{"id":16750,"date":"2011-05-16T00:06:36","date_gmt":"2011-05-16T05:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/?p=16750"},"modified":"2011-05-14T17:24:00","modified_gmt":"2011-05-14T22:24:00","slug":"roland-martin-on-franklin-graham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/16\/roland-martin-on-franklin-graham\/","title":{"rendered":"Roland Martin on Franklin Graham"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Roland Martin calls out Franklin Graham<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

Any reflections on how to speak about the faith of public leaders?<\/strong> I have two suggestions after the jump, but I want to raise my hand and say that I appreciate all the good Franklin Graham has done. I pushed back against him recently on this blog and find myself having to do so again. But, this is not about Franklin Graham; it\u2019s about how to talk about the faith of our public leaders<\/strong>. I have two suggestions, what are yours?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIn Graham\u2019s own, sly way, he managed to say that he believes Obama is a Christian because he said so, and then question if he\u2019s really a Christian by suggesting that he\u2019s just a guy who thinks if you show up at church makes you one. This two-step that Graham is doing is dangerous because all of a sudden he has become the arbiter of who is and who isn\u2019t a Christian through the eyes of those in the media. By even asking him the question, we are affording Graham a level of respect that he doesn\u2019t deserve. In fact, if anyone wanted to truly challenge Graham, all they would have to do is actually read what Obama has written on the matter. In his best-selling book, \u201cThe Audacity of Hope,\u201d Obama wrote that he \u201cfelt God\u2019s spirit beckoning me,\u201d and as a result, \u201cI submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth.\u201d And he was baptized at Trinity United Church of Christ in the 1990s.\u201d<\/p>\n

And TD Jakes said this: \u201cI wish he had the diplomacy of his father, who brought the gospel to people without being nuanced by politics because when you do those things you offend people that you are actually called to save and to serve. And I would hope that he would see the rationale in apologizing for such statements \u2014 because if the president\u2019s faith is suspect, then all of our faiths are suspect, because the Bible is quite clear about what it takes to be saved and the president has been quite open about his accepting Christ and him openly confessing it before men. And if it\u2019s good enough for the Bible it ought to be good enough for the rest of us.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Two points: Here\u2019s a principle we ought to operate out of when it comes to making comments about the personal faith of public leaders, including Presidents: if they are of the opposite political party as we are, we ought to double-take, triple-take, and probably not say anything. Democrats were fond of denouncing Bush\u2019s faith, and Republicans are now fond of denouncing Obama\u2019s. It\u2019s not coincidental.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

The second one is this: it is one thing to speak into what someone says \u2014 as in questioning their theology \u2014 but it is entirely different to \u201cjudge\u201d whether they are reconciled with God or not. The latter is judgment (read James 4:11-12) and the former discernment and seeking the mind of God. We ought to discern; we are not to judge.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roland Martin calls out Franklin Graham: Any reflections on how to speak about the faith of public leaders? I have two suggestions after the jump, but I want to raise my hand and say that I appreciate all the good Franklin Graham has done. I pushed back against him recently on this blog and find […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nRoland Martin on Franklin Graham<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Roland Martin calls out Franklin Graham: Any reflections on how to speak about the faith of public leaders? I have two suggestions after the jump, but I\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/16\/roland-martin-on-franklin-graham\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Roland Martin on Franklin Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Roland Martin calls out Franklin Graham: Any reflections on how to speak about the faith of public leaders? I have two suggestions after the jump, but I\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/16\/roland-martin-on-franklin-graham\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-16T05:06:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-05-14T22:24:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/16\/roland-martin-on-franklin-graham\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/16\/roland-martin-on-franklin-graham\/\",\"name\":\"Roland Martin on Franklin Graham\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-16T05:06:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-05-14T22:24:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"Roland Martin calls out Franklin Graham: Any reflections on how to speak about the faith of public leaders? I have two suggestions after the jump, but I\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/16\/roland-martin-on-franklin-graham\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/16\/roland-martin-on-franklin-graham\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/16\/roland-martin-on-franklin-graham\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Roland Martin on Franklin Graham\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Roland Martin on Franklin Graham","description":"Roland Martin calls out Franklin Graham: Any reflections on how to speak about the faith of public leaders? I have two suggestions after the jump, but I","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/16\/roland-martin-on-franklin-graham\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Roland Martin on Franklin Graham","og_description":"Roland Martin calls out Franklin Graham: Any reflections on how to speak about the faith of public leaders? I have two suggestions after the jump, but I","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/16\/roland-martin-on-franklin-graham\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2011-05-16T05:06:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-05-14T22:24:00+00:00","author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/16\/roland-martin-on-franklin-graham\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/16\/roland-martin-on-franklin-graham\/","name":"Roland Martin on Franklin Graham","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-05-16T05:06:36+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-14T22:24:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"Roland Martin calls out Franklin Graham: Any reflections on how to speak about the faith of public leaders? I have two suggestions after the jump, but I","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/16\/roland-martin-on-franklin-graham\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/16\/roland-martin-on-franklin-graham\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/16\/roland-martin-on-franklin-graham\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Roland Martin on Franklin Graham"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}