Evangelist Billy Graham has stepped up his political participation this election season by launching an ad campaign in major newspapers across the country. The messages in the ads urge voters to cast their ballots for a candidate with biblical values who will support Israel, marriage between a man and a woman, and the sanctity of life. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association website has also removed Mormonism from its list of cults, and Billy Graham himself recently received Governor Mitt Romney as a visitor to his North Carolina home. All this suggests to some analysts that Graham is promoting Romney for president, although Graham has never before formally endorsed a political candidate.
In a press statement, the BGEA said the new ads “intentionally do not mention any candidate, political party, or contest, urging instead for readers to cast votes for candidates, at all levels, based on their support for biblical values. [Graham] recently expressed a desire to publicly call America back to God and to prayer, and to draw attention to moral issues that are clearly addressed in the Bible and have increasingly become part of a national political dialog.”
William Martin, author of A Prophet Without Honor: The Billy Graham Story commented for Christianity Today that he has been “repeatedly surprised” by the activity of the BGEA in the political arena this year, calling for “a small group of trustworthy reporters” to be permitted to ask Graham for clarification on his position concerning Romney. Michael Hamilton, history chair at Seattle University, told CT that “while it is possible that Graham has recently changed his approach to politics, it would be more responsible for the media—and readers—to treat these statements as the position of the BGEA rather than the position of Graham himself. In a January 2011 interview with Christianity Today, Graham said one of the things he would have done differently in his life is that he ‘would have steered clear of politics. … Looking back I know I sometimes crossed the line…. I wouldn’t do that now.'” And A. Larry Ross, Graham’s public relations representative since 1981, reminds us that “Billy Graham has been increasingly burdened by society’s moral decline and the need for renewal in our culture and revival in the church. Because he considers the institution of marriage as the cornerstone of society, he is opposed to any redefinition of marriage—which he sees not as a political issue but rather a matter of religious freedom. … Billy Graham’s message hasn’t changed, but obviously our society and culture have changed—which is his concern. He expressed support of the traditional family stemming from a moral perspective, which became political the following week after President Barack Obama made his views known the day after the primary.”
