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Sunday, August 06, 2006
Billy Graham And Unjustified Moderation
The latest edition of Newsweek has a disappointing article on Billy Graham by Jon Meacham. Billy Graham is right on most issues and has done much good, but he's also wrong on some issues, and some of his comments in this Newsweek article deserve criticism, assuming that the comments are being reported accurately. The story is framed by Jon Meacham, and it's largely about his religious and political views, not just Graham's. Notice that Meacham repeatedly sets up moderation as an ideal without giving us justification for why we should want a more moderate position on issues like homosexuality and embryonic stem-cell research (which he repeatedly mentions without the "embryonic" qualifier). Meacham isn't so interested in moderation on other issues, like racism. However much Billy Graham has changed (though he seems to still be conservative overall and significantly more conservative than Jon Meacham), the evidence still supports a conservative position on issues like the ones Meacham addresses.
Jason,
ReplyDeleteInteresting article. I do have to point out something I find quite humorous from the article that you linked to:
In perhaps his most celebrated remark, Franklin has referred to Islam as "a very evil and wicked religion," and declines to back down. "After 9/11, there were a lot of things being said about how the God of Islam and the God of the Christian faith were one and the same, but that's simply not true ... ," Franklin told NEWSWEEK. "The God that I worship does not require me to kill other people. The God that I worship tells me I am to love my enemy, to give him food when he's hungry and water when he's thirsty."
Franklin, don't you know that your God told lots of people lots of things, including to go and kill lots of other people? What makes God different is who God is talking to, or when God said something? Nah, don't you remember Hebrews 13:8? Silly man.