Evangelist Franklin Graham recently sent a string of tweets encouraging his followers to engaged politically, but made some pretty troubling statements about individuals who identify as “progressive.”
While discussing how Wisconsin had “lost a seat in its state Supreme Court to a progressive judge,” he said that the reason why was that many Christians didn’t come out and vote. He then told followers that not only was the word “progressive” “just a code word” for “for someone who leans toward socialism,” he also added that it’s code for someone “who does not believe in God, & who will likely vote against Godly principles that are so important to our nation.”
All elections are important. Midterms are coming up, but important elections are happening across the country at other times as well. As Christians we need to pray and we need to vote, even in off-year elections. 1/2
— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) April 5, 2018
Christians should be aware of candidates who call themselves progressive. Progressive is generally just a code word for someone who leans toward socialism, who does not believe in God, & who will likely vote against Godly principles that are so important to our nation. 2/2
— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) April 5, 2018
WI just lost a seat in its state Supreme Court to a progressive judge. In my opinion, if Christians had come out to vote, this seat wouldn't have been lost. It's not the time to be silent—it's time to make positive change for our children & grandchildren. https://t.co/4lV9zyO6ie
— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) April 5, 2018
Encouraging Christians (or really, any informed citizen) to vote for candidates that represent their values is a pretty non-controversial statement. But, suggesting that people who maintain a different political philosophy all don’t believe in God isn’t just a poor way to engage in political discourse, it’s downright wrong.
While it’s true, according to Pew, that more Republicans report believing in God than Democrats, a majority—55%—of Democrats still say they believe in God with absolute certainty, and an additional 21% say that they are fairly certain God exists. In fact, despite Graham’s tweet just 13% of Democrats say they don’t believe in God.
It’s fine for Christians to have strong political opinions and for them to advocate for them, but slandering the other side only drives a deeper wedge between people who disagree, instead of building bridges to find areas of common ground.