Posted on 12/22/2015 2:04:50 PM PST by BlatherNaut
Evangelist Franklin Graham has announced he is abandoning the Republican Party in disgust over the move by the GOP-led Congress last week to pass a budget that Graham said was "wasteful" and provided funding for Planned Parenthood, which he compared to the Nazis.
Graham has previously said he has no faith in any political party, but his apparent renunciation of his Republican affiliation is an indication of anger on the right and the strong interest many disaffected evangelicals have shown in populist outsiders such as Donald Trump.
Graham himself has expressed admiration for Trump, the surprise front-runner in the Republican presidential field, and has voiced support for some of Trump’s more controversial positions - such as his call to ban Muslims from the U.S. - which have drawn condemnation from more mainstream evangelical leaders.
The federal government provides $528 million in funding for Planned Parenthood - about 40 percent of the organization’s annual budget = primarily through payments to Medicaid for health services for low-income Americans. Federal law prohibits funding of most abortions, and Planned Parenthood separates federal taxpayer dollars from those used to provide abortions.
Social conservatives have long fought to strip taxpayer funding from Planned Parenthood, and after the release of a series of undercover videos by anti-abortion activists earlier this year, those calls ramped up to a fever pitch.
(Excerpt) Read more at religionnews.com ...
The warning bells are sounding and the GOPe are sitting in their cone of silence, not hearing anything but themselves.
AMEN-——at least one God Fearing Pastor is left in my country-—
I don’t know, hmmm. It’s sort of a big deal but he isn’t near as influential as some think he is.
Is Franklin a registered NC Republican voter? If he leaves before May, he can’t vote in the 2016 primary. I understand Billy is or was a registered Dem his whole voting life.
this is a smart political move by graham. franklin graham is planning prayer rallies next year. the first one will be in new hampshire. by declaring himself to be an independent, graham can’t be accused of being a gop shill.
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