U.S. Capitol Introducing Billy Graham Statue to Honor His Life

Ninian Reid is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Ninian Reid is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Billy Graham’s statue was approved by NC legislature and will be displayed in Washington D.C. after his death.

The Legislature of North Carolina has voted in favor of installing evangelist Billy Graham’s statue in the United States Capitol following his death. Graham’s statue will be a replacement to Charles Aycock figure. Aycock earlier served as a governor of North Carolina and led the cause of civic education. He was also a popular white supremacist. This is way in which the leaders of North Carolina are showing their gratitude and honor they have towards Billy Graham. The evangelist, who is 96 years old, was brought up in Charlotte. He continues to live in North Carolina.

The final statue of Graham will not be the sole Tar Heel State representation. Every state has the permission for contributing two. Therefore, Graham’s statue will be placed inside or somewhere close to the National Statutory Hall next to the statue of Zebulon Vance (Buncombe County). Vance was once the governor of North Carolina after the Civil War.

U.S. Capitol Introducing Billy Graham Statue to Honor His Life[/tweetthis]

As per the congressional rules, a person’s statue can be installed only after their death. Graham will be 97 years old next month. He has been dealing with the difficulties of Parkinson’s disease. There is a huge bronze statue of Graham (with a Bible in his hand) on the LifeWay Christian Resources campus. This is the Southern Baptist Convention’s publishing arm in Nashville.

The state House of North Carolina has also given a vote in favor of a resolution that requests the United States Postal Service to create a stamp with Graham’s picture in order to honor him.

North Carolina will be the newest state contributing a statue to the Capitol. It was in the year 2000 that Congress gave permission to replace the old statues with newer ones. The collection has received three new statues of presidents since then. These include figures of Ronald Reagan (California), Gerald Ford (Michigan) and Dwight Eisenhower (Kansas).

Billy Graham was a pastor to the United States presidents, spreading the Gospel while on crusades all over the world. He is not the only religious person who will have a statue placed in the Capitol. There are twelve other states that have a religious leader representing them, who has served as a leader in faith related causes.

The state of Hawaii contributed Father Damien’s statue. He was a Catholic priest and did service to lepers staying on the Molokai Island.

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