Saturday, April 24, 2010

Sarah Palin's Take On the Dis-Invitation of Franklin Graham

My, have things changed. I was honored to have Rev. Franklin Graham speak at my Governor’s Prayer Breakfasts. His good work in Alaska’s Native villages and his charitable efforts all over the world stem from his servant’s heart. In my years of knowing him, I’ve never found his tempered and biblically-based comments to be offensive – in fact his words have been encouraging and full of real hope.

It’s truly a sad day when such a fine patriotic man, whose son is serving on his fourth deployment in Afghanistan to protect our freedom of speech and religion, is dis-invited from speaking at the Pentagon’s National Day of Prayer service. His comments in 2001 were aimed at those who are so radical that they would kill innocent people and subjugate women in the name of religion.

Are we really so hyper-politically correct that we can’t abide a Christian minister who expresses his views on matters of faith? What a shame. Yes, things have changed.

- Sarah Palin

5 comments:

Dave Splash said...

Considering the Grahams and Mrs. Palin have anti-semitic issues in their past (Palin's very recent past, which she still refuses to either admit or apologize for), perhaps they are not the greatest spokespeople on this subject.

The right constantly asks religious figures of other faiths (i.e. non-evangelical) to root out extremists and call them out when they say and do outrageous things, yet refuses to do it themselves.

Graham's offensive comments were not merely after 2001 and in the heat of 9/11 passions. He said the same thing in 2008 and 2009, and there was no qualification that he only meant "extreme Islam" He said the religion is evil, period. Considering such a huge portion of our current foreign policy involves having armies in Muslim countries and training Muslim soldiers, it is shocking to me the right is so proud of Graham for his horrible comments and refuses to even condemn them. How are they constructive to our efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq? Or Pakistan and Yemen? Will the citizens of those countries come running in droves to help us, when they believe our soldiers are being indoctrinated with anti-Muslim views? Doubtful.

But, as with everything in modern right-wing politics, facts don't matter and neither do the opinions of anyone else other than the conservative elite.

To me, the greatest mistake President Obama has made is cozying up to extremists like Rick Warren and Billy and Franklin Graham.

I applaud the military for rescinding the invitation. Actions have consequences, and Mr. Graham needs to be reminded of his.

Darrell Michaels said...

Dave, I am not aware of Franklin Graham's more recent comments to which you refer. Nor am I familiar with the comments from Sarah Palin regarding anything anti-Semitic.

Palin in particular has been a pretty staunch supporter of Israel and protecting Judaism to my knowledge.

If such is the case, I'd be curious to see the source for this, sir. I am not trying to be argumentative here, but am genuinely curious as to where these charges orginate.

I am amused by your characterization of a milqtoast pastor like Rick Warren as an extremist, however. :)

Darrell Michaels said...

Dave, I want to be very careful here and it is absolutely NOT my intention to offer offense towards you or Judaism.

That being said, Jesus Christ was a Jew himself. It is the Christian belief that He came to fulfill the prophecies told in the Old Testament of a coming Messiah.

Jesus established the New Convenant with not only Jews but the gentiles as well, accordingly.

It is a Christian's duty to proclaim Christ's salvation for all of those that accept Him as the Son of God, regardless of their previous faith or lack thereof.

It is not meant as an insult to others, but rather to share what we know to be the truth so that others might share in our joy. It is not a superiority issue. It is up to others to either accept or reject that message as they believe.

This does not give Christians or Jews for Jesus or any other group the right to coerce others into accepting the Christian faith.

Free will was given to all by God so that an individual could choose his own path. I would say that this is especially true in regards to a a person's choosing his own faith or lack of faith.

The bottom line is that after reading the script from the link you sent, I did not find anything coercive in the Jews for Jesus's message. (...unlike the treatement of Jews, and Catholics for that matter, at the hands of the Nazis.)

Perhaps there are other things JFJ have said that were not contained in that script that denigrates or wholly disrespects the Jewish religion in a coercive manner. If so, that is NOT acceptable and not what Christ teaches, as far as my understanding goes.

I did not find anything that was anti-Semitic in the message though. They simply want to share their understanding of the fulfillment of the prophecies fortold in the Jewish scriptures with the coming of the Messiah in the form of the Son of Man; Jesus Christ.

Dave Splash said...

I can answer this one really quick.

It is the Christian belief that He came to fulfill the prophecies told in the Old Testament of a coming Messiah.

But it is not the Jewish belief. Therefore there can be no Jews for Jesus. It undermines the basic tenets of the religion.

What if Harry Reid belonged to a cult called Christians for Mohammed, and they claimed to be the "real Christians" but instead of believing what you do about Jesus, they argue it was, actually, Mohammed that is the messiah.

I doubt you would accept that Christians for Mohammed group as legit, and would probably be offended if Reid or anyone else tried to pass it off as a Christian organization. It wouldn't be.

Jews for Jesus is viewed by the Anti-Defamation League as an anti-semitic cult, and I wholeheartedly agree. If these misguided folks want to be Christians, fine. But if they want to be Jews, the Jesus part is not included.

Darrell Michaels said...

I understand your point, Dave.

I don't necessarily agree, but I can respect where you are coming from with this argument, sir.