All in the Family
As Billy Graham steps down, will his kids shape the future of American evangelicalism?
Perhaps the greatest challenge facing the evangelical movement in the near future, experts say, will be in coping with its new cultural status. When it emerged at midcentury, says Balmer, "evangelicalism was a counterculture" that defined itself against the secularism that dominated the American scene, especially in politics. Now, with the White House and other high offices occupied by some of their own, and with the phenomenal success of Christian books like the Left Behind novels and The Prayer of Jabez and the growing popularity of Christian music and movies, says Balmer, "evangelicalism is no longer on the margins." Adjusting to that new reality may prove to be difficult, experts say, as moderates and resurgent fundamentalists vie to redefine the movement's boundaries. For that reason alone, says Noll, "the passing of Billy Graham will mark the end of an important historical era." Short of "unforeseen developments," he says, "the apparent unity that Graham's presence bequeathed to a diverse movement will be a thing of the past."
Graham's unifying influence, experts say, stems in no small measure from his careful rhetoric and avoidance of controversy--traits that Graham's offspring have not yet displayed. "Franklin is less concerned than his father to have everybody pleased at what he says," says William Martin, a Rice University professor and author of A Prophet With Honor: The Billy Graham Story. "He is certainly more confrontational and theologically more conservative." Those traits became apparent a month after the September 11 attacks when NBC News broadcast an interview with Franklin Graham. "We're not attacking Islam, but Islam has attacked us," he said. "The God of Islam is not the same God. He's not the son of God of the Christian or Judeo-Christian faith. It's a different God, and I believe it is a very evil and wicked religion." Graham has refused to retract the remark, although he did attempt to clarify it later in an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, saying that while he does not believe Muslims are "evil people because of their faith . . . I decry the evil that has been done in the name of Islam."
Even now, he gets rankled when interviewers bring up the subject. "I've not been on a soapbox going around the country speaking against Islam," he told U.S. News. "Everything I've said on the subject has been in response to questions." Yet in his latest book, The Name, he writes that the two faiths "are as different as lightness and darkness. . . . The god of Islam requires you to give your son to die for him. The God of the Bible gave his son to die for you." Yet Graham has plenty of defenders, who say he has been unfairly criticized and caricatured. "Franklin Graham is about much more than his views on Islam," says David Neff, editor of Christianity Today magazine, citing the younger Graham's solid gospel preaching, his world relief efforts, and tireless work on behalf of AIDS victims. "Let him be known for that."
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