Washington, April 22: Franklin Graham Evangelist chosen to lead Army prayer day says Muslims enslaved by Islam.
Army mulls disinviting evangelist after attacks on Islam surface, but church leader isn’t backing down
The Christian evangelist invited to serve as honorary chairman of the Army’s National Day of Prayer declined to walk back remarks accusing Islam of being a “wicked and evil” religion in an interview broadcast early Thursday.
Asking to clarify comments in which he called Islam “evil” after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, evangelist Franklin Graham said Thursday he still took issue with those adhering to Muslim faith.
“I love the people of Islam but their religion, I do not agree with their religion at all,” he said. He added that he was disturbed by the treatment of women under Islam.
“I speak out for people that live under Islam,” he said, “that are enslaved by Islam and I want them to know that they can be free, free through faith in Jesus Christ and Christ alone.”
Franklin Graham is the son of the late televangelist Bill Graham. He was invited by the Army to serve as an honorary chairman for Prayer Day, but his invitation is facing renewed scrutiny after a watchdog group drew attention to his 2001 remarks. Following pressue, Army Col. Tom Collins told the Associated Press Wednesday that withdrawing Graham’s invitation “is on the table.”
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation objected to the invitation, citing Graham’s past comments about Islam.
Graham called Islam a “very evil and wicked religion” in the days after the 9/11 attacks. Later, he tried to temper his remarks by saying that Americans shouldn’t “paint [Muslims] in a broad brush” since only a “small group of people” were responsible for flying airplanes into US sites.
On another occasion, the evangelist declared that “true” Islamic involves abuse of women and labeled it a “very violent religion.”
“We have many Muslims that live in this country,” he said. “But true Islam cannot be practiced in this country. You can’t beat your wife. You cannot murder your children if you think they’ve committed adultery or something like that, which they do practice in these other countries… I don’t agree with the teachings of Islam and I find it to be a very violent religion.”