Billy Graham, who according
to the Gallup Organization was the seventh most admired person in twentieth
century (by Americans), suddenly has become quite political. Earlier this month,
Mitt Romney went to visit him and they prayed together—which certainly was not something
unusual: Graham has known and prayed with every President from Harry Truman to
Barack Obama.
After his prayer with Romney, though, Billy is quoted as
saying to Mitt, “I will do anything I can
to help you.”
A few days later, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA)
changed a website article, removing the reference to Mormonism as a cult. The website previously read, “A
cult is any group which teaches doctrines or beliefs that deviate from the
biblical message of the Christian faith.”
It went on to state, “Some of these
groups are Jehovah’s Witnesess, Mormons, the Unification Church, Unitarians,
Spritualists, Scientologists, and others.”
It may well be a good thing that the BGEA no longer considers
Mormonism a cult. But the timing is certainly interesting: they made that
change just a very few weeks before the election in which one of the candidates
is a Mormon.
Then last week in the Wall
Street Journal and other newspapers, the BGEA placed a full-page ad that
was an implicit endorsement of the Romney-Ryan ticket. The ad states:
The legacy we leave behind for our children, grandchildren and this great nation is crucial. As I approach my 94th birthday, I realize this election could be my last. I believe it is vitally important that we cast our ballots for candidates who base their decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel. I urge you to vote for those who protect the sanctity of life and support the biblical definition of marriage between a man and a woman. Vote for biblical values this November 6, and pray with me that America will remain one nation under God.
But what are
biblical values? The same Bible (Old Testament) that is used (by some) to
condemn gays (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13) also seems to accept or even to approve
of polygamy (such as in the case of Jacob, for example). It is questionable to
use the first to tout “biblical values” but disregard the many examples of the
latter.
Or why are the two cited
verses from Leviticus used to support a biblical value but the following verses
are not? “Do not take interest or any profit from them, but
fear your God, so that your poor neighbors may continue to live among you.
You must not lend them money at interest or sell them food at
a profit” (Leviticus
25:36-37).
Sanctity of life, I
would agree, is certainly a biblical value. But as I explained in my October
15 posting, abortion done under the right conditions in the first trimester
is not the “taking of life.”
Loving one’s
neighbor as oneself, however, is unquestionably a biblical value if we take the
teaching of Jesus seriously at all. Thus, by implication, such love would
surely include such things as providing universal health care coverage and helping
to provide for the needs of the poor as well as opposing the exploitation of
the poor by the rich.
Sojourners has
produced a very good voters’ guide (available at this link), one that includes
many more vital biblical values than the narrow, and questionable, version offered
by Billy Graham.
