THE political campaign group Evangelicals for America, in the United States, has apologised for its suggestive use of footage of the late evangelist Billy Graham in an advertisement critical of President Trump.
Formerly known as Evangelicals for Harris, the rebranded group has taken down the 2024 election campaign advert that spliced Graham’s words with quotations from Donald Trump at his political rallies.
One clip juxtaposed an excerpt from a Graham sermon — “But you must realize that in the last days, the times will be full of danger. Men will become utterly self-centered and greedy for money” — with a clip of Mr Trump telling a rally: “My whole life I’ve been greedy, greedy, greedy. I’ve grabbed all the money I could get. I’m so greedy!” (News, 18 October 2024).
Graham’s son, Franklin, who is the president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) and the charity Samaritan’s Purse, issued a “cease and desist” order when the advertisement was released last year.
He said that the group was “trying to mislead people”, and that “maybe they don’t know that my father appreciated the conservative values and policies of President [Trump] in 2016, and if he were alive today, my father’s views and opinions would not have changed.”
Evangelicals for America said in a statement that it had not intended “to infringe on BGEA’s copyright or to give the impression that Rev Graham would have taken a side in publicly supporting one political candidate over another in an election, so we apologise to BGEA”.
It continued: “We have continued dialogue with BGEA since the election, and we affirm its position that Rev. Graham’s purpose was always clear: telling people about God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who alone came from heaven to earth to make a way for all mankind to be saved from our sins. He never politicized the Gospel of Jesus Christ or the works he created through BGEA.”
They committed themselves to removing the ad and not posting it again in future, expressing appreciation for “the spirit in which BGEA has approached this matter, inspired by Romans 12-18”.
“Our hope is that these actions and our commitment not to use Rev. Billy Graham within a partisan electoral context will clarify confusion over the message in our original ads; affirm the value and importance of Christian dialogue about the way we engage in politics, and prioritizes Christians remaining in communion despite differences.”
The BGEA said that it was “grateful for the outcome”.
