Army Should Expect to Answer for Dumping Graham

From OneNewsNow
By Allie Martin

A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee will question military officials about the recent snub of evangelist Franklin Graham to speak at a National Day of Prayer event at the Pentagon.

Last week, officials with the U.S. Army Chaplain's Corp announced they had rescinded an invitation for Graham to speak at the prayer event at the Pentagon. Officials pointed to comments Graham made about Islam in 2001 as the primary reason for the disinvite. (See earlier story)

Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) says the issue will be addressed later. "Of course we'll have Army officials before the Armed Services Committee quite often. I'm going to ask them about this," Wicker vows. "There is a time for proselytizing and a time for preaching. I'm a Baptist; we do that. But that's not to say that I should be unwelcomed at a time when we put our religious disagreements aside."

The Mississippi lawmaker believes the snubbing of Franklin Graham was a dangerous step -- and he adds that if current trends continue, only those who preach a diluted Christian gospel will be invited to speak at public events. Meanwhile, many of Franklin Graham's fellow preachers agree with his views on Islam.

Graham continues to see support

A poll conducted by LifeWay Research of the Southern Baptist Convention surveyed 1,000 Protestant pastors who were read a statement from Frankling Graham about Islam and a statement from former President George W. Bush describing Islam as a "noble religion."

The survey found that 47 percent of pastors agreed with Graham, 12 percent agreed with both, and one-fourth of the pastors agreed only with Bush.

Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, believes that given the recent controversy over Graham's disinvite to the National Day of Prayer event, the subject of Islam will be discussed even more at churches nationwide. (Listen to audio report)

"I think there's a lot of people asking those questions and having those discussions about Islam, and I think [they're] going to continue as people want to understand," Stetzer predicts. "They see Islam in the news, they see discussions about...the National Day of Prayer. I think that's going to continue."

LifeWay's survey also found that most pastors do not believe Muslims and Christians pray to the same god. The poll was conducted about month prior to the controversy surrounding Graham and the prayer event.