Billy Graham
Out of context: Reply #31
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- driftlab0
I don't want to start a debate and I don't endorse the guy, but I would be hard pressed to shrug him off as a 'koot' in light of all his accomplishments and his being the catalyst for a heluva lot of life change around the world. He was a good friend to Clinton and I don't think he claims to be tied to any party.
That article seemed like they couldn't make up their minds about him, mrdobolina. Because they say this after all the criticism -
'Little in Billy Graham's background would have led him to embracing Jews. He was born on a dairy farm near Charlotte, North Carolina. His whole culture during his boyhood was rooted in a rural Protestant Christianity. He probably never knew a Jew in those early years.
Yet, over the decades, he has shown a strong affinity to Judaism and the Jewish people. For example, in the 1970's and 1980's, he managed to conduct crusades in the former Soviet Union, while the Communists were still in control. At the same time, he worked behind the scenes with Jewish leaders to advance the cause of Soviet Jewry. His goal was not to convert Jews but to rescue them from their cruel oppression and to bring them to lands of freedom.
Billy Graham has also been an avid champion of the State of Israel. In fact, his daughter, for a while, lived on a kibbutz. His Evangelic Association several years ago produced a documentary about Israel called, "His Land.” In it, Graham shows respect for Judaism.
Furthermore, Graham was a friend of Golda Meir, the late Prime Minister of Israel. She hailed him as a "great human being, and outstanding spokesman for peace and rich brotherhood...” She commented that she would always remember him for his deep understanding of Israel's problems and for his support of Israel's struggle for peace for all the nations in that area.
Many prestigious national Jewish organizations have recognized his solidarity with the Jewish people. In 1977, Graham won the first interreligious award from the American Jewish Committee. The late Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum, the Interreligious Director of the AJC at that time, declared that most of the progress of Protestant-Jewish relations over the past quarter century was due to Billy Graham.
In a recent Letter to the Editor of the New York Times, Georgette Bennett, Tanenbaum's widow, recalled a marvelous story her husband told her about Graham's intervention in the 1973 war in Israel. Many others had also intervened. Yet it was only after Graham's phone call to Nixon, that the president send a military airlift to Israel. It was that dramatic action that helped to insure Israel's survival.
How then shall we evaluate Billy Graham in the light of these anti-Jewish disclosures? We regretfully have to look upon Billy Graham with strong ambivalence and even suspicion. We strongly deplore Graham's covert bigotry voiced 30 years ago and, as a result, now see him as the Jewish people's fallen hero. Yet we must acknowledge that, on balance, he has made significant contributions to improving Christian-Jewish relations. He has also assured the viability and security of the State of Israel and the Jewish people everywhere. Amen.'