I don’t see anything in Billy Graham’s past that leads me to believe that he isn’t a decent Christian who lives and abides by true Christian values. He’s not in it for profit or to fleece the public.
He seems to embody everything the Christian faith espouses, without denigrating other religions.
I think Billy Graham is a fine human being: convince me otherwise.
(His son will be speaking in Ottawa shortly, and again they seem like decent folks.)
And for the record I’m atheist, but Billy Graham seems like a nice guy who is seeking peace in the world.
He was deeply involved in the American civil rights movement at a time when few white evangelicals would have anything to do with it. He’s also famous for bailing Martin Luther King, Jr. out of jail.
And from the same site, Howard Stern has a net worth of $500 million, and Rush Limbaugh has a net worth of $300 million. You don’t want to know what Oprah’s is, and I don’t get your point.
Is that all? Yeah, I thought he’d have a bit more than that. I’ve always thought of him as one of the good guys. Went to hear him preach once about 20 years ago. I was impressed.
He’s pretty much what he seems to be. He’s generally always spoken out for civil rights and ecumenism – which REALLY pissed off the fundies. He’s the one who posted bail to help get Dr. King out of jail in Birmingham.
He’s had his moments, though (at one time back in the 1970s, he made some pretty heavy anti-semetic comments to Nixon about the Jews controlling the media – although he later appologized, and his actions, in support of Israel and speaking against trying to convert Jews bears that out). He IS against same-sex marriage, although you have to cut the guy some slack, when you realize you have a fundamentalist preacher in his 90s.
But he does seem like he’s more interested in trying to help people and preach unity rather than get involved in politics.
My local big city paper carries Graham’s column. I was delighted to see the following comment in the Indianapolis Star’s Let It Out Column just yesterday (paraphrased): “If the horoscopes say the column is for entertainment purposes only, why doesn’t Billy Graham’s column also say that?”
Can’t give you any dirt about Graham, but I find his column to be tripe. Nothing but stock answers that offer no real solution to the reader’s inquiry.
Someone should start a poll. Four options: 1) Is Billy Graham Muff Cabbage? 2) Billy Graham is not Muff Cabbage? 3) What, exactly, is Muff Cabbage? 4) Maybe I’m better off not knowing. My vote is split between 1 & 3.
Cite? That contradicts what I’ve found here (“On the subject of evolution, Billy Graham has consistently maintained throughout his ministry that Christianity and evolution are compatible.”) and here (“Various biblical literalists have accepted or noted openness to [theistic evolution], including theologian B.B. Warfield and evangelist Billy Graham.”).
True. But at the same time, he never tried to defraud his followers. Unlike Oral Roberts, who claimed that God would “call him home” unless he raised a certain amount of money by a certain date; or Jim Bakker, who sold accommodations that did not exist at his Christian theme park; Billy just preached, and his message boiled down to what Bill and Ted told us some years ago (and which we’re told Jesus taught two thousand years ago): be excellent to each other.
That’s not a bad message, and I try to be excellent to others daily.
“Being excellent to each other” seems to be all Billy Graham wants. Oh, he’ll take monetary contributions, but they are not his motivation. There are evangelists whose motivation seems to be money, but Billy Graham does not seem to be one of them. As such, I’ll call him one of the good guys.
Atheist here. Mother Theresa was scum to me, but Billy Graham is a mensch. Yes, his column is mostly a waste of ink, but he’s a stand up guy. And in at least one column he made it clear that non-Christians will get into heaven, which almost makes the rest of them worth it if he softened the heart of one fundamentalist. Too bad his son is a real asshole.
O sure he’s great, just Google “Billy Graham Nixon Tapes” and you’ll see how charitable he is about Jews. When the camera is on him and he knows it, he’s awesome. When he doesn’t know it? Hmmmm.
That was around forty years ago. It appears his thinking has evolved beyond that, he did apologize for those remarks, and his later stance regarding Jews is more charitable than that of many of his colleagues. If he had continued to disparage Jews I’d find that upsetting, but it seems to me he’s had a change of heart and I don’t see a call to judge him harshly on that issue.