Graham's apology came after a group of prominent black religious leaders criticized the evangelist for saying he did not know whether Obama is a Christian and suggesting that Islamic law considers him to be a Muslim.
Graham, president of the relief organization Samaritan's Purse and the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, said he now accepts Obama's declarations that he is a Christian.
"I regret any comments I have ever made which may have cast any doubt on the personal faith of our president, Mr. Obama," he said in a statement.
"I apologize to him and to any I have offended for not better articulating my reason for not supporting him in this election -- for his faith has nothing to do with my consideration of him as a candidate."
Graham said he objects to Obama's policy stances on abortion and same-sex marriage, which Graham considers to be in "direct conflict" with Scripture.
More than a dozen members of a religious subgroup of the NAACP had accused Graham of "bearing false witness" and fomenting racial discord.
"We can disagree about what it means to be a Christian engaged in politics, but Christians should not bear false witness," the NAACP statement said. "We are also concerned that Rev. Graham's comments can be used to encourage racism."
Now see THIS is what I have been asking of Christians for years now.
Don't let Franklin Graham, Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, and others discriminate and bully people in the name of Christ. Stand up to them and take back your religion.
We may not agree on much, religious folks and I, but I think we can certainly agree that if Jesus Christ were to see the state that the religion founded in his memory was in these days, he would, in the words of "Frothy" Santorum, "throw up."
And by the way, I am hoping that someday the Republican will do the same thing and take their party from the Teabaggers, religious fundamentalists, and lunatics who have virtually driven it off of an ideological cliff.
Everything about Graham screams---- no account son of a rich man.
ReplyDeleteO/T: Cronyism - How $arah gave a job to her future daughter-in-law:
ReplyDeletehttp://palinemail.huffingtonpost.com/browse?q=id:292&hl=false
http://palinemail.huffingtonpost.com/browse?q=id:7768&hl=false
This is way off topic, but noteworthy:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/02/28/sarah-palin-s-newly-released-emails-re-envisioned-as-poems.html
Sarah Palin's emails as prose!
Are You Flippin Kidding???
Oh GOD help us.
Are you flippin kidding???
Todd doesn’t have $12 million
Obviously
That’s something else,
I don’t know what it stands for
Yet.
Put this is a statement,
Others have asked about my opinion
On this latest:
But I hadn’t seen it
So didn’t know it was this
Asinine!!!
Marital Problems
So
Speaking of…
If we,
Er,
When we
Get a divorce,
Does that quell
The ‘conflict of interest’ accusation
With BP?
Enquiring Minds
Stupidly ridiculous.
Like
They just ran a story last week
Saying
“See, we were right!
Bristol does drugs
Via Sherry Johnston”
Or some stupid thing
That the kids saw
On the cover
While shopping
At WalMart.
Franklin Graham forced to "apologize" because donations are down.
ReplyDeleteFixed it.
The only thing Frankie believes in is money, and his comments endanger the cash flow from all those black baptists who'll send him money that ought to be spent on food and clothes so that he can squire around in one of his many jets.
You know why he really apologized? There is a petition drive calling for his ouster from Samaritan's Purse, and he doesn't want to lose his cash cow. This apology is no more sincere than his original comments. And I wouldn't give a dime to anything with his greedy name on it, any more than I will support anything Komen.
ReplyDeleteGod forbid he would have to find himself a REAL job. He is just like the Bush "boys" skating by on family connections. Time to investigate all these religious "charities". Why does a charity need the expense of private jets? I doubt that the Lord calls on entire families to serve Him. Maybe Billy was "called" but Franklin just jumped on the gravy train, cashing in on his name.
DeleteFinally. What an ignorant piece of work is Franklin Graham. So glad they called him on this.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. It is high time for Christians to step forward and denounce those who are disgracing the memory of Christ.
It is high time for moderate GOP members to take back their party and try to remove the taint of ignorance and greed that people like Palin, Santorum, GW Bush, Romney et al have woven into the fabric of the party.
Great post.
why does he even have a platform to spew his hate? dont let him on TV....
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear it.
ReplyDeleteOT from yesterday's news :
"Senator Olympia J. Snowe’s decision to leave the Senate, announced as a divisive vote on health care coverage loomed, reflected growing unease among moderates."
One of the few (only) remaining thinkers of the GOP is jumping ship. My husband says the party is intact, must not putting any hopes on the upcoming election. I'm hoping that it is a dying party and it will become extinct only to be replaced by the Green Party. I can dream...
The senator has been a disappointment. For a Republican "moderate" she has voted with the rest of them all along. Not much moral courage among Republicans.
DeleteOlympia J. Snowe’s motives for leaving the Senate are a big fat lie.
DeleteThis woman was just as much obstructive and the rest of the idiots in the republicans in the House and Senate.
Yeah, she voted for a couple of bills that benefitted the people of this country, but she followed the herd on everything else.
As a Christian, I've always wondered if the Old Testament's apparent condemnation of homosexuality vs. Christ's having nothing to say on the subject and teaching that we should have love for one another, wasn't God's way of seeing if we really GET the message.
ReplyDeleteAre you listening, Mr. Graham?
You know, I guess this is better than nothing, and he does stand out from other rightwingers who question the President's faith by stating he "regrets" doing so. But he neglects to say why he regrets this. He needed to follow that with "It was WRONG of me to do so."
ReplyDeleteNO, Graham isn't getting the message High Peaks (are you a 46-er, BTW? (If yes, hi! We're summer folk on Long Lake.)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, note how G still can't bring himself to say President Obama?
Also note how all these fundagelicals don't understand "no religious test for office."
O/T but yes, I am a 46er, and it remains one of the most memorable accomplishments of my life. How about yourselves? If so, hope to see you out on the trails someday.
DeleteBack on/T, the entire way the right-wing has treated our President is a disgrace, IMHO. It will someday go down in history with George Wallace blocking the door to the U. of AL or Governor Maddox passing out ax-handles in the shameful annals of American racism. It's one thing to disagree on policy, and another entirely to show not only lack of respect but out and out contempt for someone who, to all appearances is at minimum, a decent, reasonable, and quite likeable human being. To pay tangential homage to the Repub's main candidate for chaplain of the executive branch, this kind of crap is what really makes ME want to barf.
This Graham is an asshole. I suspected that perhaps his father, Billy Graham, had suggested he apologize publically due to the disrespect he showed President Obama.
ReplyDeleteI have absolutely no respect for the man - especially because he makes a salary of over $500,000 per year via donations to his church! I'd certainly never attend any religious gathering of his! Plus, he is a friend of Sarah Palin! They kind of match in their mean spiritedness, come to think of it!
I'm not even an atheist, I'm a NON Theist, but a small part of me wonders what these self righteous fools are going to do if they are ever confronted by their almighty god, and finally realize how horrifically they have treated other humans
ReplyDeleteEspecially their fellow believers, who they have demeaned, denigrated, insulted, trampled on, and publicy humiliated.
Maybe it will be like the last episode of Seinfeld and they're all Forced to spend eternity together in one small, dark room.
Delete;)
G, as a pilgrim towards the road of wanting to be what a true christian is, I am ashamed of the people who've staged this posse of hate these past few years, with personal attacks, not just disagreement on their policies, but vitriolic personal judgmental attacks. It's shameful. And I know a lot like myself feel that way; however, no matter how we complain, it's impossible to reach the aggressors. They are void of a conscience and they protect themselves with a wall of like-minded powerful wealthy ministries.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how Rick Santorum used that term "throw up". He's one to be a judge. In fact, Jesus did say HE would "throw up" at the "lukewarm church" of the end times in Revelation: "And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, "These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: "I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will VOMIT YOU out of My mouth. Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing - and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked- I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich."
"I apologize to him and to any I have offended for not better articulating my reason for not supporting him in this election -- for his faith has nothing to do with my consideration of him as a candidate."
ReplyDeleteHow about also, too, an apology to all of those who were not offended by Graham's comments? You know, the one's who love to hear someone say POTUS isn't a Christian? How about saying "I'm sorry that I contributed to your hateful racist point of view and I hope that God forgives me?"
Direct conflict with scriptures? God didn't write all that stuff?
ReplyDeleteFranklin is a smarmy faux Christian. He's in it for the money. There is nothing Christian about him. Then again, Christianity has taken a backseat to those who have bastardized the religion with their hateful, self-serving, money-hungry ways. They have no love for anyone but themselves and cannot see beyond the hate and prejudice in their pathetic lives. They are the opposite of what Christianity teaches.
ReplyDelete-espresso4me
Franklin Graham is slime, one evil bastard.
ReplyDeleteThis is why even though a "white" atheist, I am proudly a life member of the NAACP. I really do believe in and support civil liberties for all people, even those who hold different beliefs from my own or are in some other way slightly different from me.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to finally see someone call these people on "bearing false witness". I listen to these so-called Christians telling lie after lie about others. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor" Its only one of the top ten.
ReplyDeleteI have no doubt that Graham will recant his apology on his deathbed.
ReplyDeleteFuck you, Franklin, you piece of shit.
ReplyDeleteI know we don't do Witch Burnings anymore,
ReplyDeletebut what about bitch burnings. This guy's a candidate!!!!
[And by the way, I am hoping that someday the Republican will do the same thing and take their party from the Teabaggers, religious fundamentalists, and lunatics who have virtually driven it off of an ideological cliff.].....but not till after November.
ReplyDeleteLet's not take any chances.
We WILL win, but it will be close.
There are a lot of worms, in that there woodwork,
doncha know!!!!! And they will come out.
And the acadamy award for best non apology apology goes to.....
ReplyDeleteInsert Jolie's leg here
Reverand Franklin Graham!
Would Franklin have apologized if no one said anything? NO
So he had to be shamed into making a statement.
All you need to know about this man is he's collecting money for Samaratan's purse (a non profit charity) and has donated it as a personal private jet for a non prophet Ex Half Term Governor for a wink and a ______ (I'm not going there... he gives me the creeps with his trench coat and newspaper, just sayin) No offense to believers and nonbelievers.