Loading ...Graham grumpy about Pentagon prayer snub
flockwoodFranklin Graham, steamed that they won’t let him speak at the Pentagon on the National Day of Prayer, is airing his grievances in the pages of USA TODAY:
“If President Obama fails to intervene to allow controversial evangelist Franklin Graham to lead a National Day of Prayer event Thursday inside the Pentagon, ‘it will be a slap in the face of all Christians,’” Grahm tells USA TODAY.
Yep. Not some Christians. Not many Christians. Not even mostChristians. ALL Christians.
Question: Could you imagine Billy Graham making such a claim?
May 4th, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Franklin Graham doesn’t have the class that his father did. Of course, if he had, he wouldn’t have gotten snubbed in the first place.
May 7th, 2010 at 8:34 am
I could imagine Billy Graham saying it twenty years ago. Not anymore.
May 7th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
Maybe forty years ago; 20 years ago, he had pretty well become the iconic but nonfunctional figure we see today. Even then, he’d have been more gracious about it.
May 8th, 2010 at 6:55 am
I believe there is something else going on here that we don’t know about and that the reason the National Day of Prayer is being low key has to do with security. I myself pray everyday and feel most of Americans do too. Think about this, our opinion of what is going on is tainted by media reports that only give one view. A view with little knowledge of world politics.
May 8th, 2010 at 8:04 am
Now I’m perplexed too. “One view”? Seems to me that all folks are given ample opportunity to voice their viewpoints. The younger Rev. Graham was heard by a lot more folks outside of the Pentagon than would have been in attendance on the inside. He’s on the evening news, airing his grievances to the world.
I also pray every day, but I never felt the need for government approval or encouragement.
May 9th, 2010 at 11:20 am
A little more background is worth noting. The prayer service was organized by the Pentagon chaplain’s office with the help of a private group, the National Day of Prayer Task Force. It was not the Pentagon but the Task Force that invited Graham to be the lead speaker. (Franklin Graham is one of the leaders of the group.) When the Army found out they decided that Graham should not be so honored. The Army explained that Graham’s anti-Islam comments were inconsistent with a multi-faith military. The Task Force was still invited to participate in the service.
So Graham publicly insisted that President Obama step in and override the Army leadership to impose a specific religious speaker. If Obama did so, that would be an egregious abuse of authority for him, as Commander in Chief, to meddle in this matter of military life. It is clear that the officials of the Army of the United States were acting with sober judgment on a delicate matter. It is equally clear that Rev. Graham was elevating the importance of self. One does not suppose that his father, Billy Graham, would do likewise.