Franklin Graham Continues to Spread Anti-Muslim Hate

Reaching millions through Facebook, Evangelist Franklin Graham made an extremely controversial statement on Muslim immigration in the U.S.

On July 17, Franklin Graham made one of the most bigoted posts about Muslims on his Facebook. As the president of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, it’s assumed he would aim to spread love. However, he has, time and again, chosen to use his platform and ability to reach millions to spread hate toward Muslims. The post in question received thousands of likes and comments from supporters.

@bobrobertsjr What would you say to Franklin Graham and those who agree with him re: his latest Facebook post on Muslims? Found it so sad.

— A. Rodriguez (@arodriguez321) July 18, 2015

Chattanooga Shooting

In his post, Graham references the Chattanooga shooting that recently occurred. Four marines were killed by Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez. Reports stated that he had a lengthy history of substance abuse. In addition, he was supposed to be taking anti-depressants. He was given guns illegally, however he had not links to any terrorist organizations. All of these point to a deranged individual who should have been given help. In comparison, he makes little reference to the shooting in South Carolina when Dylann Roof murdered nine African Americans that he sat in church with for over an hour before deciding to kill them all. The short post that Graham made about this incident was posted to a side page, with no mention of white supremacy, racism or terrorism. This is likely due to Roof’s connection to a Christian terrorist group that prioritizes white supremacy.

The Truth about Bigotry and Muslims

Bigotry stems from a lack of information and complete ignorance. The facts are, according to a New York Times report, that in the last decade since 9/11, right-wing extremists average about 337 violent attacks annually, while Muslims only contribute about 20. Muslims have caused 50 fatalities, right-wing extremists have caused 254. In fact, as seen through Graham’s posts, he has little to say about the good that non-radical Muslims are doing. When racists were burning down black churches, thousands raised over $100,000 to help those churches be rebuilt. One American Muslim Marine wrote a post for USA Today to talk about his fallen brothers after the Chattanooga shooting. The fact is, people only see the few radical Muslims in the news, leaving them no way to access the good in this entire group of people. Rather than demonizing them, as Graham has been doing, Christians should be leading their followers in accepting and welcoming them.

Resources

• Huffington Post
• USA Today
• World Religion News – “Muslims Raise Over $80,000 to Help Rebuild Black Christian Churches”

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