Bos Mutus
12-22-2015, 06:42 PM
RNS) Evangelist Franklin Graham has announced he is abandoning the Republican Party in disgust over the move by the GOP-led Congress last week to pass a budget that Graham said was “wasteful” and provided funding for Planned Parenthood, which he compared to the Nazis.Graham has previously said he has no faith in any political party (http://www.christianpost.com/news/franklin-graham-says-he-has-no-faith-in-democratic-republican-or-tea-parties-urges-christians-to-run-for-office-139165/), but his apparent renunciation of his Republican affiliation is an indication of anger on the right and the strong interest many disaffected evangelicals have shown in populist outsiders like Donald Trump.
Graham himself has expressed admiration for Trump (http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2015/08/what_does_franklin_graham_thin.html), the surprise frontrunner in the Republican presidential field, and has voiced support for some of Trump’s more controversial positions — such as his call to ban Muslims from the U.S. — which have drawn condemnation from more mainstream evangelical leaders.
[Why Franklin Graham says Donald Trump is right about stopping Muslim immigration (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/12/10/why-franklin-graham-says-donald-trump-is-right-about-stopping-muslim-immigration/)]
The federal government provides $528 million in funding for Planned Parenthood — about 40 percent of the organization’s annual budget — primarily through payments to Medicaid for health services for low-income Americans. Federal law prohibits funding of most abortions (http://prohibits%20funding%20of%20most%20abortions/) and Planned Parenthood separates federal taxpayer dollars from those used to provide abortions.
Social conservatives have long fought to strip taxpayer funding from Planned Parenthood, and, after the release of a series of undercover videos by anti-abortion activists earlier this year, those calls ramped up to a fever pitch.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/12/22/franklin-graham-quits-the-gop-over-planned-parenthood-funding/
Okay, so it's Franklin Graham, not Billy Graham...so I don't know if anyone really listens to that guy....but, interesting move in the Primary season.
Will more follow?
Is this the beginning of something more?
Graham himself has expressed admiration for Trump (http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2015/08/what_does_franklin_graham_thin.html), the surprise frontrunner in the Republican presidential field, and has voiced support for some of Trump’s more controversial positions — such as his call to ban Muslims from the U.S. — which have drawn condemnation from more mainstream evangelical leaders.
[Why Franklin Graham says Donald Trump is right about stopping Muslim immigration (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/12/10/why-franklin-graham-says-donald-trump-is-right-about-stopping-muslim-immigration/)]
The federal government provides $528 million in funding for Planned Parenthood — about 40 percent of the organization’s annual budget — primarily through payments to Medicaid for health services for low-income Americans. Federal law prohibits funding of most abortions (http://prohibits%20funding%20of%20most%20abortions/) and Planned Parenthood separates federal taxpayer dollars from those used to provide abortions.
Social conservatives have long fought to strip taxpayer funding from Planned Parenthood, and, after the release of a series of undercover videos by anti-abortion activists earlier this year, those calls ramped up to a fever pitch.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/12/22/franklin-graham-quits-the-gop-over-planned-parenthood-funding/
Okay, so it's Franklin Graham, not Billy Graham...so I don't know if anyone really listens to that guy....but, interesting move in the Primary season.
Will more follow?
Is this the beginning of something more?