Perry Deane Young: Not heeding father’s warnings

Regarding the Jan. 4 Focus column “Graham will try to rally the Christian conservative vote”: It is with bitter dismay that I read that Franklin Graham is taking his show of meanness and bigotry on the road to all 50 states.

What an embarrassment this man has become to his family and the state of North Carolina. What a betrayal his multimillion-dollar lifestyle has become to the fundamental teachings of Jesus that we should love one another and judge not lest we be judged.

One hopes his political activism will attract the attention of the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Election Commission.

One would also hope that this preacher of hate would heed the words of his own father: “I’m for morality. But morality goes beyond sex to human freedom and social justice. We as clergy know so very little to speak out with such authority on the Panama Canal or superiority of armaments. Evangelists can’t be closely identified with any particular party or person. We have to stand in the middle in order to preach to all people, right and left. You must remember that the worst part of history was in the Dark Ages when the church ran everything. Too many ministers think they’re social engineers.”

This story was originally published January 25, 2016 at 5:13 PM with the headline "Perry Deane Young: Not heeding father’s warnings."