Franklin Graham questions Obama’s Christian beliefs, calls Santorum ‘a man of faith’

By Elizabeth Tenety

Franklin Graham, son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Tuesday raised questions about the sincerity of President Obama’s Christian faith.

When asked by “Morning Joe” panelists why he was willing to say that former House speaker Newt Gingrich was a Christian but expressed doubt that President Obama is, Graham said:

“All I know is that under Obama, President Obama, the Muslims of the world he seems to be more concerned about them than the Christians that are being murdered.”

Graham, who works as president and CEO of the Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, also suggested that Obama became a Christian for strategic rather than spiritual reasons during his time working as a community organizer in Chicago.

Graham was asked by the “Morning Joe” hosts about his past controversial comments about the Muslim lineage of Obama’s father. “You’ve said in the past that since President Obama’s father was Muslim, that President Obama has ‘the seed of Islam,’ I believe you put it, in his blood.”

Here’s how Graham responded:

Graham: “Under Islamic law, under Sharia law, Islam sees him as a son of Islam because his father was a Muslim, his grandfather was a Muslim, his great-grandfather was a Muslim. So under Islamic law the Muslim world sees Barack Obama as a Muslim, as a son of Islam. That’s just the way it works. That’s the way they see it. But of course he says he didn’t grow up that way, he doesn’t believe in that, he believes in Jesus Christ so I accept that. But I’m just saying that the Muslim world, Islam, they see him as a son of Islam.

Morning Joe: But you do not think he’s a Muslim.

Graham: No.

Morning Joe: Categorically not a Muslim.

Graham: Well, I can’t say categorically because Islam has gotten a free pass under Obama and we see the Arab Spring and coming out of the Arab Spring the Islamists are taking control of the Middle East. People like Mubarak, who was a dictator, but he kept the peace with Israel. The Christian minorities in Egypt were protected. Now those Christian minorities throughout the entire Arab world are under attack. Newsweek magazine last week, cover story, was the massacre of Christians in the Islamic world from Europe all the way through the Middle East, Africa, into Asia and Oceania. Muslims are killing Christians. And we need to be forcing, demanding, that if these countries do not protect their minorities, no more foreign aid from the United States. They are not protecting the minorities.”

Graham’s remarks came on the heels of comments by GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, accusing Obama of “phony theology.”

The Pew Forum’s polling has found that, despite the president’s candor about his Christian faith, 43 percent of Americans are unsure about his religion, and nearly one-in-five people believe he is Muslim.

At the time, Pew found that “beliefs about Obama’s religion are closely linked to political judgments about him. Those who say he is a Muslim overwhelmingly disapprove of his job performance, while a majority of those who think he is a Christian approve of the job Obama is doing.”

On “Morning Joe” Graham also commented on the spiritual lives of three of the other potential Republican candidates:

— Rick Santorum: “A very sharp guy, as far as a Christian faith we would be more in line. . . .He is no question a man of faith.”

— Newt Gingrich: “I think Newt is a Christian. At least he told me he is.”

— Mitt Romney:“Christians would not recognize Mormonism as part of
the Christian faith.”

Graham’s religious politicking might fit right into our current milieu, but in a 2011 interview with Christianity Today’s Sarah Pulliam Bailey, Franklin’s father Billy Graham expressed regret for getting too mixed up in politics during his heyday:

CT: If you could, would you go back and do anything differently?

Billy Graham: I would have steered clear of politics. I’m grateful for the opportunities God gave me to minister to people in high places; people in power have spiritual and personal needs like everyone else, and often they have no one to talk to. But looking back I know I sometimes crossed the line, and I wouldn’t do that now.