Franklin Graham's bigotry should not be sugarcoated

Franklin Graham is what's wrong with Christianity

As you may or may not know, Franklin Graham is traveling around the country supposedly calling people to Christ. And the phony news site, One News Now, is giving him all sorts of wonderful press:

Evangelist Franklin Graham is on a bus this year going to all 50 state capitals to preach on the capitol steps. Dr. Ken Barun with Billy Graham Evangelistic Association describes the Decision America Tour.

"It is a campaign for God,” he says. “Franklin has said that right from the beginning. All these people will be out doing campaigns for different candidates, but in this case it's a campaign for God."

 . . . He explains that Graham isn't endorsing any candidates on this tour. "He has said many times he's lost confidence in both parties and there's no candidate who's going to change our country,” Barun explains. “It's going to be God." 

 In it's glowing tribute lovefest, One News Now conveniently omits the ugly comments and positions Graham has taken, including his verbal attacks and generalizations about the Muslim community, including calls to keep Muslim immigrants from out of the country.  And the sad thing is to justify his position, he cited a misleading study from a rabid Islamophobic group. 

And then there is his homophobia. Graham is the classic case of a homophobe who will use his opinion that homosexuality is a sin to justify any and every vicious comment he makes or position he takes about lgbts.

The main thing which sums up Graham's awful beliefs about lgbts is his 2014 verbal support of Russia's anti-gay laws, which serves to persecute lgbts in that country:

 "Putin is right … he has taken a stand to protect his nation’s children from the damaging effects of any gay and lesbian agenda,” 

According to Mark Joseph Stern of The Slate, this is what Graham is supporting:

The issue of violence against gays in Russia is, of course, nothing new. Before the passage of the new federal measure, several regional governments passed identical laws, stripping gay citizens of legal rights and human dignity. More than one-half of Russian gays reported psychological abuse, while 16 percent experienced physical assault, and 7 percent were raped. Yet 77 percent also reported complete distrust of the police, leaving most anti-gay crimes unreported.

Putin’s law has only darkened this already bleak picture. By putting the government’s stamp of approval on rampant Russian homophobia, Putin effectively declared open season on gay people. As the Harvard study notes, violence against gays in Russia isn’t considered violence at all; rather, it’s thought of as a way for young males to prove their own heterosexuality—while simultaneously cleansing society of an aberrant, pedophilic community.

So to surmise, Franklin Graham supports distorted generalizations about the Muslim community and countries which persecute lgbts through violence  And regardless of  that, he thinks he is worthy enough to lead people to embrace the religion of Jesus Christ, "the Prince of Peace," without any introspection of the ugly irony he is committing.

I don't know what's worse. Graham's gall or the fact that this country seems to desensitized or taken in that no one is crying foul.