Reason to Hope
by tristero
Recently, the Times published a long, poorly written, and mostly positive article about Franklin Graham, a far-right bigot and, by the way, the son of a famous preacher who was himself caught on tape enthusiastically agreeing with Nixon's anti-Semitic remarks).
The Times's letter writers set the paper straight today. A typical letter:
As a contemplative Christian and a progressive, I’m saddened and chagrined to read of Franklin Graham’s stand against California’s “blue wall” and to think of him as the voice of Christianity.
We’re called as Christians not to proclaim who is godless and blacklisted from the exclusive club we deem acceptable and who will join us in Heaven, but to welcome the stranger and to show love and compassion to everyone, even our enemies. Surely, God is bigger than all of us and our proclamations, even Franklin Graham’s.
RUTH LINNEA WHITNEY
PORT TOWNSEND, WASH.
Exactly right. Graham is the voice of a particularly weird Christian sect but the press has let him and his ilk get away for years with claiming they speak for all American Christians.
But now, it appears that finally mainstream Christians are speaking up to hold Graham's media enablers to account and doing so with a specifically Christian-themed message. All the letters are worth reading.
One of the worst things about the original article was that Graham's position within American Christianity were taken completely out of context because the author quoted only another evangelical preacher to criticize Graham (he called Graham's message "politically toxic"). A truly balanced article would have also solicited and published opinions about Graham's extremism from Episcopal priests, Methodists, Catholics, and others.
Going forward, let's see whether the Times takes these letters to heart and stops falling for a right wing religious con job. These mere fact that the letters were published gives me some hope.