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{"id":2690,"date":"2012-10-29T06:14:05","date_gmt":"2012-10-29T10:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tmatt.net\/?p=2690"},"modified":"2012-10-29T06:14:05","modified_gmt":"2012-10-29T10:14:05","slug":"billy-graham-co-prod-the-values-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/10\/billy-graham-co-prod-the-values-voters\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Graham & Co. push the values voters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u201cWe did it,\u201d proclaimed the Rev. Billy Graham, according to iconoclastic journalist Joe McGinniss in \u201cThe Selling of the President 1968<\/a>.\u201d Graham, he added, went \u201cdirectly into Nixon\u2019s room, without explaining whether \u2018we\u2019 meant Billy Graham and Richard Nixon or Billy Graham and God or perhaps all three together.\u201d <\/p>\n

Years later, a repentant Graham said he wept and became ill when he heard Nixon\u2019s paranoid, profanity-laced chatter on the Watergate tapes. While \u201cAmerica\u2019s pastor\u201d kept meeting with presidents \u2014 as he has with every Oval Office occupant since Harry Truman \u2014 he vowed never again to become that attached to a candidate.<\/p>\n

The question, for Graham\u2019s critics and even some supporters, is whether the national advertising campaign<\/a> launched on Oct. 18th by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association \u2014 now led by son Franklin Graham \u2014 has crossed that line. The target audience: Readers of USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, key swing-state newspapers and church bulletins nationwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe legacy we leave behind for our children, grandchildren and this great nation is crucial,\u201d proclaims one ad. \u201cAs I approach my 94th birthday, I realize this election could be my last. I believe it is vitally important that we cast our ballots for candidates who base their decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel. <\/p>\n

\u201cI urge you to vote for those who protect the sanctity of life and support the biblical definition of marriage between a man and a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to read between those lines, noted sociologist William Martin, author of \u201c A Prophet With Honor<\/a>: The Billy Graham Story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBilly Graham representatives note that the ads do not mention a specific candidate or party \u2014 an observation intended more for the IRS than for the target audience,\u201d wrote Martin, at Christianity Today<\/em> online<\/a>. \u201cGiven that former Gov. Mitt Romney opposes same-sex marriage and President Barack Obama supports it (and by doing so, has \u2014 to use Franklin Graham\u2019s words \u2014 \u201cshaken his fist\u201d at God), the ads leave no doubt about their intent.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more. Romney aides claim that, at the end of a recent meeting with the candidate, the evangelist promised: \u201cI\u2019ll do all I can to help you. And you can quote me on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Months earlier, the Graham organization also released statements urging North Carolina voters to back a state constitutional amendment on marriage and an appeal for support of \u201cChick-fil-A Appreciation Day,\u201d after the company\u2019s president drew fire for defending traditional Christian doctrines on sex and marriage.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, former Graham-organization webmaster Steve Knight has said \u2014 in a much-circulated Huffington Post<\/em> essay<\/a> \u2014 that enough is enough. It\u2019s significant that Knight now works with a denomination on the religious left, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).<\/p>\n

\u201cMy concern is that here\u2019s how things like this continue to work,\u201d warned Knight. \u201cFranklin Graham (or Franklin and his sister Anne Graham Lotz) have an agenda (in all \u2026 of these cases, \u201ctraditional marriage\u201d), they get a BGEA copywriter to draft the text, \u2026 Franklin approves the copy and-or design, then Franklin drives out to Little Piney Cove (Billy\u2019s cabin home outside of Asheville, N.C.) and holds the piece of paper in front of Billy and asks, \u2018Daddy, can we publish this?\u2019 And Billy nods (or whatever he\u2019s capable of doing at this point in his life), and Franklin goes back and publishes this stuff with his good father\u2019s name all over it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veteran Graham spokesman A. Larry Ross has vehemently denied this and other claims that Graham has, in effect, become a puppet used and abused by Franklin Graham and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the years since his last public crusade, Billy Graham has been increasingly burdened by society\u2019s moral decline and the need for renewal in our culture and revival in the church,\u201d noted Ross, in the Christianity Today<\/em> forum<\/a>. \u201cBecause he considers the institution of marriage as the cornerstone of society, he is opposed to any redefinition of marriage \u2014 which he sees not as a political issue but rather a matter of religious freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thus, Ross added, Graham personally approved the use of these quotations in which he is heard \u201cchallenging citizens \u2014 particularly the faith community \u2014 on how to vote, rather than for whom to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"