Franklin Graham: "Islam has declared war on the world"

Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, is getting attention for his response to the Paris terror attacks. At Graham's direction, a group of chaplains from the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team were scheduled to deploy in Paris to offer spiritual solace, according to a press release. However, his social media remarks about the attacks have attracted much more attention.

In a November 16th Facebook post, Graham wrote that "Islam has declared war on the world". Islamists seek global domination right now, but one day, Islamists will kneel before Jesus Christ, he assured readers (a sentiment he repeated on Twitter).

"Islam has declared war on the world, and it’s high time we acknowledge it and respond decisively. Thursday, suicide bombers struck Beirut, killing at least 41 people and injuring 200 in the deadliest attack in the capital since the end of Lebanon’s civil war in 1990. Just over two weeks ago ISIS blew up the Russian jetliner taking 224 lives. Then the shocking and devastating Paris attacks. Let’s not forget what they have already done in America, killing nearly 3,000 people on 9/11 and then the carnage at the Boston Marathon in 2013. Add to these attacks the lone wolf Islamists who have followed the call to bring destruction and terror–it's a long list. As Alain Bauer, former security advisor to the French government, said on CBS 60 Minutes last night: We need to take ISIS at their word. I agree–they have told us what they plan to do. Their goal is world domination. They want to control us—they want to destroy us. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live under Islam. I will bow my knee to no one except Almighty God. The Bible says one day “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”–and that will include the knees of Islamists.

We need to elect a president and leaders willing to take the fight to the Islamic State. We need to join forces with Russia who was our ally in WWII, France who is our oldest ally, Germany, and others to destroy this enemy. The French are already responding to Friday’s attacks, but it is going to take much more to stop them.

Our world is in great peril. We need to pray for God’s mercy, His grace, and His protection. I pray that America will turn to God before it’s too late."

In a November 14th Facebook post, Graham warned readers that "Islam is not a peaceful religion", describing the faith as a "religious group who want to destroy us and our way of life". He expressed disapproval of "unchecked" admission of Muslim immigrants into the U.S., insisting that admitting more Muslims into the U.S. would spell disaster. Graham has a history of condemning Islam and Muslim immigrants. (Hat tip to the Charlotte Observer.)

"I’ve said this before, and many people criticized me for saying it. We must reform our immigration policies in the United States. We cannot allow Muslim immigrants to come across our borders unchecked while we are fighting this war on terror. If we continue to allow Muslim immigration, we'll see much more of what happened in Paris—it’s on our doorstep. France and Europe are being overrun by young Muslim men from the Middle East, and they do not know their backgrounds or their motives and intentions. Islam is not a peaceful religion as George W. Bush told us and as President Barack Obama has said—that is just not true. Our president and our politicians in Washington need to wake up before it’s too late. This is not the time to be politically correct. Our nation’s security is at stake. The future of our children and grandchildren is at stake. We should not allow any political or religious group who want to destroy us and our way of life to immigrate to this country. Right now let us continue to pray for the victims and family members of the ‪#‎parisattacks‬."

In his rage against the Paris attacks, Graham stereotyped all Muslims as extremists. Graham forgot that most Muslims are law-abiding people, and that the Muslims (and Christians, and Druze, and Yazidis) fleeing Syria are not sympathetic to ISIS. By demonizing all Muslims as extremists, Graham relegated them to the status of despised outsiders, undeserving of refuge in the U.S.

Such thinking is not only cruel, but dangerous. We cannot allow law-abiding people to be lumped together with Islamic extremists. We cannot allow the entire Muslim community to be scapegoated as threats en masse. We cannot ignore the fact that Muslims too have been persecuted, killed, and driven from their homes by Islamic extremists. If Americans are to mount a sane response to Islamic extremism, they must be able to distinguish friend from foe, harmless believer from violent jihadist. Stereotypes and irrational hatred will not keep us safe.