February 3, 2022

By Bill Berkowitz

Franklin Graham, the son of the late Reverend Billy Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and president of the international Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, had for years hoped to inherit his father’s mantle as "America's Pastor." As the years go by, instead of becoming America’s Pastor, he is becoming known for his controversial political beliefs and positions on a variety of divisive social issues. As his disturbing comments mount up, he's creeping closer and closer to occupying the space left by the death of Fred Phelps, the anti-gay zealot from Topeka, Kansas.

In a Facebook post responding to Canada’s recent ban on conversion therapy, Graham said that Canadian pastors “feel like they have been stripped of their religious freedom.” He wrote: “Critics of Bill C-4 say it is broadly worded and could even encompass private conversations about the topic, such as when a pastor or any Christian shares what the Bible teaches about sexuality.”

Graham, who in November underwent “specialized heart surgery” – he appears to be doing well -- is a mean-spirited Christian nationalist and one of the most consistent voices arguing that Christians in this country are being persecuted, victimized and “excluded from the public square.” Over the past few years, he has carved out a well-deserved reputation as one of America’s leading religious-based Islamophobes. These days, he continues to come to the defense of former President Donald Trump.

On January 8, one year and two days after the Trump-inspired Capitol insurrection, Franklin Graham tweeted: “This wk in his address to the nation, @POTUS Biden talked w/disdain about former President Trump spreading a ‘web of lies.’ Well, millions do not believe that President Trump spread a web of lies — but they do feel there’s a lot of dishonesty going on by politicians in Washington. With all respect, @POTUS Biden needs to be careful how he denounces those who disagree with him. Hillary Clinton tried that once by calling supporters of President Trump ‘deplorables,’ & it didn’t go too well for her. It was an insult to about half the country. President @JoeBiden’s bashing of former President Trump doesn’t unite the country, but just further divides it. Pray for wisdom for our elected leaders and God’s mercy on our nation.”

Mark Wingfield, executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global, broke down Graham’s tweet ):

*  Yes, Donald Trump is a documented serial liar who has made a brutish career of lying, all of which led to the Big Lie that he won the 2020 election when he clearly did not.

*  Dishonesty in Washington? Take a number. But don’t forget that we’ve never had a president nor an administration so full of fabrication as that of Donald Trump. To suggest otherwise is to live in an alternate reality.

*  Specifically naming lies is not the same as ‘denounce(ing) those who disagree.’ Biden did not cast aspersions on people who believe Trump’s lies. He merely asked them to consider the facts and reconsider their opinions.

*  Calling attention to grievances against Hillary Clinton is mere deflection from the current situation. She has not held public office since 2013.

*  ‘Bashing’ and ‘dividing’? Has Graham not paid attention to anything Trump has done in the past five years? He is the king of ‘bashing’ and ‘dividing,’ not of ‘uniting.’ How can Graham claim to care about unity when he repeats and endorses Trump’s divisive lies? How can he claim to care about the world’s suffering children while defending a president who literally ripped children from their mothers’ arms and then lost track of the parents?

*  Yes, we need God’s wisdom and mercy, but not in the way Graham suggests. We need God to deliver us from the evil of lying liars who lie.

Graham shows up in a recent Vanity Fair feature story about the trials and tribulations of Jerry Falwell Jr., the scandal-plagued former head of his late father’s Liberty University, in which Falwell claims that Graham saw his downfall as a way “to expand the Graham family’s influence over Liberty,” VF’s Gabriel Sherman wrote.

“Franklin Graham’s son Will was named vice chairman of Liberty’s board. Prevo is also a Graham ally. Jerry said Franklin Graham had also once told him that he wanted to start a Billy Graham University, but it didn’t get off the ground. In September 2020, Jerry and Franklin got into an argument over who should get credit for Liberty’s success. ‘I said, ‘My dad built the foundation, but I built the house. And Franklin got furious. He said, ‘You didn’t build it!’ You should have heard the jealousy in Franklin’s voice,’ Jerry recalled. According to Jerry, Franklin Graham told him his future in the Christian world is over. ‘He said, ‘You’ll never be anything in evangelical circles again.’  Graham, through a spokesperson, declined to comment.”

Over the years, the nearly 70-year-old Graham has been handsomely financially rewarded. Reporting for Market Realist, Chris Barilla noted that, “According to the Charlotte Observer, Graham's 2014 annual salary for running Samaritan's Purse was a whopping $622,252.” The Charlotte Observer pointed out in an August 2015 article that Graham’s “2013 compensation from Samaritan’s Purse alone made him the highest-paid CEO of any international relief agency based in the U.S., according to data provided by GuideStar, the world’s largest source of information on nonprofit organizations.”  

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