Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Billy Graham’s Death Tells Us One Important Thing About the Far Left
Billy Graham died yesterday.
I didn’t really know much about him, what with being Irish and a Catholic under the age of 28. Nevertheless, as a history teacher of the American 20th century (he got a short mention in Irish history textbooks) to high school pupils, I recognize the impact he imparted on America, particularly with his Crusades in the 1950’s and his friendships with many American Presidents, from Truman to Obama.
Donald Trump, the President of the United States (I love saying that line), praised Graham and made reference to his values and to Christ, in a nice way. Not to be overlooked, the 44th President, one Barack Obama, to his great credit (never thought I’d say that) also imparted his prayers and wishes to Graham and his family. It’s arguably braver for a liberal like Obama to praise a conservative Christian like Billy Graham than it is Trump, and he deserves praise for this.
Sadly I’ve noticed that many liberals and left-wingers could not even contain themselves. Instead of waiting for his body to grow cold, many liberals and lefties have unleashed on poor Graham in a vile manner. They have been joined in this by Internet atheists who couldn’t resist the chance to bash Christianity or any of its proponents. I shouldn’t say I’m surprised, as I am not. However a thought did occur to me: it is amazing that lefties and liberals are far more comfortable criticizing Graham (and Christianity) slinging all sorts of accusations that they would never be able to criticize Muslim mass murderers of, and who generally do embrace many of the bigotries they accuse Christians of.
I suppose it does tell you everything about modern left. Many of them do hate Christianity more than they hate any other ideology. I wonder if they were asked which did more damage to the world — Christianity, Nazism, Islamism or communism; I wonder how many would choose Christianity. It’s sad, but I think it’s time to be honest. Many on the left hate Christianity and their numbers are growing through ignorance, historical illiteracy and the collapse of conventional religion.
Anyway, that’s the rant, and it’s over. May God have mercy on Billy Graham. I hope St. John Paul II is there to greet him. Billy Graham deserves a great reward for bringing so many Christians back to the faith. I hope God is merciful. Ar dheis de go raibh an anam.
Published in General
Atheism is just another religion with its creeds and heretics.
My husband is an agnostic; he often says that he doesn’t have enough faith to be an atheist. :)
11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” — Matthew 5:11-12
God rest ye, Rev. Graham.
To be fair to atheists, it’s nearly always lefty atheists who are like this. And I recognise that many atheists hate being associated with internet atheists.
It’s a sad commentary on the culture. If a man like Billy Graham can be looked at with utter disdain and called “devil incarnate” and “If there is a hell he’s burning in it” (these were responses to Obama’s tweet about his death), we’ve turned a pretty dark corner.
God had mercy on Billy Graham 2000 years ago.
Graham had a crusade at the Meadowlands football stadium in New Jersey in 1991. The advance planning for such an undertaking was enormous. They put out a request for church choirs to come and all sing together. Our parish at the time, St. Elizabeth in Wyckoff, sent its choir. There was also a lot of outreach and promotion. It may have not always been that way, but Catholics were very welcome at the crusade.
When our neighbor of many years in Illinois moved into assisted living, we all helped set up a garage sale for her. She had decades of stuff in her tiny house. One was an awesome backlit Last Supper that sold perhaps for its kitsch. However, I chose her copy of “Singing Evangelism,” a book of “Billy Graham Campaign Songs.” I don’t know where she got it, and it has seen better days. It’s copyright 1950. It is filled with “Old Time Religion”…and wonderful arrangements, including “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” “Softly and Tenderly,” and, of course, “Just as I am.”
I get the feeling that it was always that way; Laura Ingraham just did a segment on Billy Graham, and they said that in the 1950’s, Graham would not go anywhere unless he had assurances that his crusade would be integrated, both racially and religion wise. Everyone of every color was welcome, and he was also very welcoming of Catholics and Protestants of every stripe.
Here is the statement from Cardinal Dolan:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 21, 2018
STATEMENT OF CARDINAL DOLAN ON PASSING OF BILLY GRAHAM
“As anyone growing up in the 1950’s and 1960’s can tell you, it was hard not to notice and be impressed by the Reverend Billy Graham. There was no question that the Dolans were a Catholic family, firm in our faith, but in our household there was always respect and admiration for Billy Graham and the work he was doing to bring people to God. Whether it was one of his famous Crusades, radio programs, television specials, or meeting and counseling the presidents, Billy Graham seemed to be everywhere, always with the same message: Jesus is your Savior, and wants you to be happy with Him forever. As an historian, my admiration for him only grew as I studied our nation’s religious past, and came to appreciate even more the tremendous role he played in the American evangelical movement. May the Lord that Billy Graham loved so passionately now grant him eternal rest.”
That’s all good, of course.
But a C. S. Lewis voice in my head is shouting something about how I don’t want eternal rest; I want eternal adventure!
(Another voice reminds me how tired I am. I’ll let the voices keep fighting and get back to work. Maybe someday we can have a thread talking about pictures of the afterlife: rest, adventure, disembodied soul, reincarnation cycle, heaven, eternal resurrection, and so on.)
His warmth toward Catholics took some time to manifest itself, but I’m glad it ultimately did…God bless and rest him. He also was a noteworthy embodiment of America’s ‘civil/civic religion’ and sense of self; nowhere moreso than at inaugural invocations. He articulated those aspirations eloquently, and we as a nation were better for it.
I think about that too, sometimes.
Celestial choir practice forever? Nuts. I’m going fishing. I’ll take St. Peter with me. I’ll teach him how to rig for channel cat.
Back in days of yore when I used to watch television, I saw at least one of Billy Graham’s appearances on Johnny Carson’s Tonight show. In the one I remember, there was an exchange that seemed to have been scripted. Carson asked him something on the lines of what he would do if there was no Christianity. Graham replied that if there was no Christianity he would be a Jew, and if there was no Judaism he would be a Muslim. The discussion didn’t go anywhere from there. I didn’t think it was Graham’s greatest moment (I suspected he was the one who scripted the question) but I could understand and sympathize with what he was getting at, and even agree with it. But I wasn’t sure it needed to be asked and answered.
I just now did a search to see if a clip or transcript of that show was online so I could check my memory, but no luck. One article says Graham made four appearances on Johnny Carson’s show, but I didn’t find anything about that exchange.
Fishing, eh? Sounds good.
I’d also like to climb mountains on this planet and explore the galaxy. Maybe find some other planets and climb their mountains.
There are plenty of nasty atheists on the right, particularly among the disciples of Ayn Rand.
I figure that if there are celestial choirs for people who like to sing and are good at it, perhaps there’s a role for celestial painters. We’ll be able — finally! — to have what ends up on the easel matching in quality what is in our heads.
Well, in a moment of candor, a member of dissertation committee who told me bluntly that he was an ideological Marxist, said that among world religions, Christianity is the only serious challenge to Dialectical Materialism as a philosophy. All others have followed the Marxist-Materialist paradigm in their development in that they reflect their cultures of origin and it becomes increasingly hard to defend their core doctrines as those cultures change, resulting in changes to those religions. Christianity began already at odds with its culture of origin and has not changed either in its core doctrines or in its conflict with the culture at large. I think that explains the hatred usually seen from left-wing atheists, though Dr. K. was a rare exception.
Now that is a conversation I’d be interested in having.
Another good topic for its own all-original thread!
If someone starts that thread, please PM me!
I can’t believe I’d want to do any one thing for all eternity, I’ve always been attracted to variety, kind of a jack of all trades and master of none I suppose. But the thing that gives me the most pause is the idea that we will have all knowledge. I can’t imagine not continuing to learn being a satisfying existence. Guess I’ll just have to wait and see.
I’m serious about exploring the galaxy.
Presuming that (Romans 8) creation is healed rather than simply burned away and that (Rev. 20ish) heaven comes down to earth, I have a hard time imagining that we wouldn’t explore other planets. And I have a hard time imagining G-d giving us knowledge about what’s on them before we get there. So that’s something still to learn.
It’ll be Star Trek for real. With less war, and even better music than Voyager.
Man, Augustine, the leaves of that tree? They’re for the healing of the nations. And New Jerusalem? It’s a city. You know. With parks and the like. Jesus saves us for life, not just existence, and life involves activity: Painting, exploring, making music, sculpting, engaging in various athletic contests- and all for the glory of God. Forever. Wow.
And, yeah. Voyager did have great music going for it. Shame about…nearly every other aspect of it.
Perceptive comment, Painter Jean. I’ve done art most of my life—illustration, watercolor, designs in wood, etc.—and except for a few exceptions, my art has never quite matched what I had in my head before I started. Perhaps it’s for the best. The vision is what has always kept me going. Before I start a piece of art, I’m always curious about what the finished piece will look like. That makes me want do the art so I can see what it will look like.
I think the story is the same for all artists: We have a vision in our head, what we want to have it look like, but our own limitations end up affecting what we actually produce. So — new heavens, new earth, and no limitations!
The leftists I know don’t draw a line between Christianity and Nazism. To them, the religion of the Nazis was Christianity.
Thanks for that. Very beautiful. I’m looking forward to his funeral. I’ll be watching and listening.
In a way, it’s the end of an era for American evangelism, one small step for man and a giant step for mankind through God’s grace as He chose to shower it in His use of the evangelical movement. Graham’s life will be made more visible by memories that are shared and this will shed light on this huge centuries-long awakening proof of God’s interest and involvement in all of our lives.
That is a necessary lie for them.
I’m with your husband. Atheism strikes me as just as hubristic as any other religion – the arrogance of being certain that one knows the unknowable.
Hitler hated Christianity. He wanted to replace it with ancient German paganism. Islam was more compatible with Nazi beliefs.
I second the motion. Please start a thread on this.