Saturday, June 1, 2019

Franklin Graham Prays for the Divine Right of (Republican) Presidents: Religion Becomes a Political Tool

In a Facebook post last Sunday, Rev. Franklin Graham called for a “special day of prayer for the president, Donald J. Trump.” Let’s look at Graham’s clever pro-Trump persuasive techniques, which use religion to short-circuit rational dialogue.

On the one hand, Graham’s idea seems wonderful! It is good for religious people to pray for their leaders: that their leaders may be inspired to wisdom, judgment, and integrity. I several times attended a very conservative church in rural South Carolina where the pastor prayed for “Brother Barack and Sister Nikki,” meaning Democratic President Obama and Republican Governor Haley. That’s fine.

On the other hand, Franklin Graham is doing something else: he uses religious faith for partisan purposes that do not appear to be particularly religious. Although I think Christianity is good, religious people too often use religion to justify evil deeds. The Christian Church (of which I am a member) has in the past endorsed the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition, shielded sexual abusers, and (today’s key point!) endorsed the divine right of kings. Graham seems to endorse the divine right of kings, uh, I mean, the divine right of presidents. But only Republican presidents. And with an apocalyptic flourish.

Let’s look at Graham’s Facebook post: “President Trump’s enemies continue to try everything to destroy him, his family, and the presidency. In the history of our country, no president has been attacked as he is. I believe the only hope for him, and this nation, is God.” Not political opponents (that would sound cynical), but “enemies.” Just as King David had enemies. In the context of current events, the enemies surely must be Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the people who act on his report about Russian interference in the 2016 campaign. Who else could the enemies be? Mueller, let us recall, recently suggested that Congress should investigate whether Trump obstructed justice, which would be a serious crime.

If I wanted to quibble, I would point out that President Trump and Rev. Graham himself repeatedly spewed terrible vitriol against President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and that Clinton was investigated repeatedly at great expense without criminal charges being filed. Graham and Trump both raised outrageously false charges about whether Obama was even born in the United States. That makes it hard to believe Graham’s claim that “no president has been attacked as he is.” The difference, of course, is that no actual evidence ever arose against Obama, whereas the Special Counsel has documented  quite a bit of seemingly dishonest and unpatriotic conduct by the Trump campaign. So, Graham’s call for prayer is purely partisan, but is it religious? The answer is yes, it is, but…

Unlike liberal Christians, who often focus on Gospel morality, conservative Christians sometimes stress what they believe to be the imminent end times when Christ will return and shake up the world. This views the world as a struggle between supernatural forces: the true flock led by Jesus, and their enemies. Graham begins his argument with apocalyptic imagery: “This is a critical time for America. We’re on the edge of a precipice. Time is short.” Any evangelical Christian will instantly tie that language to the Bible’s apocalyptic imagery, which emphasizes that “time is short:”

“Rejoice then, you heavens/and those who dwell in them! / But woe to the earth and the sea, / for the devil has come down to you /with great wrath, / because he knows that his time is short!” (Revelation 12:12)

or

“I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, that even those who have wives be as though they had none.” (1 Corinthians 7:29)

And so forth. People have been saying that the end is near, has been near for 2,000 years. Graham knows that the Bible says this and so do his conservative Christian followers.  And what about “enemies?” The Bible’s imagery connects the apocalypse with powerful enemies, e.g., “Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies watched them.” (Revelation 11:12)

So, think about Graham’s reference to the president’s enemies. Graham (like many conservative Christians) makes Trump into apocalyptic figure and Trump’s enemies therefore serve the darkness. Do not for one moment doubt that this is exactly what Graham means. Graham’s moral “precipice” marks whether we will enter the apocalypse on the right path. Graham wants us to think that this is the path on which Trump leads us.

But next, Graham jumped to a genuinely Christian attitude: “We need to ask God to protect, strengthen, encourage, and guide the President.” That sounds fine. Then we see Graham’s call to action: “On June 2, we ask that pastors would lead their congregations in praying for the President, that Sunday schools and other groups would join together and pray, and that individuals and families across the country would have a special focus on praying for the President that day.”

Again, that sounds fine. I’ll be glad to pray like that. But look at the context: Graham did not ask the nation to pray for the President to be wise. He asked for Trump to be protected from his “enemies:” to be protected from the Mueller report. But fundamental to Christianity is repentance: when we do wrong, we should strive to do better next time.

Let’s recall the divine right of kings: citing the same Bible passages (especially Paul’s first letter to Timothy (2:1-2), that Graham often cites, Medieval kings claimed that they had a divine right to rule, that no matter whether their rule was wise or unwise, they were in place because God put them there. In the United States, however, there is no tradition of the divine right of presidents.

Let us contrast this with what Rev. Graham said about President Barack Obama several years ago. His endorsement of prayer was lukewarm: “interceding for those in authority is not an option; it is a biblical command that we are to obey.” To pray for Obama was a grim duty. Graham continued: “Understand that the Apostle Paul is writing this instruction to his protégé Timothy a time when the vile Emperor Nero was at the helm of the vast Roman Empire…. Nevertheless, the aged apostle, who would soon be martyred during Nero’s reign of terror, instructs Timothy to make prayer for the rulers of his day.”

So, Graham used apocalyptic language to call for a “special day of prayer” to defend President Trump against his “enemies” who use law enforcement agencies to uncover alleged wrongdoing. Yet, earlier, he compared President Obama (who, unlike Nero, did not persecute Christians, arrest them for attending church, throw them to lions, or burn their houses of worship) to the Emperor Nero.

Religion is very powerful. It makes sense that conservatives like the old-time things; that’s what makes them conservative. Christianity is, for the most part, America’s old-time religion. But to use religion’s power to reach non-religious political goals represents the same moral corruption as the divine right of kings centuries ago.

Conservatives have thus far not even tried to refute the facts in the Mueller report, but they are not without weapons to defend President Trump. Attorney General William Barr General reset the agenda by misrepresenting the report’s conclusions and content. Trump attacked Mueller and his “18 Angry Democrats.” Fox News host Sean Hannity attributed the Russia investigation not to Trump’s conduct, but to a “Deep State” based on “lie after lie after lie.” The plain facts in Mueller’s report refute all that nonsense. But Graham takes it another step. By lifting Trump into the role of apocalyptic leader, Franklin Graham short-circuits rational dialogue by claiming, questionably but powerfully, that Trump is fighting for God, that God is on Trump’s side, and that the solution to the Russia investigation is not to uncover facts, but to pray to protect Trump against his “enemies.” How do you refute God?

When religion and government become too close, the inevitable result is to corrupt both. It is one thing to rule the nation with religious principles in mind. It is another thing to use those religious principles to undo the constitutional separation of church and state. So, at church services tomorrow, I intend to pray silently for Trump to rule with wisdom. In my unworthy opinion, that will be something new for him. I will not pray to protect him from his political opponents. I will, instead, pray for truth to emerge so that truth, and not a corrupt view of religion, can determine the president’s fate.

Neither the Bible nor the United States Constitution teaches that there is a divine right of presidents (or, especially, a divine right of Republican presidents). 


A comment for Christian leaders: when people like Rev. Graham associate Christianity with controversial and often morally questionable political causes, they don’t just corrupt the government; they also drive many good people away from Christianity. Being a Christian does not require me to oppress immigrants (much the opposite, I think) or to give tax cuts to billionaires.

The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U. S. A., and are used by permission. All rights reserved. 

See my follow-up post. 

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