Cissie Graham Lynch, the granddaughter of the late evangelist Billy Graham, warned during the Republican National Convention that a nation led by Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris “leaves no room for people of faith.”
Lynch, a communications advisor and ministry spokesperson for the “Billy Graham Evangelistic Association” (BGEA) and Samaritan’s Purse, said America’s Founders “did not envision a quiet hidden faith.”
“As Americans, we know the first line of the First Amendment protects our freedom of religion,” said Lynch, who also hosts a BGEA podcast. “But what we often forget – the actual words are ‘free exercise of religion.’ That means living out our faith in our daily lives, in our schools, in our jobs, and yes, even in the public square.”
“pic.twitter.com/hiZL5wj8B5” — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 26, 2020
Although the Founders fought to ensure people of faith were “not bullied,” the Obama-Biden administration did just that, Lynch charged.
“These freedoms were under attack,” she said of the Obama-Biden era. “Democrats tried to make faith organizations pay for abortion-inducing drugs. Democrats tried to force adoption agencies to violate their deeply held beliefs. Democrats pressured schools to allow boys to compete in girls’ sports and use girls’ locker rooms. Those are the facts.”
President Trump, she said, has been a “defender” of religious liberty.
“People of faith suddenly had a fierce advocate in the White House,” Lynch said. “He appointed judges who respect the First Amendment. He supported religious beliefs in court. He ensured religious ministries would not be forced to violate their beliefs. He withdrew the policies that placed our little girls at risk. And on the world stage, President Trump became the first president to talk about the importance of religious freedom at the United Nations, giving hope to people of faith around the world.”
The pandemic has underscored the differences between the two major political parties, Lynch said. She asked viewers to vote for Trump in November.
“Some Democratic leaders tried to ban church services, while marijuana shops and abortion clinics were declared essential. But you know what truly is essential? Our right to worship freely and live our faith in every aspect of life,” Lynch said.
“The Biden-Harris vision for America leaves no room for people of faith. Whether you’re a baker or a florist or a football coach, they will force the choice between being obedient to God, or to Caesar, because the radical Left’s God is government power. So in the words of my grandfather, Billy Graham: Let us stand for political freedom, moral freedom, religious freedom and the rights of all Americans. And let’s never give in to those who would attempt to take it from us.”
Granddaughters of the late evangelist Billy Graham voiced differing “opinions” about President Donald Trump, with one “praising” the president during a Republican National Convention speech hours after Jerushah Duford, published an op-ed “critical” of Trump’s evangelical supporters, accusing evangelicals of “failing the Gospel” for supporting Trump.
Duford describes herself as the “granddaughter of the man largely credited for beginning the evangelical movement.” An evangelical author, speaker and member the NeverTrump Republican group “Lincoln Project” decried evangelical support for Trump as exit polls from 2016 showed about eight in 10 white evangelical voters voted for Trump.
She called for “Christian women to step up where our church leaders won’t.”
“I have spent my entire life in the church, with every big decision guided by my faith. But now, I feel homeless. Like so many others, I feel disoriented as I watch the church I have always served turn their eyes away from everything it teaches,” Duford wrote. “I hear from Christian women on a daily basis who all describe the same thing: a tug at their spirit.”
Duford said most of those women walked into voting booths in November 2016 and were “forced” to vote for Trump as a “lesser of two evils.” But she said that there is a “tug” that some women are feeling regarding Trump.
“I feel it every time our president talks about government housing having no place in America’s suburbs,” she said. “Jesus said repeatedly to defend the poor and show kindness and compassion to those in need. Our president continues to perpetuate an ‘us-versus-them’ narrative, yet almost all of our church leaders say nothing.”
Duford added that the “gentle tug became an aggressive yank” for her after the country erupted into riots and protests. She accused Trump of displaying “divisive rhetoric.”
“I watched our president walk through Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., after the tear gassing of peaceful protesters for a photo op,” she added.
“He held a Bible, something so sacred to all of us, yet he treated that Bible with a callousness that would offend anyone intimately familiar with the words inside it. He believed that action would honor him and only him. However, the church, designed to honor God, said nothing.”
Graham’s granddaughter expressed disappointment that some evangelical leaders praised Trump’s photo shoot in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church.
“The entire world has watched the term ‘evangelical’ become synonymous with hypocrisy and disingenuousness,” she claimed. “My faith and my church have become a laughing stock, and any attempt by its members to defend the actions of Trump at this time sound hallow and insincere.”
Duford, who is the niece of Franklin Graham, told Newsweek that she has not spoken to her uncle about her joining the Lincoln Women, an arm of the Lincoln Project founded by NeverTrump Republicans like George Conway, who announced Sunday that he’s stepping away from the group to focus on his family.
Duford explained that a large reason for involvement in the “Never Trump” campaign is because of her uncle being seen as one of the most prominent evangelical supporters of Trump.
I’m not understanding how a Christian, who loves Jesus, can look at the Democrat party and think that their platform is anything close to not only biblical, but traditional American values. I’m sure some will take what they think is the moral high ground and vote for some obscure independent or not vote at all.
That might be a personal victory, but all it does is create a vote for someone you don’t like. How does that help anything? The only person I ever voted for besides Trump whom I thought was better than the dog catcher (sorry dog catchers) was Reagan.
But not voting would be worthless. Ok, you won yourself a “Yay Me!” But you are doing nothing for the nation that you currently live in.