Army considers rescinding invitation to evangelist Graham

Army considers rescinding invitation to evangelist Graham

www.hcnonline.com

DENVER — The Army is considering whether to rescind an invitation to evangelist Franklin Graham to appear at the Pentagon amid complaints about his description of Islam as evil, a military spokesman said Wednesday.

Graham, the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, was to appear at the Pentagon on May 6 — the National Day of Prayer.

He said he will be a guest of the Pentagon and would speak only if he’s still invited.

Army Col. Tom Collins said withdrawing the invitation “is on the table,” but no decision has been made. He said Army brass will have the ultimate decision on wh

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.reuters.com
itunes.apple.com
www.liberty.edu
en.wikipedia.org

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Bill Aires admits he wrote "Dreams From My Father"

Your first thoughts upon reading this little article concerning the Pentagon deciding not to have Reverend Grahams speak and pray at the National Day of Prayer may be “so what, I really don’t give a damn”.

Yet you should.

One of my great interests in life has been the Church and its history.
So in not only observing but actively participating America’s and Canada’s recent Christian past I have noticed their was only one man ever called to the White House in times of dire need.

The Reverend Billy Graham.

Now because of the comment concerning the Muslim’s written law in the Koran concerning the treatment of women Billy Grahams son, Reverend Graham will not be allowed to participate in the national day of prayer ceremonies at the Pentagon.

For all of you familiar with redneck humour …” heres yer sign..”

Now to the point.

We are witnessing the separation of the North America’s mainstream ideas including the ideas of having Western based Christian influenced ideology gaining open doors to the highest offices in the land to shunning those who speak for traditional Western values rather than Islamic values.

This quote is from President Barrack Obama’s book From Audacity of Hope: "I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

As we can see the political winds have shifted. Yet not against the Muslim. The winds of change have shifted against middle American brand of Christianity which the Billy Graham family has preached not only to the working man but to every President up to President Bush senior in America's recent history.

President Obama's view can be summed up in his book "Dreams of my Father".

Quote.."I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa, that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself: the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela."

Reverend Grahams quote..."The U.S. Army on Thursday withdrew an invitation to a Christian evangelist to speak at a Pentagon prayer service next month following an outcry over his references to Islam as a violent religion.

U.S. | Barack Obama

Franklin Graham, the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, said in a statement he regretted the Army's decision and would keep praying for U.S. troops.

The invitation prompted a harsh reaction, including from a prominent U.S. Muslim group that said Graham's appearance before Pentagon personnel would send the wrong message as the United States fights wars in Muslim countries.

In an interview last year with CNN, Graham said "true Islam" was too violent to be practiced in the United States."





www.hcnonline.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

For the record I view this action simply as a method of dividing the masses other then that do take this to be a anti Muslim or anti Christian thread...or anti Obama thread.
And of course this is only my opinion.

[edit on 24-4-2010 by whiteraven]

I'll be the sensible 19 year old that the world needs today. There needs to be a separation of religion and military. What use is a Christian, Mulism, Hebrew, Buddhist, Hindi, Pagan, (etc) belief in an organization whose main goal is protection of a nation and destruction of any enemy that stands against the nation? What use is any philosophy of love and kindness in a military organization? Religion only clouds and confuses organizations such as military and government with moral and superstitious complications that do not belong within these organizations.

You can frown upon the truth, but look at it objectively and you will agree with me. Graham has little to no need to speak or even attend the event at the pentagon, and this has nothing to do with his comment.

As long as the "people" in the military have religious beliefs, those should be honored, within reason. We have Chaplains for this reason. men who are about to go into a situation that could cause their death want to be able to receive spiritual reinforcement. Men who are wounded, and about to die, need the same.

What the military does, however, is to train all Chaplains in the beliefs of all major religions, so they can minister to those servicemembers, regardless of the beliefs of the Chaplain themselves.

The problem arises when a minister places his religion as superior to another religion, trying to exert undue pressure to someone with the valid right to believe as they wish. This is the position that was demonstrated by Rev. Graham in this case. Outside the military, he can speak as he sees fit.

However, I would be interested to see if any other religious leaders who will be speaking have had statements against other religions. Sadly, these rules are not always equally enforced.