It started with the racistvpreachers like Falwell who started "Christian" private schools rather than integrate. The Feds threatened their tax exemption if they didn't toe the line
Billy Graham was the first evangelical huckster. The rest saw the money he was raking in and copied him, and yes the segregation academies are a big part of that.
He was always a political person himself, though he resisted the temptation, quite strong, to run for office himself. After all, the money and power are better as the outsider with everyoneтАЩs ear....More importantly, he wanted Christians to vote. Traditionally, evangelical Christians had often found the political process ungodly and had relatively low voter turnout rates. Graham did much to change that. People such as Jerry Falwell get most of the credit for the politicizing of evangelicals, but while Graham is seen as less grotesquely partisan and horrible than Falwell, he had at least as big a role in this process. To his credit, Graham always distanced himself from Falwell and refused to get on board with the Moral Majority and the extreme partisan politicization of evangelicalism that so dominates the Republican Party today. But much of that is also just Graham getting old. His son would have no such scruples."What was really important to Graham was maintaining his position as AmericaтАЩs pastor and he did so by openly cultivating the love of presidents. This wasnтАЩt necessarily that hard most of the time, given the number of southern or conservative western presidents during his lifetime. He was particularly close to Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon. One president he did not succeed in cultivating, not surprising, was John Kennedy. In fact, Graham had been part of a meeting of big-time preachers in 1960 to stop the horror of a Catholic gaining the White House."Not every president liked Graham. Harry Truman took an instant dislike to him when they met and hated him the rest of his life, referring to Graham as a тАЬcounterfeit.тАЭ It likely didnтАЩt help when Graham excoriated Truman for firing Douglas MacArthur, calling the general тАЬa great man, a great ChristianтАЭ and believed the Soviets were тАЬjubilantтАЭ about his firing. Graham had long spoken out against Mormonism, but when he endorsed Mitt Romney in 2012 (although there was plenty of speculation it was his son Franklin speaking through his aging father), his church did as much as possible to expunge all his anti-Mormon statements from the internet and other sources.
Graham also always found ways to increase his empire and his money. He was savvy that way, no question. He had his own pavilion at the 1964 WorldтАЩs Fair in New York, for instance. He had a famous theological debates of sort with Woody Allen on the latterтАЩs 1969 television special. The entire Graham family is involved in the evangelical grift, most notably his loathsome son Franklin who took over the ministry and moved it back to a hard right. The later period of BillyтАЩs career saw a move toward the right and many speculated whether that was really him or his son controlling the strings.
Goes back 70 years
At least to antisemitic (caught on a hot mic) Billy Graham.
It started with the racistvpreachers like Falwell who started "Christian" private schools rather than integrate. The Feds threatened their tax exemption if they didn't toe the line
Billy Graham was the first evangelical huckster. The rest saw the money he was raking in and copied him, and yes the segregation academies are a big part of that.
He was always a political person himself, though he resisted the temptation, quite strong, to run for office himself. After all, the money and power are better as the outsider with everyoneтАЩs ear....More importantly, he wanted Christians to vote. Traditionally, evangelical Christians had often found the political process ungodly and had relatively low voter turnout rates. Graham did much to change that. People such as Jerry Falwell get most of the credit for the politicizing of evangelicals, but while Graham is seen as less grotesquely partisan and horrible than Falwell, he had at least as big a role in this process. To his credit, Graham always distanced himself from Falwell and refused to get on board with the Moral Majority and the extreme partisan politicization of evangelicalism that so dominates the Republican Party today. But much of that is also just Graham getting old. His son would have no such scruples."What was really important to Graham was maintaining his position as AmericaтАЩs pastor and he did so by openly cultivating the love of presidents. This wasnтАЩt necessarily that hard most of the time, given the number of southern or conservative western presidents during his lifetime. He was particularly close to Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon. One president he did not succeed in cultivating, not surprising, was John Kennedy. In fact, Graham had been part of a meeting of big-time preachers in 1960 to stop the horror of a Catholic gaining the White House."Not every president liked Graham. Harry Truman took an instant dislike to him when they met and hated him the rest of his life, referring to Graham as a тАЬcounterfeit.тАЭ It likely didnтАЩt help when Graham excoriated Truman for firing Douglas MacArthur, calling the general тАЬa great man, a great ChristianтАЭ and believed the Soviets were тАЬjubilantтАЭ about his firing. Graham had long spoken out against Mormonism, but when he endorsed Mitt Romney in 2012 (although there was plenty of speculation it was his son Franklin speaking through his aging father), his church did as much as possible to expunge all his anti-Mormon statements from the internet and other sources.
Graham also always found ways to increase his empire and his money. He was savvy that way, no question. He had his own pavilion at the 1964 WorldтАЩs Fair in New York, for instance. He had a famous theological debates of sort with Woody Allen on the latterтАЩs 1969 television special. The entire Graham family is involved in the evangelical grift, most notably his loathsome son Franklin who took over the ministry and moved it back to a hard right. The later period of BillyтАЩs career saw a move toward the right and many speculated whether that was really him or his son controlling the strings.
https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2018/02/billy-graham