One of Billy Graham's granddaughters praised Trump at the RNC. Another is asking Christian women not to vote for him.


Cissie Graham Lynch and Jerushah Duford are both granddaughters of the late evangelical leader Billy Graham, but they stand on opposite ends of the Trump spectrum.
Lynch delivered an address at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday night, where she called President Trump a "fierce advocate" of faith, condemned transgender inclusion, and accused Democrats of trying to make "faith organizations pay for abortion-inducing drugs," apparently referring to birth control, which does not induce abortion.
Duford also made her political stance clear on Tuesday, writing in an op-ed for USA Today that "every big decision" in her life has been "guided by faith," but now she feels "disoriented as I watch the church I have always served turn their eyes away from everything it teaches." Many Christian women have been telling her they also have experienced a "tug at their spirit," felt when they hear Trump say things about "government housing having no place in America's suburbs" or his border wall, "designed to keep out the very people scripture tells us to welcome."
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.
Seeing Trump holding up a Bible in Lafayette Square earlier this summer, minutes after peaceful protesters were tear gassed, should have offended "anyone intimately familiar with the word in it," Duford said. Yet few evangelical leaders have come forward to say Trump's "behavior is antithetical to the Jesus we serve." Because of this, the "entire world has watched the term 'evangelical' become synonymous with hypocrisy and disingenuousness," Duford declared, and "my faith and my church have become a laughing stock."
Duford does not want Christian women to ignore the "disrespect and misogyny" being shown by Trump, and she emphasized that they "represent God before we represent any political party or leader." In November, she said, evangelical women must "embrace your inner tug, and allow it to lead you to use the power of your God-given voice and not allow Trump to lead this country for another four years." Read the entire op-ed at USA Today.
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
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Fed leaves rates unchanged as Powell warns on tariffs
speed read The Federal Reserve says the risks of higher inflation and unemployment are increasing under Trump's tariffs
-
Denmark to grill US envoy on Greenland spying report
speed read The Trump administration ramped up spying on Greenland, says reporting by The Wall Street Journal
-
Supreme Court allows transgender troop ban
speed read The US Supreme Court will let the Trump administration begin executing its ban on transgender military service members
-
Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff idea
speed read President Trump proposed a '100% tariff' on movies 'produced in foreign lands'
-
Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'
speed read The Department of Homeland Security says undocumented immigrants can leave the US in a more 'dignified way'
-
Trump is not sure he must follow the Constitution
speed read When asked about due process for migrants in a TV interview, President Trump said he didn't know whether he had to uphold the Fifth Amendment
-
Trump judge bars deportations under 1798 law
speed read A Trump appointee has ruled that the president's use of a wartime act for deportations is illegal
-
Trump ousts Waltz as NSA, taps him for UN role
speed read President Donald Trump removed Mike Waltz as national security adviser and nominated him as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations