Franklin Graham made himself look silly on MSNBC the other day. Let me say up from that the hosts were condescending and self-righteous. If you watch the video, look at their faces… wow. Nobody came out of this interview looking okay. Nevertheless, there were many low points for Graham. The gist of the trouble was that he displayed a complete double standard in considering the faith of several presidential candidates. You really should watch the whole thing (below). I have just a few comments.
- Graham’s view of what it means to be a Christian is incomplete. I wrote an entire book about it if you are interested: An Evangelical Social Gospel?
- Graham refuses to acknowledge President Obama is a Christian.
- Graham flatly affirms Santorum and Gingrich are Christians.
- On Romney’s faith, Graham says Mormons aren’t Christian.
The double standard: Graham implies that President Obama is not a Christian, while accepting the Christian credentials of Santorum and Gingrich. The chief difference between all of them being that Santorum and Gingrich are politically aligned with Graham, while Obama is not. Graham just looked foolish and the commentators sort of rubbed his nose in it. It was disgusting on all sides.
My take hasn’t really changed since I wrote, Carrying Christianity Beyond Left and Right, for the Huffington Post. However, I am not wondering if faith really matters at all in presidential politics. It seems as though political party alliance has fully usurped faith.
A couple of important quotes that should go along with this. First from Billy Graham:
“I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form. 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.” – Parade, 1981
Second from Barack Obama on his conversion experience:
“It was because of these new found understandings that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ on 95th Street in the Southside of Chicago one day and affirm my Christian faith. It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany. I didn’t fall out [laughter] in church. The questions I had didn’t magically disappear. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side, I felt that I heard God’s spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth.” Call to Renewal speech for Soujourners, 2006
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