Free Republic

A protester donning a pink suit and bandana mask was arrested Sunday afternoon at a COVID-19 field hospital in New York City's Central Park that is being run by an evangelical group whose leader has a long history of anti-LGBTQ beliefs. “They have no business being in New York City,” the protester, William Talen, 69, shouted as six New York City Police Department officers, one of whom appeared to be carrying Talen’s rainbow flag, removed him from the park. “They are the virus.” The 68-bed field hospital is run by Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian humanitarian organization run by Franklin...

I explore the reaction by local elected officials and journalists to Samaritan's Purse assistance in the COVID-19 crisis, and the reasoning behind the continued cultural war against Christians.

An openly gay and anti-Christian New York state senator has condemned Franklin Graham and Samaritan's Purse for wanting to treat coronavirus patients. Samaritan's Purse set up an emergency field tent hospital in Central Park at the request of city officials. The respiratory unit, which will be supervised by Mount Sinai Hospital, can accommodate 68 patients. "It's a shame that the federal government has left New York with no other choice but to accept charity from bigots," State Sen. Brad Hoylman said. "You know those medical tents being constructed in Central Park? They’re being set up by notorious anti-gay bigot Franklin...

The chief of the worldwide Christian ministry Samaritan's Purse, Franklin Graham, says perhaps it is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who should be blamed for "fiddling" with the economic stimulus package and delaying help that people need during the COVID-19 outbreak. His Facebook comment followed an outburst during a television interview in which Pelosi, a California Democrat, viciously accused the president of "fiddling" while people died. She told CNN Sunday that Trump's "denial" of the seriousness of the Chinese conoravirus "was deadly." "The president, his denial at the beginning, was deadly. His delaying of getting equipment to where it – continues...

Evangelist Franklin Graham has taken legal action against two more venues for canceling his U.K. tour events planned for May due to his biblical views on homosexuality, according to a spokesperson of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. After launching legal proceedings against the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow, BGEA has now sued the FlyDSA Arena in Sheffield and ICC Wales in the city of Newport, South Wales, Christian Today reported. The Scottish Event Campus, owners of the Glasgow Hydro, had been given time until Thursday to explain why it canceled Graham’s event slated for May 30 — the first night...

After facing discrimination in the UK because of his biblical beliefs, a spokesman for Franklin Graham tells CBN News they have decided to fight in court for their religious rights there. "Since the original venues have broken our legal contract with them, we are pursuing appropriate actions based on grounds of religious discrimination and freedom of speech. The Gospel always faces opposition, so we will prayerfully and boldly continue to press forward so that the Good News of God's love and forgiveness will be proclaimed in all of the cities we have planned to visit," the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association...

This week, something of great significance has happened in the UK. Something that has implications far beyond its shores and that will affect the Church and Western democracy for years to come. Future historians will look back and see this incident as an indication of the decline of Western democracy and it's replacement with an authoritarian ideology far removed from the liberal democracy birthed from Christianity. We are not talking about the day that the UK finally left the EU - important though that is. No, this week an incident happened that at first sight seems trivial. Franklin Graham was...

Evangelist Franklin Graham released a statement Monday after an entertainment venue in the United Kingdom canceled his event due to objections over his views.Graham rejected the claim that he was “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,” he stated.“The rub, I think, comes in whether God defines homosexuality as sin. The answer is yes. But God goes...

Christianity Today, one of the nation’s leading evangelical publications, published an editorial in 1998 calling on Bill Clinton’s resignation. In the midst of the Democratic president’s impeachment scandal, the magazine argued, “Unsavory dealings and immoral acts by the President and those close to him have rendered this administration morally unable to lead.” Two decades later, Christianity Today is making a point to remain consistent. The magazine’s latest editorial, written by Mark Galli, the publication’s editor in chief, is pretty brutal toward Donald Trump. [T]he facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a...

Like many evangelicals, I have great respect for Christianity Today. It remains a hallmark, evangelical publication. And although it has leaned leftward in some respects in recent years, it is quite conservative compared to far-left evangelical publications like Jim Wallis’ Sojourners. So, it represents a serious moment when Mark Galli, the editor in chief of Christianity Today (henceforth CT), writing on behalf of the publication, calls for Trump’s removal.Galli recalls Billy Graham’s vision in founding CT, namely, that the magazine “will help evangelical Christians interpret the news in a manner that reflects their faith.” And while CT normally does not...

In our founding documents, Billy Graham explains that Christianity Today will help evangelical Christians interpret the news in a manner that reflects their faith. The impeachment of Donald Trump is a significant event in the story of our republic. It requires comment. . . . Trump’s evangelical supporters have pointed to his Supreme Court nominees, his defense of religious liberty, and his stewardship of the economy, among other things, as achievements that justify their support of the president. We believe the impeachment hearings have made it absolutely clear, in a way the Mueller investigation did not, that President Trump has...

From Franklin Graham: My Response to Christianity Today: Christianity Today released an editorial stating that President Trump should be removed from office—and they invoked my father’s name (I suppose to try to bring legitimacy to their statements), so I feel it is important for me to respond. Yes, my father Billy Graham founded Christianity Today; but no, he would not agree with their opinion piece. In fact, he would be very disappointed. I have not previously shared who my father voted for in the past election, but because of this article, I feel it is necessary to share it now....

Christianity Today Founder Billy Graham Would Be ‘Disappointed’ by Pro-Impeachment Editorial, Son Says Franklin Graham confirmed his famous father voted for Trump in 2016

. . . “My father knew Donald Trump, he believed in Donald Trump, and he voted for Donald Trump,” Graham wrote on Facebook early Friday. “He believed that Donald J. Trump was the man for this hour in history for our nation.”. . . Since “they invoked my father’s name (I suppose to try to bring legitimacy to their statements),” Rev. Graham wrote, “I feel it is important for me to respond.”“Yes, my father Billy Graham founded Christianity Today; but no, he would not agree with their opinion piece. In fact, he would be very disappointed,” Graham said, noting that...

Evangelist Franklin Graham tore into the magazine his father founded after the flagship evangelical publication called for President Trump to be removed from office.In a statement posted to Facebook on Thursday night, Graham wrote, "Christianity Today released an editorial stating that President Trump should be removed from office, and they invoked my father’s name (I suppose to try to bring legitimacy to their statements), so I feel it is important for me to respond." Conceding that his father helped establish the periodical in 1956, Franklin Graham maintained that Billy Graham, who died in 2018 at age 99, would not countenance...

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 22, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — At Chick-fil-A, the politically correct handwriting was on the wall for a long time, but most of us missed it. Until now. Just four days since the popular chicken restaurant’s infamous announcement about reprioritizing its corporate giving, and despite the launch of a counter-narrative by conservatives Rev. Franklin Graham, Erik Erickson, and others, it’s clear that Chick-fil-A (CFA) has been on a troubling leftward trajectory for quite some time. The revelations are stunning. Chick-fil-A evolving into a pipeline of cash to leftist causes CFA fans wouldn’t have been caught by surprise if they...

Rev. Franklin Graham and talk show host Eric Metaxas claimed Thursday that there is a “demonic” origin to the opposition to President Donald Trump. It’s a very bizarre situation to be living in a country where some people seem to exist to undermine the president of the United States. It’s just a bizarre time for most Americans.” Graham suggested there was a spiritual root to the situation: “Well, I believe it’s almost a demonic power that is trying-” “I would disagree,” Metaxas said. “It’s not almost demonic. You know and I know, at the heart, it’s a spiritual battle.” Graham...

A Chick-fil-A restaurant in Lowndes County, Georgia | (Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Michael Rivera) Rev. Franklin Graham said he was assured by Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy that the company "remains committed to Christian values," after the fast-food chain’s charity arm decided to no longer donate to three organizations criticized for upholding traditional Christian beliefs on sexuality. In a Thursday morning Facebook post, Graham, leader of Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said he spoke with Cathy on the phone. Franklin Graham interviewed by Together LA, Fresno, California, May 28, 2018. | (Photo: Screengrab, Together LA)"Dan was very clear that they...

Evangelist Franklin Graham is asking the nation to pray for President Trump as the impeachment inquiry continues, accompanied by nonstop media coverage. “This is a sad day for America,” Mr. Graham said in a statement shared on social media. “Our politics in this country has hit a new low. Nancy Pelosi and her followers in Congress have weaponized the impeachment process. After two years of the Russia collusion hoax, now they’ve turned to this.

Evangelist leader Franklin Graham called the impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump an "unjust inquisition," and claimed the Christian Bible directs Americans to pray for the president. Graham, the president of Samaritan's Purse and his late father's Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, quoted the Bible Friday in a plea for Americans to purchase a "Pray for 45" T-shirt being sold through his organization's website. Earlier this week, Graham urged Christians to pray for God to give Trump "wisdom and protection" just hours after the House voted in favor of impeachment procedures. The pro-Trump evangelical and his daughter, Cissie Graham Lynch, both promoted...