Evangelist Franklin Graham, son of Billy, has quit the Republican party, due to the way the GOP-led Congress abandoned the goal of defunding Planned Parenthood so as to pass the budget. But he hasn’t abandoned politics. He is planning to hold rallies in all 50 states to encourage Christians to vote for “godly leaders” of whatever party who will support “Biblical values.”
Might this effort bring back Christian conservatism as a political force? Will this non-partisan or perhaps anti-partisan initiative change that kind of political involvement?
From Franklin Graham’s tour will try to rally conservative Christian voters | The Herald:
Franklin Graham isn’t running for president in 2016, but his election-year schedule looks a lot like those who are.
Starting Tuesday, the North Carolina-based evangelist will embark on a 50-state tour, holding prayer rallies on the steps of each state capitol and calling on conservative evangelicals – “born-again” Christians who tend to care most about social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage – to go to the polls and vote for “godly leaders.”
His first stop: Iowa – site of the February caucuses that will officially kick off the 2016 presidential race.
What is Graham up to?
He has promised not to endorse any candidates or even let any of them speak at his rallies. Just before Christmas, he even announced he was quitting the Republican Party, partly out of frustration at the failure of the GOP-controlled Congress to defund Planned Parenthood – a group he compared to the Nazis in a Facebook post.
“I’m not going to support any party,” he told the Observer last year. “This 50-state tour is not for the Republican Party. … I’m as disappointed in them as I am the Democrats.”
But those who study the historic relationship between religion and politics say that, despite Graham’s claims to be nonpartisan, his tour could play a role in both the GOP presidential primary race and in the eventual Republican nominee’s general election campaign.
By shadowing the presidential contenders during the primary season, Graham’s tour “is not only sending a signal to voters, but also to all of the (Republican) candidates right now that (evangelicals’) strength still plays a significant role in the party,” said Michael Bitzer, a political scientist at Catawba College. “And if these candidates want to win, they better address (evangelicals’) concerns and key issues.”
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