I expect that more than a few DK subscribers get emails from Faithful America, a group that bills itself as the “largest online community of grassroots Christians putting faith into action for social justice.” If you have already read and signed their current petition, bravo, and please feel free to move on to the next diary.
If you don’t know anything about Faithful America, you may be pleased to learn that they oppose Franklin Graham and most of what he stands for.
I just learned that Faithful America is seeking signatures for an online petition to be sent to assembly venues in Texas, Arizona and California, and urging them to refrain from hosting Graham’s upcoming tour events.
Faithful America’s website identified a couple of recent citizen petition efforts that successfully stopped tours led by Graham (in the United Kingdom) and Mike Flynn (in New York state).
For background, Faithful America’s “donate” page contains a disclaimer “Because our work includes holding elected officials accountable and advocating for legislation, Faithful America is a 501(c)(4), and donations are not tax-deductible.”
In contrast, Graham’s 2016 tour (see photo above) looked, smelled, and pretty much walked and sounded like a political rally, but they carefully stated (lied?) that it wasn’t. It was ostensibly non-partisan, so the parent organization (Billy Graham Evangelistic Association) could remain a 501(c)(3) non-profit entity (which entitles donors to claim tax-exempt status for their contributions).
If you watch the video and click on “Show Transcript” you can see that he claimed the following in his promo for the 2016 tour (emphasis mine):
I’m traveling to all 50 states to hold prayer rallies ... We’re calling it the Decision America tour. We’re asking Christians to pray and to vote for candidates that stand for biblical values and to engage in your community.
I challenge Christians to live out their faith at home, in public, and at the ballot box.
I believe this next election may be the most important election in the history of our nation and we can have an impact on this.
We’re not supporting any candidates. We’re not supporting any party. But we want to lift up the name of Jesus Christ.
Interestingly, if you look at the information section just below the video, you’ll see Franklin Graham isn’t as well-loved as his father was:
- 841,000 Subscribers to the BGEA YouTube channel.
- 2,197 Views of this FG video (which was uploaded 7 years ago)
- 61 Likes; 0 Dislikes
- 2 comments
Here are couple of quotes from Faithful America’s petition that explain why they are opposed to Franklin Graham’s brand of MAGA-Christianity:
- Event venues have pulled out of Graham's tours in objection to his support for discrimination and conspiracy theories before, and we hope that you will now do the same.
- Despite the tour's deceptive name (“God Loves You Tour”), Graham is a divisive figure who tries to hide a series of deeply hateful messages behind his father's Christian legacy. His message is not one of Christ-like love but of anti-democracy, anti-LGBTQ, partisan bigotry and harm.
- Graham has also helped spread Donald Trump's baseless claims of a stolen election, downplayed the January 6 attack on our nation's Capitol by blaming it on "antifa" rather than pro-Trump insurrectionists.
- The upcoming "Frontera" [translated as “border”] iteration of Graham's tour feels especially distasteful and hypocritical given that, in an effort to dismiss criticisms of Donald Trump's immigration policies, Graham once falsely claimed that immigration is "not a Bible issue" -- yet there are few topics the Bible addresses more.
There are currently ten venues listed for early 2024 on the BGEA website: Brownsville, McAllen, Laredo, Eagle Pass, Del Rio, Presidio, El Paso, Tucson, Yuma, and Chula Vista.
Graham is obviously trying to drum up support from religious Latino Americans to stand up for his brand of “godliness” by voting against ungodly Democrats. He deserves to lose the tax-exempt status of the organization his father built over many decades.
Please consider signing the petition that opposes Franklin Graham’s political malfeasance.