department on how to respond in the Middle East, and it's like asking a fox, like a farmer asking a fox, "How do I protect my henhouse from foxes?" We've brought in Muslims to tell us how to make policy toward Muslim countries. And many of these people we've brought in, I'm afraid, are under the Muslim Brotherhood.[40]
In an open letter response, Graham apologized to President Obama, saying, "I regret any comments I have ever made which may have cast any doubt on the personal faith of our president, Mr. Obama. The president has said he is a Christian and I accept that." In the open letter closing Graham stated, "In this election season and challenging economic time I am praying for our country and for those who lead it—for we are commanded in Scripture to do so."[41]
Graham has commented on Hinduism as well, saying, "No elephant with 100 arms can do anything for me. None of their 9,000 gods is going to lead me to salvation."[42]
Opposition to indicting Sudan's Al-Bashir
When Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir was indicted by the International Criminal Court in March 2009, Graham argued in an op-ed in The New York Times that Bashir should not be indicted for alleged genocidal acts because the indictment would lead to the collapse of the 2005 peace agreement.[43]
Donald Trump (2017–2021)
In April 2011, Graham told ABC's This Week program that Donald Trump, who had recently declared an interest in the Republican nomination for the 2012 U.S. presidential race, was his preferred candidate.[44] During an MSNBCMorning Joe interview on February 21, 2012,[45] Graham said that Rick Santorum was most closely aligned to Christian values in his words and deeds and that Senator Santorum was certainly a Christian at heart. On President Obama, Graham said that he is "a fine man," but could not know whether the president was a Christian in his heart. Asked about Mitt Romney, Graham said that most Protestants do not view Mormonism as a Christian faith.[46]
On February 28, 2012, Graham responded to a one-page letter sent by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as an: "Open Letter from Leaders of Faith Regarding Statements by Franklin Graham." In the introduction to the one-page letter, the fourteen signatories stated: "We are greatly troubled by recent attempts by some religious leaders to use faith as a political weapon. We were disturbed and disappointed by statements made by Rev. Franklin Graham during an interview on MSNBC that questioned whether President Obama is a Christian." In closing, the open-letter stated: "We call on Rev. Graham and all Christian leaders to exemplify this essential teaching of Jesus and refrain from using Christianity as a weapon of political division."[47] In June 2016, Graham told a crowd, "I have zero hope for the Democratic Party; I have no hope for the Republican Party. I am running a campaign to put God back in the political process."[48] Nevertheless, in November 2016, Graham told The Washington Post that God had played a role in Donald Trump's election as U.S. president, saying: "I could sense going across the country that God was going to do something this year. And I believe that at this election, God showed up."[49] The same newspaper noted that the day after Trump's victory, Graham had posted a comment on Facebook in which he wrote, "Did God show up? […] In watching the news after the election, the secular media kept asking 'How did this happen?' 'What went wrong?' 'How did we miss this?' Some are in shock. Political pundits are stunned. Many thought the Trump/Pence ticket didn't have a chance. None of them understand the God-factor."[49] At the Inauguration of Donald Trump on January 20, 2017, Graham chose to read a passage from Paul's First Epistle to Timothy, chapter 2, which calls for prayers for all people, including "kings and for all those in authority, that we may live peacefully quiet lives in all godliness and holiness."[50]
Since the 2016 election, Graham has "become known, above all, as the most vociferous evangelical ally" of Trump.[51] He has strongly opposed the impeachment process, calling it an "unjust inquisition."[52] In a November 21, 2019, interview with Eric Metaxas, Graham suggested opposition to Trump was the work of a "demonic power."[53][54] In December, when Christianity Today magazine, founded by Graham's father Billy, published an editorial calling Trump "profoundly immoral" and supporting his removal from office, Graham responded by saying his father had voted for Trump and saw him as the "man for this hour in history for our nation" and that the magazine was "representing the elitist liberal wing of evangelicalism."[55][56]
In mid-December 2020, Graham wrote about the first Trump presidency on Facebook, saying that "President Trump will go down in history as one of the great presidents of our nation, bringing peace and prosperity to millions here in the U.S. and around the world."[57]
In 2017 Graham spoke against a bill proposing to ban conversion therapy. Referencing the biblical text of Leviticus 18:22, he said, "Homosexuality is defined by God as sin, an abomination to Him." He also compared conversion therapy to conversion to Christianity.[59]
North Carolina Amendment 1
Graham supported North Carolina Amendment 1, which was passed by a voter referendum on May 8, 2012, prohibiting same-sex marriage and all domestic partnerships.[60] Graham responded to Obama's May 9, 2012, statement of support for same-sex marriage, saying, "President Obama has, in my view, shaken his fist at the same God who created and defined marriage. It grieves me that our president would now affirm same-sex marriage, though I believe it grieves God even more."[61]
In December 2017, several British MPs urged the Home Secretary to consider refusing UK entry to Graham from speaking at an event due to take place in Blackpool in September 2018. As Graham represents the evangelical community, critics argued that those who want to ban Graham which means that individuals who have different opinions of LGBT rights would be banned in the UK. Gordon Marsden, an openly gayLabour MP suggested that Graham's comments may have contravened British laws on hate speech. As of February 2018, a petition against Graham being granted a visa had gathered more than 7,500 signatures. The pastor of Liberty Church in Blackpool, who organized the petition, said: "As a Christian and as a leader of a church that particularly welcomes LGBT people, I'm horrified that other local churches are inviting someone with this record of hate speech." The pastor said that Graham's visit had triggered an "enormous amount of protest from Christians in the north-west" of England, and his presence would be "extremely destructive in the area".[62]
Buttigieg tweets
After South Bend, IndianamayorPete Buttigieg became the first openly gay man to announce a run for the 2020 Democratic nomination for President against President Donald Trump, Graham attacked Buttigieg for his homosexuality and marriage to another gay man in April 2019, tweeting "Mayor Buttigieg says he's a gay Christian. As a Christian I believe the Bible which defines homosexuality as sin, something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised or politicized. The Bible says marriage is between a man & a woman—not two men, not two women." The tweet was one of three in a thread.[63][64][65][66][67]
The tweet was met with a strong negative response against Graham, much of which condemned Graham as a hypocrite for selective criticism of a Democratic candidate's perceived wrongdoings while remaining silent on those perceived of the incumbent Republican. MSNBC host Joe Scarborough denounced Graham on his Morning Joe program, saying, "Just shut up Franklin Graham! You are a disgrace! You are a disgrace for normalizing Donald Trump's behavior."[68]The Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin rebuked Graham as a "hypocritical bigot" who "has rationalized Trump's infidelity and racism, ignored his lies, cheered his inhumane immigration policy and behaved as a political hack rather than a religious leader," also writing "Buttigieg gets the benefit of being attacked by a right-winger whom progressives revile, gets to underscore a message of generational change and acceptance and gets to demonstrate what a class act he is. The other candidates must be wondering why some GOP hatemonger doesn't attack them."[69] Opinion pieces in the National Review,[70]The Charlotte Observer,[71] and The Arizona Republic[72] were also critical of Graham's comments.[73]
Commentary about Vladimir Putin
Graham defended Russian President Vladimir Putin's "gay propaganda" law and has praised his leadership for "protecting children from any homosexual agenda or propaganda." This opinion was expressed prior to the 2014 and 2022 invasions by Russia of Ukraine.[74] In the same article, Graham writes: "To be clear, I am not endorsing President Putin. To survive in the KGB and rise to power in Russia, you have to be tough. His enemies say he is ruthless. To some, he is a modern version of a czar. His personal life has its own controversies."
UK tour 2020 and 2022
All venues booked for Franklin Graham's planned eight-city 2020 UK tour cancelled his booking after protests by LGBTQ+ activists, petitions and requests from local councils. Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, stated Liverpool is proud of its LGBT+ community and would challenge hatred and intolerance.[75] Graham's organisation said it would seek other venues. Many opponents said statements Graham had made were incompatible with their values, and that his appearance would be divisive, could be disruptive, or lead to a breach of the peace.[76][77] After threatening legal action for breach of contract and giving assurances to venues that his preaching would not be discriminatory, Graham's tour was rescheduled for mid-2022.[78]
Personal life
Graham married Jane Austin Cunningham of Smithfield, North Carolina, in 1974.[8] They have four children: William Franklin Graham IV (Will), born in 1975, Roy Austin Graham (b. 1977), Edward Bell Graham (b. 1979) and Jane Austin Graham Lynch (Cissie) (b. 1986). Graham and his wife have twelve grandchildren. He now lives in the mountains of Boone, North Carolina, with his wife.[79]
Graham underwent heart surgery in November 2021.[80]
Published works
Bob Pierce: This One Thing I Do (1983)
Rebel With A Cause: Finally Comfortable Being Graham (1995), autobiography
Miracle in a Shoe Box (1995)
Living Beyond the Limits: A Life in Sync with God (1998)
James Orsen Bakker is an American televangelist and convicted felon. Between 1974 and 1987, Bakker hosted the television program The PTL Club and its cable television platform, the PTL Satellite Network, with his then wife, Tammy Faye. He also developed Heritage USA, a now-defunct Christian theme park in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. was an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, and conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia. He founded Lynchburg Christian Academy in 1967, founded Liberty University in 1971, and co-founded the Moral Majority in 1979.
Religious affiliations can affect the electability of the presidents of the United States and shape their stances on policy matters and their visions of society and also how they want to lead it. While no president has ever openly identified as an atheist, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and William Howard Taft were speculated to be atheists by their opponents during political campaigns; in addition, a survey during the presidency of Donald Trump showed that 63% of Americans did not believe he was religious, despite his professed Christian affiliation. Conspiracy theorists also falsely circulated rumors that Barack Obama was a Muslim during his 2004 Senate campaign and later time as President. Conversely, other presidents, such as Jimmy Carter, have used their faith as a defining aspect of their campaigns and tenure in office.
Samaritan's Purse is an evangelical Christian humanitarian aid organization that provides aid to people in physical need as a key part of its Christian missionary work. The organization's president is Franklin Graham, son of Christian evangelist Billy Graham. The name of the organization is derived from the New Testament Parable of the Good Samaritan. With international headquarters in Boone, North Carolina, the organization also maintains warehouse and aviation facilities in nearby North Wilkesboro and Greensboro, North Carolina.
William Franklin Graham Jr. was an American evangelist, ordained Southern Baptist minister, and civil rights advocate, whose broadcasts and world tours featuring live sermons became well known in the mid- to late 20th century. Throughout his career, spanning over six decades, Graham rose to prominence as an evangelical Christian figure in the United States and abroad.
Richard Duane Warren is an American Baptist evangelical Christian pastor and author. He is the founder of Saddleback Church, an evangelical Baptist megachurch in Lake Forest, California. Since 2022, he is executive director of the Finishing the Task mission coalition.
George Beverly Shea was a Canadian-born American gospel singer and hymn composer. Shea was often described as "America's beloved gospel singer" and was considered "the first international singing 'star' of the gospel world," as a consequence of his solos at Billy Graham Crusades and his exposure on radio, records and television. Because of the large attendance at Graham's Crusades, it is estimated that Shea sang live before more people than anyone else in history.
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) is a non-profit Christian outreach organization that promotes multimedia evangelism, conducts evangelistic crusades, and engages in disaster response. The BGEA operates the Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville, North Carolina, and the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Billy Graham Library is a public museum and library documenting the life and ministry of Christian evangelist Billy Graham. The 40,000-square-foot (3,700 m2) complex opened to the public on June 5, 2007. The library is located on the grounds of the international headquarters of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in Charlotte, North Carolina, a few miles from where Graham was reared. The library is styled after a dairy barn, with a mechanical "talking" cow, to reflect Graham's farm-based childhood.
Baptist minister and broadcaster Pat Robertson (1930–2023) had outspoken opinions on religion, politics, and other subjects. Many of his statements have stirred controversy and several have been headline news in the United States and elsewhere. Robertson made many of these comments on his daily talk show, The 700 Club.
William Herbert Keller is an American television evangelist and the host of Christian evangelical Internet and television ministry Live Prayer.
Since 1937, the United States presidential inauguration has included one or more prayers given by members of the clergy. Since 1933 an associated prayer service either public or private attended by the president-elect has often taken place on the morning of the day. At times a major public or broadcast prayer service takes place after the main ceremony most recently on the next day.
Robert James Jeffress Jr. is an American Southern Baptist pastor, author, radio host, and televangelist. He is the senior pastor of the 14,000-member First Baptist Church, a megachurch in Dallas, Texas, and is a Fox News Contributor. His sermons are broadcast on the television and radio program Pathway to Victory, which is broadcast on more than 1,200 television stations in the United States and 28 other countries, and is heard on 900 stations and broadcast live in 195 countries.
Samuel Rodriguez Jr. is an American Evangelical Christian leader born to Puerto Rican parents in the United States. He is a pastor, movie producer, author, civil rights activist and television personality. He is the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.
Johnnie Moore is an American evangelical leader and businessman who founded the Kairos Company, a public relations firm. Moore is a commissioner for the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom and president of Congress of Christian Leaders.
The Modesto Manifesto or Billy Graham rule is a code of conduct among male evangelical Protestant leaders, in which they avoid spending time alone with women to whom they are not married. It is adopted as a display of integrity, a means of avoiding sexual temptation, to avoid any appearance of doing something considered morally objectionable, as well as for avoiding accusations of sexual harassment or assault.
Ken Isaacs is an American executive with Christian humanitarian organization Samaritan's Purse.
The Trump Prophecy is a 2018 Christian drama film based on a story by Orlando-based retired firefighter Mark Taylor that he named "The Commander-in-Chief Prophecy". It is a collaboration between ReelWorksStudios and Liberty University's Cinematic Arts program, and is the school's second involvement in a theatrically released motion picture after another Christian film, Extraordinary (2017). ReelWorksStudios is owned by Rick Eldridge, who produced the film, and the school's Cinematic Arts department is handled by Stephen Schultze, the film's director.
↑ "Franklin Graham". Franklin Graham Biography. Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Archived from the original on May 17, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
↑ "Franklin Graham". Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Retrieved October 28, 2017.
↑ Funk, Tim and Alexander, Ames. (August 8, 2015). "Franklin Graham takes pay he once gave up". Charlotte Observer. (Charlotte, NC). Charlotte Observer website
↑ McClatchy-Tribune News Service. Funk, Tim and Alexander, Ames, contributors. (October 7, 2009). "Franklin Graham moves to address concerns about his $1.2 million pay packages" The Plain Dealer. (Cleveland, OH).Cleveland.com
↑ Wicker, Christine. (August 18, 2015). "Why Franklin Graham's salary raises eyebrows among Christian nonprofits" Washington Post. (Washington). Washington Post website
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