Thursday, September 28, 2017

"So then, no more boasting about human leaders!" (1 Corinthians 3:21)

"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." - Billy Graham, 1981

Following up on my earlier disappointment at the state of partisan behaviour in the church, I'm going to blog about one particular Christian leader who has been displaying an archly partisan perspective: Franklin Graham. Although I am not of his nation nor his denomination it is not easy for me to criticize him - his father, Billy Graham, is a person I have great respect for; Franklin's organization Samaritan's Purse has done good work; I have myself assisted Samaritan's Purse and seen first-hand some of the results of their work; further, he has been a friend, missional aid and/or source of inspiration to family members and fellow parishioners.

However, I hadn't spent much time actually reading Franklin Graham's messages. When I began to see some of his Facebook posts and the reactions to them I made a point to dig back into his Facebook posts to see more of what he had been posting. Over the course of 2017 I've noticed he uses Facebook to promote Samaritan's Purse's work, to react to various terrorist acts or natural disasters, post anti-LGBTQ & anti-abortion messages and occasionally to spread the word about other people's Christian testimonies. However, most of his posts are political in nature and he comes down very firmly as a conservative - again, firmly. He's certainly able to criticize the Republican party (such as admonishing them over their failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act) but he never criticizes Donald Trump. On the other side of the aisle he frequently targets liberals: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Nancy Pelosi, even Canada's Justin Trudeau.

Some of the Christian leaders who meet with Trump have recently resigned because of his rhetoric; one of those who remained justified their position stating: “Why would I abandon someone now? I wouldn’t do that to someone in my congregation." But in Franklin Graham's posts about Trump time and again there is no sense that he sees himself as being in a position to help soften Trump's rhetoric or bring healing to a man who is quite clearly in need of it; Franklin's Trump posts are 100% supportive of the President regardless of what he has been saying or doing.

Repeatedly he has rejected the idea of Russian efforts behind Trump's election: "This whole debate about Russia influencing our elections is a giant smokescreen. The progressive socialists had plans for our country and Donald J. Trump disrupted those plans. ... They also want to keep the American people distracted. They would rather see the country spiral downward than for problems to be fixed."

On the matter of Trump's tax returns Franklin has been staunchly on Trump's side: "The President hasn't asked for my advice, but I would say-No way! Even if these were published, the average American ... wouldn't be able to understand them. ... It would just be another distraction, and a media frenzy, which is exactly what his enemies want."

After students at the University of Notre Dame walked out of Mike Pence's commencement address, Franklin angrily suggested the students should have had their diplomas torn up. "They knew well in advance who was going to be speaking at their commencement; and if they didn't like it, they shouldn't have come."

Franklin applauded Trump for blocking transgendered people from serving in the US Military: "As Americans, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, we should celebrate when our leaders do the right thing for our country. President Obama's policy on this was a mistake."

While Franklin did express compassion for the woman killed in Charlottesville on August 12, he furiously rejected the idea that Trump bore any responsibility for this: "Really, this boils down to evil in people's hearts. Satan is behind it all."

After Donald Trump told the United Nations: "Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime." Franklin reacted: "President Donald J. Trump's address today to the United Nations General Assembly may have been one of the best speeches ever given to that body. It made you proud to be an American."

Here's three which were particularly frustrating to read:

The double question marks which open his statement seem to indicate sarcasm (perhaps incredulity?) which is not a promising way to open his response - here is a Democrat bringing God into politics yet Franklin seems to treat her as an interloper. Then he performs a weird act of cognitive dissonance: "God gave us the earth to use, and we are called to be good stewards of it and use it wisely. I hope Nancy Pelosi will be concerned about what really dishonors God-and that is sin." These two statements are not in agreement with each other, or at least not in the sense he intended; the entire debate about climate change is whether we are being good stewards of the Earth. If we are not, then we have sinned. "I have the right to do anything," you say — but not everything is beneficial. "I have the right to do anything" — but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others." (1 Corinthians 10:23-24)

Next up, Franklin Graham on the "Muslim ban":

Franklin opens well by pointing to the cooperative work Samaritan's Purse does throughout the world and points to the model of the Good Samaritan as Jesus taught it. Then, he leaps away from Jesus and assumes a position which Christ evidently cannot support: "Just because we give medical care to ISIS fighters doesn't mean I would want to allow any one of them to immigrate to the United States. That would be crazy." How is it compatible for the Good Samaritan lesson to end with a call to close our doors to people in need? In this statement he turns from Christ's words to repeat the usual Conservative talking points (these talking points tend to ignore that there is already a multi-year vetting process in place). Here are some words of Christ's which I can apply: "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns." (Matthew 16:23)

Finally, his remark on Neil Gorsuch:

Surely the prayer should be "God's will be done?" (Matthew 26:42) Speaking of Liberals ("socialists and progressives" as he typically dubs them) in such an adversarial manner - to pray against them by name - does nothing to heal his nation's divisions.

In reacting against Jemele Hill's tweets about Trump, Franklin Graham bemoaned "This liberal progressive socialist is trying to feed the divisive fire of racial hatred and undermine President Trump as he works to bring positive change for America." Indeed, he frequently calls out Liberals for being "intolerant" and "divisive." I can imagine that's a difficult matter for those in Samaritan's Purse who identify as Liberals. Myself, as a centrist, am sympathetic to some of Franklin's political concerns - but I am uncomfortable seeing a religious leader speaking in such a brazenly partisan matter. Much of what is said at the pulpit in churches can be considered political, but if my pastor began openly advocating for one political party at the expense of the others I would begin looking for another church - even if my pastor were speaking on behalf of a political party I identified with. My congregation contains Conservatives, Greens, Liberals, New Democrats and more - I like that. I like that our unity in Christ is stronger than any political beliefs.

There definitely are people promoting division and intolerance in the USA; unfortunately, one of them is also one of his nation's most influential Christian leaders.

"So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s." (Matthew 22:21)

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