Franklin Graham on Obama's Faith

Recently, Franklin Graham was interviewed on MSNBC's Morning Joe and was asked a series of questions on the faith commitments of President Obama. He was also asked to weigh in on whether or not he thought Santorum, Romney, and Gingrich were Christians. You can see the 16 minute clip here.

Franklin Graham is a person of sincere faith and deep concern particularly for children who are victims of poverty, war, and other profound social ills in countries all over the world. He comes from a very prominent evangelical family, and indeed, is prominent as an evangelical shaper of culture in his own right.

But Rev. Graham's answers in his interview reveal a distressing problem that many of us in the evangelical faith community share. That is, we are often very weak in our ability to use precise language when pressed by folks on the outside of our community to explain what informs our beliefs and how we apply them.

When asked directly if he believed that Obama was a Christian, Graham stated that he needed to ask Obama. He stressed here that, to get to the bottom of what a person believes, one has to ask that person straight up, face to face. He continued to say that Obama has said he's a Christian on many occasions, and that he is willing to take him at his word. He further stated that he would not suggest that Obama was not a Christian.

Fair enough. It would have been good for Graham to stand pat on that response. When pressed, however, Graham began to depart from what seemed like a willingness to accept that Obama was a Christian based on his own testimony. He first defined a Christian as someone who has accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior on the basis of His death and resurrection. He then said that he didn't know if Obama had accepted Christ, because of a conversation he'd had with Obama when he was a senator, in which Obama said that he didn't go to church until he was pressured by community groups to do so. Contributing further to his doubts, Graham criticized Obama for giving Muslims a "free pass" in the world, particularly after the Arab Spring and by not pressuring Islamic governments to protect Christian minorities. But wait--Graham had stated a moment before that he wasn't going to question Obama's Christianity, because he was willing to accept his word that he was a Christian.

So, it seemed that Graham was indeed questioning the sincerity of Obama's faith based only upon a brief conversation he'd had with him and on a policy disagreement. This despite the fact that he had said only a moment before that he took Obama at his word and was not going to suggest that he wasn't a Christian.

When asked if Rick Santorum was a Christian, Graham firmly said yes, that there was "no question he is a man of faith." When challenged by the interviewer based on Graham's own definition (only the person knows for sure), Graham then spoke of the quality of his moral values (not on the atonement of Christ). He stressed that what a person does is of importance in determining the sincerity of Christian faith. When asked of Obama's values, Graham called Obama "nice" and that he had an exemplary family life. That would seem to suggest that Obama had good morals, and for Graham, would qualify him, somewhat at least, to be a Christian along with Santorum. When another interviewer suggested to Graham that he was using "an amazing double standard," Graham finally fell back on what was "in my heart." So, in his heart, Graham thinks Santorum is a Christian, but he's not sure about Obama. So Graham abandoned all objective standards that he had identified in answering the question, and was forced to rely on what was in his heart.

Graham volunteered what he thought of Gingrich's faith, that is, he is a Christian because, as Graham said, "he told me." What about the atonement? What about living by Christian morals? At the end of the interview, Graham was asked if he spends a lot of time "checking off" peoples' beliefs, and Graham said, "this is my business" to look to peoples' "spiritual interests." Peoples' sincerity of Christian belief, or lack thereof, is Graham's business? Finally, Graham said that based on a person's testimony, how that person lives, and whether or not the person is a faithful churchgoer--these things determine the sincerity of a Christian. He returned to objective bases. But then, he said, all he knew is that he himself was a Christian. So he quickly shifted back to subjectivity and experience as his measurement.

My point here is not to take shots at Franklin Graham. I have nothing but admiration for the things he has done in the name of Christ for oppressed children and adults all around the globe. His life and testimony to the gospel are exemplary. But his incoherent, contradictory, and subjective determinations on the president's Christian faith, as well as the GOP candidates' faith, is an example for evangelicals of how not to think, apply, and articulate what it means to be a Christian.

Barack Obama has said he is a Christian. So has Rick Santorum. So has Newt Gingrich. Are they really? Truly, all we can go on is their own testimony to their beliefs and whether or not their personal lives seem to be in alignment with their professed faith. No one knows a person's true faith commitment except the Lord Himself. We can express our disagreements with Obama, as to how he, as president, should apply his professed Christianity. We can also express our displeasure with the president on issues of policy when it comes to issues that concern Christian people, such as the treatment of Christians where they are minorities. But is Obama a real Christian? He says he is. He seems to be a moral man as he relates to those closest to him. That's about all we have to go on.

You might object by pointing me to Christ's words in Matthew 12.33 and Luke 6.44, "a tree is known by its fruit." But Christ was not applying His metaphor to a person's testimony to the content of their belief system. He was not referring to people who claim to be followers of His. He was aiming His statement at hypocrites, who claim to be righteous, but who harbor evil in their hearts. He said, "the good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart" (Luke 6.45). To know whether or not the president is a real Christian, we would have to know fully what is in his heart, and see if it matches up with everything he says he believes. Mere mortals have not that kind of knowledge.

Graham was struggling with consistency in his statements on Obama's Christianity precisely because he does not know whether or not he is a Christian. Only Obama knows the level of sincerity that is in his mind and heart when he claims to be one. The appropriate answer to the question is, 1) Obama says he is a Christian, 2) that is an issue between he and God because only he and God know the depth of his sincerity, 3) to all accounts, he seems to be living his personal life in accordance with biblical values (his family life), 4) still, I disagree with him on a number of policy issues where, to my understanding of Christianity, he seems to deviate from what the Bible teaches. But public policy disagreements are not necessarily a valid basis to determine a person's Christianity, at least not the ones Graham identified. Therefore, one can only go on his own testimony to his faith in the gospel, and the level of consistency with that testimony in his behavior, which has been pretty consistent since he became a public figure. Beyond that, only God knows.

Until we evangelicals can dialogue with people outside our own circles with accuracy, precision, logic, and understanding of how to articulate and apply their own teachings, we will not be able to be salt and light as Christ commanded us to be.