Billy Graham figures prominently in my earliest memories of television. My family used to gather round to watch his Christian crusades in the late 1960s, much as families do to watch Football games today.
This analogy works on many levels. Most notably, we were as fanatical about religion as any fan is about Football. And Graham was as big a star in my home as Tom Brady is in any.
Which constrains me to share this:
I grew up the son of a preacher man. One of the things I found most dispiriting about this was having to listen to the same sermon over and over again, knowing full well that my Daddy expected me to be moved by the Holy Spirit anew each time.
In fact, by the time I was ten, my mind, body, and soul had become inured to ‘inspired’ sermons from the pulpit, all of which I could parrot (almost verbatim) from my church pew. Only the wife of a vainglorious politician could possibly relate.
(“My Good Friday Sermon,” The iPINIONS Journal, April 6, 2007)
Yes, even Graham’s crusades were must-see TV on far too many occasions.
That said, he clearly believed God’s calling was for him to be a peripatetic preacher, not a parish pastor. Accordingly, by the late 1960s, he had already spent 20 years holding crusades in jam-packed sports stadiums all over the world.
In fact, with all due respect to the 12 disciples and every pope, Graham probably did more to “spread the gospel” in person than anyone in history. Not to mention the manifest distinction between his mission to enrich souls and that of today’s popular televangelists (like Joel Osteen). For theirs, it seems, is primarily to enrich themselves.
Meanwhile, broadcasting on radio and television increased Graham’s influence and celebrity exponentially. He was arguably bigger than the Beatles ever were. This explains why heads of state – from US presidents to British monarchs – summoned him as much to bask in his reflected glow as to seek his religious guidance.
His reach was global, and he was welcomed even by repressive leaders like Kim Il-sung of North Korea, who invited him to preach in Pyongyang’s officially sanctioned churches.
(New York Times, February 21, 2018)
But, when it comes to religious apostasy, I was a precocious child. This compelled me to pose all kinds of unsettling questions to my evangelical Daddy about fundamental contradictions that abound in Christianity – before I was twelve.
My questions ranged from the existential (e.g., asking him to explain creationism in light of evolution after watching Inherit the Wind at a friend’s house) to the ridiculous (e.g., asking him to reconcile his own preaching about the sin of alcohol with his savoring the flavor of Rum Raisin ice cream, which he often did).
He never provided any satisfactory answers before he died (in 2006). I doubt Graham could have done any better.
The point is that I had just cause at an early age to believe that, despite his telegenic appeal, even Graham might not be all he seemed.
Sure enough, the infamous Nixon tapes eventually revealed that he was as seduced by and deferential to political power as any president was inspired by or jealous of his religious power. Only this explains him being caught on tape endorsing Nixon’s antisemitism – in furtherance of a bigoted conspiracy, instead of rebuking it – in the name of God.
‘They’re the ones putting out the pornographic stuff,’ Mr. Graham said on the tape, after agreeing with Mr. Nixon that left-wing Jews dominate the news media. The Jewish ‘stranglehold has got to be broken or the country’s going down the drain,’ he continued suggesting that if Mr. Nixon were re-elected, ‘then we might be able to do something.’
(New York Times, March 17, 2002)
Mind you, Graham was on record denying, with righteous indignation, ever uttering an anti-Semitic word in his life. And nobody who heard him preach about religious tolerance and building interfaith (and interracial) bridges had any reason to doubt him. Then, thanks to Nixon’s perfidy, came the tapes. Graham eventually apologized.
But only God knows which of Nixon’s other vices (or those of other rich and powerful people) he provided evangelical indulgence for in private, while damning the same in public.
In any event, it speaks volumes that the heir to his brand of evangelism is his son Franklin – whose religious bigotry is surpassed only by his political idolatry. Here, for example, is what Franklin is preaching these days under the banner of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association:
Graham painted Trump as a defender of Christianity [who] ‘defends the Christian faith more than any president in my lifetime.’
(Huffington Post, January 22, 2018)
This, of course, is plainly absurd. It’s even more so than Jesse Jackson painting Trump as a defender of the Constitution who defends the rights of blacks more than any president in his lifetime.
At least his Daddy had the decency to kiss ass like this in private. Evidently, the messianic nature of Trump’s fiendishness has emboldened evangelicals like Franklin to do so in public, and with religious conviction.
Their idolatry inspired me to write such commentaries as “Evangelicals Supporting Donald Trump like Israelites Worshipping Golden Calf,” January 20, 2016, and “Evangelical Leaders Have Sacrificed Their Souls at the Altar of Trump,” October 15, 2016.
Incidentally, as restitution for his devious fraternization with Nixon, Billy vowed that he would associate his ministry with partisan politics never again. Franklin is clearly betraying that vow in spades
At any rate, the dissatisfaction I referenced above often led to appeals to my Mummy to explain why men of God, like my Daddy, do ungodly things. And I remember well her telling me, in her still small voice, that men of God might appear god-like, but they are only flawed men doing God’s work. As such, Billy was nonpareil.
Graham died today at his home in North Carolina. He was 99. May God have mercy on his soul. And may he rest in peace.
Godspeed, Billy.
Related commentaries:
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* This commentary was originally published on Wednesday, February 21, at 10:34 p.m.