Christianity Today's editorial has sparked a family fight about Billy Graham and Trump
As Christianity Today editor Mark Galli mentioned Thursday in his editorial calling for President Trump's removal from office, the evangelical magazine was founded by Billy Graham. One of his children, Franklin Graham, is among the president's evangelical abettors, and his response insisted the late evangelist was pro-Trump.
Billy Graham "would be very disappointed," Franklin wrote on Facebook. "My father knew Donald Trump, he believed in Donald Trump, and he voted for Donald Trump. He believed that Donald J. Trump was the man for this hour in history for our nation."
Another Graham family member disagreed: "A heavy hearted bravo to CT!" tweeted Boz Tchividjian, a grandson of Billy Graham who runs an organization which helps churches prevent and confront sexual abuse. "Well said on so many levels. I believe my grandfather would have had a similar perspective."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Graham served as an adviser to presidents from Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush. But after the scandals of the Nixon administration, he took a step back from politics, cautioning evangelicals against being "closely identified with any particular party or person. We have to stand in the middle, to preach to all the people, right and left," Graham said in 1981. "I haven't been faithful to my own advice in the past. I will in the future."
In 2016, a Trump surrogate claimed Graham "prophesied" over Trump, but Graham's office denied the account, saying he simply signed a Bible with a generic greeting.
This is not Christianity Today's first critique of the Trump administration, its policies, or associated public figures, as Andrew Lewis, a University of Cincinnati professor who studies the Christian right in America, documented in a lengthy Twitter thread. But despite the magazine's willingness to buck Republican orthodoxy, it is hardly the "far left" or "liberal" institution Trump, Franklin Graham, and Liberty University's Jerry Fallwell, Jr. have claimed since the editorial dropped.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Baltimore bridge disaster: Who is going to pay and how?
Today's Big Question Politicians, legal experts, and the insurance industry are all grappling with the financial fallout of America's worst infrastructure tragedy in years
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Melting polar ice is messing with global timekeeping
Speed Read Ice loss caused by climate change is slowing the Earth's rotation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The Week contest: Stick guitar
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
Israel concedes it may not be able to destroy Hamas
Speed Read Despite five months of war in Gaza, Israeli intelligence officials admit the militant group eludes them
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump gets $289M break, first criminal trial date
Speed Read The former president's fraud bond has been reduced to $175 million from $464 million
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US-Israel rift widens after UN cease-fire resolution
Speed Read The U.S. declined to veto a U.N. resolution calling for a two-week "immediate cease-fire" in Gaza
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New Jersey first lady exits race to replace Menendez
Speed Read Tammy Murphy dropping out paves the way for Rep. Andy Kim to become the state's next senator
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Russia blames Ukraine for deadly ISIS Moscow attack
Speed Read Putin has ignored the Islamic State's claim of responsibility for the concert hall shooting
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump-RNC pact puts Trump legal bills ahead of GOP
Speed Read The former president has struck a deal with the Republican National Committee to put donations toward his legal bills
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Vietnam president resigns amid scandal
Speed Read Vietnam loses its second president in two years as Vo Van Thuong steps down
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published