In response to a groundswell of criticism and a threat of legal action from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, the Pentagon has disinvited evangelical preacher Franklin Graham from speaking at a prayer service on the National Day of Prayer.
Graham, the controversial son of legendary evangelist Billy Graham, has drawn fire for his statements made regarding Islam. In a letter written to Secretary Gates on April 19th, MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein urged the secretary to reconsider Graham's invitation and laid out a laundry list of reasons why his appearance would be offensive to Muslim members of the military.
The letter from MRFF was signed by 'Members of the Pentagon Muslim Community' and referenced Graham's public statements denigrating the Islamic religion. In a press release this evening, MRFF stated that:
The MRFF charged that Graham has a long history of making inflammatory statements that indicate a universal prejudice against the entirety of Islam and the totality of its Muslim followers, calling the entire religious faith "false","evil,", "wicked" and "violent" and it demanded that the Pentagon remove Graham from the National Day of Prayer Task Force program. "It would be just like bringing someone in for the National Day of Prayer that made terribly hateful and bigoted references to all of Christianity or Judaism and all of its faith followers," said Michael "Mikey" Weinstein, President and Founder of MRFF.
A spokesman for the Pentagon had this to say about the decision to disinvite Graham:
Army spokesman Col. Tom Collins said Graham's remarks were "not appropriate."
"We're an all-inclusive military," Collins said. "We honor all faiths. ... Our message to our service and civilian work force is about the need for diversity and appreciation of all faiths."
The move is sure to add fire to the already beleaguered National Day of Prayer, which was ruled unconstitutional last week by a Federal court in Wisconsin. The national event will be held this year, however, as no ban was put in place to allow the appeals process to run its course. President Obama has reportedly already put in an appeal to have the court's decision overturned.
While Graham has made incendiary remarks in the past, most notably in 2003, his recent statements show that his disdain for Islam is something he still holds.
Graham said on CNN Dec. 10 that "we have many Muslims that live in this country, but true Islam cannot be practiced in this country. You can't beat your wife. You cannot murder your children if you think they've committed adultery or something like that, which they do practice in these other countries."
The Pentagon made the right move here. The National Day of Prayer is an admirable event for all faiths, and the free practice of religion is one of the cornerstones of our national culture. The NDP is not specific to any one faith, and having a speaker that has openly attacked another religion in such a manner does not reflect the diversity of the military or the spirit of the traditional day of reflection.
Comments
LoFiego .. you are an idiot. The National Day of Prayer was birthed from Christian men and women of faith and is not (nor will ever be) a Muslim or Buddhist or Wiccan event. It was Franklin Graham's father, the Rev. Billy Graham, who suggested it in the midst of a several-weeks crusade in the nation’s capitol. Members of the House and Senate introduced a joint resolution for an annual National Day of Prayer, "on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals." Graham should not be pulled for telling the naked truth about Islam. He has done more good through his ministry for people of all faiths around the world than any cowardly and hypocritical pinhead like you can possibly hope to do.
I just have to ask one question: did Mr. Graham say anything that is not true about the practice of Islam? If not, then why is there such an uproar over someone having the backbone to stand up and simply state the obvious? I would like to see any of you critics take a trip to Saudi Arabia and stand on a street corner and proclaim a religious message that is not Islamic and see how long you keep your head on your shoulders.
Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.
-- Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833
The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.
-- John Adams (2nd U.S. President)
My hopes of a future life are all founded upon the Gospel of Christ and I cannot cavil or quibble away [evade or object to]. . . . the whole tenor of His conduct by which He sometimes positively asserted and at others countenances [permits] His disciples in asserting that He was God.
-- John Quincy Adams (6th U.S. President)
I . . . [rely] upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins.
-- Samuel Adams (Gov. Massachusetts, signer of the Declaration of Independence)
What puzzles me is not that the Pentagon uninvites Graham for what he said about islam, most of which even I as an atheist can underwrite, but that they are holding a prayer meeting in the first place. Didn't anybody tell them that the Pentagon is supposed to be a government organization?
Personally I despite all forms of religion, not to mention TV preachers, but where the man is right, he is right.
Grateful to Almighty God for the blessings which, through Jesus Christ Our Lord, He had conferred on my beloved country in her emancipation and on myself in permitting me, under circumstances of mercy, to live to the age of 89 years, and to survive the fiftieth year of independence, adopted by Congress on the 4th of July 1776, which I originally subscribed on the 2d day of August of the same year and of which I am now the last surviving signer.
-- Charles Carrol (signer of the Declaration of Independence)
Rendering thanks to my Creator for my existence and station among His works, for my birth in a country enlightened by the Gospel and enjoying freedom, and for all His other kindnesses, to Him I resign myself, humbly confiding in His goodness and in His mercy through Jesus Christ for the events of eternity.
-- John Dickinson (signer of the U.S. Constitution)
Sensible of the importance of Christian piety and virtue to the order and happiness of a state, I cannot but earnestly commend to you every measure for their support and encouragement.
-- John Hancock (signer of the Declaration of Independence)
Being a Christian… is a character which I prize far above all this world has or can boast.
-- Patrick Henry (Gov. of Virginia, Revolutionary War General)
As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and His religion as He left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see.
-- Benjamin Franklin (One of two or three known non-Christians in the original congress)
Nothing is more certain than that a general profligacy and corruption of manners make a people ripe for destruction. A good form of government may hold the rotten materials together for some time, but beyond a certain pitch, even the best constitution will be ineffectual, and slavery must ensue.
-- John Witherspoon, The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men, 1776
No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.
-- Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, November 4, 1775
Ad hominem, thank you for your personal attack on me. Of course, you posted anonymously so you have perfect grounds to call someone cowardly and an idiot. Take away your first and last sentences and you would have had a great comment worthy of discussion. As Colonel Collins said "We're an all-inclusive military," Collins said. "We honor all faiths. ... Our message to our service and civilian work force is about the need for diversity and appreciation of all faiths." I agree with that statement just as much as I agree with some of what Graham states about Islam. And the day of prayer has been with us since the Continental Congress, who in 1775: "designated a time for prayer in forming a new nation." The National Day of Prayer Task Force was put forth in 1972 by the Rev. Billy Graham, but the tradition was in place long before then.
Imagine if the opposite happened. A firebrand Muslim cleric that has stated that Christianity is evil is invited to the Pentagon to speak on the National Day of Prayer. Many members of the Christian faith in the Pentagon complain.
Would you still be calling journalists cowards when they agree with the Pentagon's decision to cancel their appearance? And you called him a hypocrite.
Matt, I saw your comment on DKos. I wanted to comment on the diary about Rapture that the diarist as well as most of the comments were making a big mistake in not taking 'millennialists' seriously. Please, as a journalist, take a look at a monograph by Army Maj. Brian Stuckert: www dot dtic dot mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA485511&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf
In the '90s I spent a lot of time studying and evangelicals, esp. TV evangelists, including John Hagee and others who have achieved disproportionate and dangerous influence over Congress and especially military and war-making. Stuckert's paper filled in a few holes and provides a pretty sound foundation for an analytic understanding of these groups. Predictably, millennialists are incensed (or maybe myrrhed? -- its a Catholic joke) at Stuckert's dissection of their pathology: www dot wnd dot com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=119315
happy hunting, Matt. see you in the orange funny papers
Unfortunately, the article keeps up the nonsense that the NDP is about all faiths. It did not start out that way at all (just look up Judge Crabb's decision) and still remains an attempt by some Christians to force their particular version of one religion on everyone.
Franklin Graham is a chickenhawk bigot who wants to send good men and women in uniform on a 'holy crusade' against Islam while insulting the thousands of honorable and patriotic Muslims serving in uniform.
He's not fit to shine their shoes with his tongue and has no business in the Pentagon.
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