Graham’s hubris

The hubris of Billy Graham’s recent advertisement urging folks to vote for the candidate upholding biblical principles boggles my mind. His assumption that he has a corner on how to interpret those principles is unabashedly absurd.

For his entire career, he has interpreted Christianity in narrow, individualistic terms, ignoring the injunctions to succor the poor, love mercy and let justice roll down as a mighty stream. When his voice might have helped during the civil rights struggles in the 1960s, he avoided taking a stand and preached individual salvation, avoiding the racial injustices throughout the South.

Now, his narrow emphasis on abortion and the sanctity of marriage between only a man and a woman continues his avoidance of the critical issues of social and economic justice in our time. At the end of a long life, he has finally openly entered the realm of politics. Up until now he has avoided a blatant entry into that world, a step that makes one wonder whether he is in full control of his actions.

As for me, I will take my biblical injunctions from the Hebrew prophets and the Sermon on the Mount and vote accordingly.

Samuel Magill

Chapel Hill