U.S.
evangelical preacher Franklin Graham writes open letter after organizers canceled
his event in the United Kingdom over “incompatible views” on gay “marriage”
By Julio Severo
A famous American evangelical preacher has
written an open letter after organizers decided to cancel his event in the
United Kingdom following pressure and complaints from LGBT activists.
Franklin Graham was due to visit Glasgow,
Newcastle, Sheffield, Liverpool, Cardiff, Milton Keynes, Birmingham and London
later in 2020.
But the ACC Liverpool conference center has
decided to cancel the 67-year-old’s show after branding his views “incompatible”
with their values, adding, “We can longer reconcile the balance between freedom
of speech and the divisive impact this event is having in our city.”
The decision to cancel the show came after
a petition was started by the Liverpool Labour LGBT Network.
Graham was labeled a “homophobic hate
preacher” by the Liverpool Labour LGBT Network, which wrote in a letter
that they fear “Graham’s appearance may incite hateful mobilization and
risk the security of our LGBTQ+ community.”
Graham, who is a vocal supporter of Donald
Trump and the son of the late international evangelist Billy Graham, has
previously described gay “marriage” as a sin and has defended children against
homosexual indoctrination in the schools.
LGBT activists in several British cities
he was due to visit also pressured government officials and political leaders
to stop him from speaking.
Sheffield Mayor Dan Jarvis has criticized
the American preacher, and said in a statement: “Sheffield is a city of
sanctuary [for homosexuals and Muslims]. We welcome people from all
backgrounds, irrespective of race, religion, belief or their sexuality. As a
city and as a region, we are proud to stand for equality, diversity, respect
and compassion. I believe in free speech and of the right to freedom of expression,
within the parameters of the law. But I also believe in people’s rights to
disagree with extreme beliefs such as those preached by Franklin Graham.
Intolerance cannot be welcomed here in South Yorkshire.”
Representative Heather Paterson said: “Franklin
Graham has repeatedly publicly promoted his homophobic beliefs, including but
not limited to branding homosexuality a sin. We believe that these statements
far exceed freedom of speech and are direct hate speech and incitement to
violence against LGBTQ+ communities and individuals, which should not be
welcomed in our city or anywhere else.”
Kelvin Holdsworth, Provost of Glasgow
Cathedral, said on Twitter: “Have just heard that Franklin Graham is coming to
the SSE Hydro in Glasgow next year. Very surprised to hear that @SSE would want
to be associated with him. #homophobia.”
Peter Nimmo, minister of the Presbyterian Church
of Scotland in Inverness, fumed: “Franklin Graham tour includes Glasgow. I
trust Scottish churches give him the cold shoulder, too.”
Graham
is facing protests in the United Kingdom because of his stance against gay “marriage”
and because he has said that homosexual behavior is sin. When laws support
homosexual behavior, people who do not support it are persecuted.
Graham, head of the Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association, founded by his late father, has a long history of
anti-LGBTQ statements. In one of the most recent, he tweeted that Democratic
presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg, who is both gay and Christian, should
repent of the “sin” of homosexuality. In 2018, in response to the circulation
of an old quote from former President Jimmy Carter saying Jesus Christ would
have no problem with same-sex marriage, he said Carter was “absolutely wrong”
and that God had destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because they
embraced homosexuality. (That Bible passage is open to other interpretations.)
In 2016, he defended House Bill 2,
legislation passed by his home state of North Carolina to prevent transgender
people from using restrooms and changing rooms that match their gender
identity. It “protects the safety and privacy of women and children and
preserves the human rights of millions of faith-based citizens of this state,”
Graham said at the time, implying that transgender people are a threat. That
remark got him banned from Facebook for a brief time two years later.
He has also praised Russia’s ban on
so-called gay propaganda, which prohibits any positive mention of LGBTQ identity
that could be heard or viewed by minors. “I very much appreciate that President
Putin is protecting Russian young people against homosexual propaganda,” Graham
told a Russian newspaper in 2015. “If only to give them the opportunity to grow
up and make a decision for themselves. Again, homosexuals cannot have children,
they can take other people’s children.”
In addition to LGBTQ people, targets of
Graham’s ire have included Planned Parenthood [the largest abortion network in
the U.S.], which he has described as “Hitleristic,” and Islam, which he has
called “evil.”
Graham is a major defender, however, of
Donald Trump.
Even being a spiritual adviser to Trump, Graham
is not getting any presidential help. Trump, who uses to intervene in many international
issues involving Americans, has said nothing about the homosexualist persecution
against Graham, who is always voicing public support for Trump.
Graham has been a passionate defender of
Trump. He has defended him in everything. For example, when Christianity Today,
the largest liberal evangelical magazine in the U.S., criticized Trump on
December 2019 saying that he deserved to be impeached and suggesting that
evangelicals should not support him, Graham
made a very strong defense of Trump against Christianity Today.
It is said by some that I am coming to the
UK to bring hateful speech to your community. This is just not true. I am
coming to share the Gospel, which is the Good News that God loves the people of
the UK, and that Jesus Christ came to this earth to save us from our sins.
The rub, I think, comes in whether God
defines homosexuality as sin. The answer is yes. But God goes even further than
that, to say that we are all sinners—myself included. The Bible says that every
human being is guilty of sin and in need of forgiveness and cleansing. The
penalty of sin is spiritual death—separation from God for eternity.
That’s why Jesus Christ came. He became
sin for us. He didn’t come to condemn the world, He came to save the world by
giving His life on the Cross as a sacrifice for our sins. And if we’re willing
to accept Him by faith and turn away from our sins, He will forgive us and give
us new life—eternal life—in Him.
My message to all people is that they can
be forgiven and they can have a right relationship with God. That’s Good News.
That is the hope people on every continent around the world are searching for.
In the UK as well as in the United States, we have religious freedom and
freedom of speech. I’m not coming to the UK to speak against anybody, I’m
coming to speak for everybody. The Gospel is inclusive. I'm not coming out of
hate, I’m coming out of love.
I invite everyone in the LGBTQ community
to come and hear for yourselves the Gospel messages that I will be bringing
from God’s Word, the Bible. You are absolutely welcome.
Another challenge Graham faces in the
United Kingdom is Islam. This once Protestant nation is now fast succumbing to
Islam, and Graham reportedly described Islam an “evil and very wicked religion.”
Christians are living in hard times. If Franklin
Graham, who is one of the most powerful evangelical leaders in the United
States, can suffer harassment and bullying for preaching the Gospel in a nation
with a strong Christian history, what will happen to many other Christians who
voice the Bible message on homosexuality?
These are easy times for coward and silent
Christians. But the time will come when even cowards will be targeted by the
same fanatics who persecute courageous Christians today, because fanatics will sooner
or later require not only silence, but also total conversion to their
fanaticism, whether homosexual or Islamic.
With information from the DailyMail, The
Advocate and FoxNews.
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