Franklin Graham Defends Palin on Arizona Shootings

I'm so glad that there are some Christian leaders speaking out against an epidemic of gross and reprehensible lies by the liberal left. Franklin Graham, son of Evangelist Billy Graham, recently spoke out against the outlandish lies against Sarah Palin, in the aftermath of the Arizona shooting.

Franklin Graham Defends Palin on Arizona Shootings

Tuesday, 11 Jan 2011 08:08 PM

By David A. Patten

Internationally respected evangelist Franklin Graham, the son of the great preacher Dr. Billy Graham, jumped into the political fray Tuesday by denouncing “outrageous” attempts by the political left to blame Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for the Tucson rampage that left six dead and 14 wounded.

“This is a time for mourning and prayer for the victims and their families,” Graham reminded those who appear to be trying to exploit the shooting spree for political gain.

That Graham would come to Palin’s defense suggests the backlash to liberal attempts to lay the murderous rampage at the feet of conservatives may be expanding.

“I have been shocked at the reports from those suggesting that former Governor Sarah Palin has some level of responsibility for the horrific shooting in Arizona,” Graham said in the statement posted Tuesday on the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) website.

“I got to know Governor Palin when she served as governor of Alaska,” stated the younger Graham, who serves as BGEA’s president and CEO.

“She was extremely helpful to Samaritan’s Purse in providing relief to remote villages throughout the state. Most recently, she and members of her family traveled with me to Haiti where we visited cholera clinics, temporary shelter communities, and participated in an Operation Christmas Child distribution.”
Samaritan’s Purse is the ministry organization Graham founded, which conducts various international relief operations.

Graham went on to praise Palin as “a kind and compassionate God-fearing woman who believes with all her heart that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

Graham’s statement strongly suggested that he views political attacks based on the tragedy to be highly inappropriate.

“Whether you agree with her politics or not, it is outrageous to suggest that her political opinions encourage violence toward anyone,” Graham declared.
Prominent Democrats, including former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, and columnist Paul Krugman of The New York Times have been leading the charge to blame Palin and grass-roots conservatives for the massacre.

Several pundits associated with progressive politics, however, have denounced left-wing attempts to pin the cold-blooded murders on heated conservative rhetoric.

Those mainstream commentators include: Jonathan Chait of The New Republic, James Fallows of The Atlantic, Howard Kurtz of the Daily Beast, and Juan Williams of Fox News. They point out that there is no evidence the 22-year-old suspect was motivated by politics.

The Christian broadcasting group CBN reported Tuesday on a separate statement that Graham issued, urging Americans to be "measured and cautious before they place blame."

Speculation continues as the investigation continues into what touched off the shootings at a Tucson-area Safeway supermarket that critically wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The FBI has turned up evidence indicating the suspect have fixated on Giffords as early as 2007, long before the rise of Palin and the Tea Party movement to national prominence.

According to CBN, Graham warned in the second statement that rushing to blame anyone for the shooting before the full story is known might actually contribute to an atmosphere of angry intolerance.

"Hasty accusations have already been made before much information is known and an investigation has occurred,” he stated. “I believe this is counterproductive and could in itself incite hatred.

“This is not a time for political opportunism," he added. "Just because we disagree with someone from another political party does not mean we wish them harm."

CBN also reported that Graham is alarmed by the acceptance of “murder, violence, and rape as entertainment” in U.S. culture, as reflected in television, movies, and videogames.

Franklin Graham advised the nation to do “serious soul searching.” Otherwise, he warned, America "could see the destruction of the foundation upon which this nation was built if we are not careful."

Father and Rev. Billy Graham is now 92. By some accounts, he has preached to more people in person than anyone else in history.

Rev. Billy Graham’s staff says the evangelist has led over 2.5 million people worldwide to faith in Jesus Christ.


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O'REILLY FACTOR: Best Commentary on the Arizona Shooting

It's outrageous how the left is creating a political circus over the shooting in Arizona. Bill O'Reilly has presented the best commentary on the situation and is must viewing for everyone desiring to sift through the "rhetoric" and understand truth.

I'm sure that after all is said and done, we're going to find out that the Tucson Police Department has long known about this killer, Jerad Loughner, and did nothing about him.

This attempt to implicate the whole right wing and deny the right wing of their free speech is an attempt to

1) discredit and discourage the rise of conservatism by the left;
2) hide the truth of how inept the Tucson Police Department was in excusing Loughner for his history of threats and violent behavior.

What's Behind the Favored Status of Islam in American Media?

Here's an insightful article showing the widening divide of honor and favor accorded to American Muslims over American Christians.

Gary Bauer speaks the truth and I can only hope that American Christians wake up to the developing crisis in our culture. KEY LINE from his article is this:

Left-wing elites and radical Islamists are united in the common cause of upending the Judeo-Christian culture and roots of American society.

Read it here:

Few Americans would deny that Judeo-Christian beliefs and values informed the Founding of this country and that they continue to shape much of American life today. Nor would many of us deny that Americans who embrace Islamic values are a distinct minority here.

I raise these two facts because of an emerging reality: that, in a variety of contexts, American Muslims are treated better than American Christians. That might seem like a bizarre assertion, so think about it in another way: What if the Christians were treated like Muslims in America, and Muslims like Christians?

If Muslims were treated like Christians in America, Muslims would have to tolerate the defamation of their holiest images in our national museums, acts which would be called "artwork" -- and, if particularly provocative, even given taxpayer-funded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. They would also have to accept Korans being burned and thrown into toilets, which instead of inciting worldwide outrage and retribution would provoke a collective shrug of the shoulders.

If Muslims were treated like Christians, Muslims would be mocked by late night TV talk show hosts and lampooned in crude cartoon parodies. If Christians were treated like Muslims, conspicuous Christianity would be celebrated by our elites as a sign of our diversity and open-mindedness, not disparaged as an embarrassment, a nuisance and a breach of the law.

If Christianity were treated like Islam, our students would be taught a white-washed version of Christian history, with the troubling bits miscast or omitted from textbooks and lesson plans.

If Christianity were treated like Islam, if an evangelical Christian committed an evil act in the name of his faith, he would be portrayed in the media as a deviation from, not a personification of, the Gospel message. Meanwhile, our political and media elites would hasten to assure the public that evangelical Christianity is a religion of peace and that the vast majority of evangelical Christians do not support terrorism.

If Christianity were treated like Islam in America, our president, a professed Christian, would proudly attend Christian-themed dinners and events while skipping Ramadan dinners, not vice versa. And Muslim politicians would go out of their way to assure people that their faith would not affect their policy-making.

If Christianity were treated like Islam, Christmas and Easter would be publicly celebrated for what they are — the signature events of Christianity, marking the birth and the death and Resurrection of Christ — not stripped of all their theological meaning and transformed into secular holidays devoted to crass consumerism.

If Christians were treated like Muslims, NASA would be tasked with reaching out to Christians and recognizing their faith's profound achievements and contributions to science, math and engineering, instead of being told to make Muslims feel good about their rather meager scientific accomplishments.

If Christians were treated like Muslims, the Catholic Church's stances on sex, contraception and human life would be revered as welcome departures from our over-sexed, self-obsessed culture, not condemned as a cause of disease and death in the less-developed world. And if Muslims were treated like Christians, the application of Sharia law around the world would be met not with stony silence but with the outrage it deserves.

If Christians were treated like Muslims in America, amusement parks would celebrate "Christian Family Day," (Six Flags recently celebrated "Muslim Family Day"), and Christians would be asked to embrace, not set aside, their religious convictions at the door when they entered the public square. Meanwhile, Muslim imams, not Christian pastors, would fear hate crimes lawsuits for preaching orthodox views of sexuality and sin.

The notion that American Muslims face discrimination, even to the point of violence, is often posited by America's elites. But that idea evaporates under scrutiny. Remarkably few hate crimes are reported against Muslims (fewer than one-eighth those against Jews). What's more, Muslim immigration to America has risen sharply since September 11, 2001, and Muslims thrive, economically and educationally, once they arrive.

In fact, it is Christians, not Muslims, who increasingly encounter cultural elites who are hostile to their beliefs and values.

Sadly, Christians will never be treated like Muslims by America's elites. Why? Because Christianity can be attacked without fear of retribution. The Christian response to insult and attack -- "to turn the other cheek" -- contradicts the knee-jerk call to violence of many Islamists.

It's also because left-wing elites and radical Islamists are united in the common cause of upending the Judeo-Christian culture and roots of American society.

I’m not in favor of burning the Koran, and I don’t think insulting or defaming symbols of any religion constitutes art. At a time of the year when intolerance for public displays of Christianity is most acute, it is my Christmas wish that Muslims and Christians would be treated equally.

Former presidential candidate Mr. Gary Bauer is president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families.