September 17, 2001

1:37 PM

Billy Graham is supposed to be passe, a relic of whitebread protestant America, but his sermon at National Cathedral on Friday moved me. He is unsophisticated, plainspoken, sincere, and scandal-free. We will miss him when he’s gone.
posted by luser (7 comments total)

I'm with you luser...
posted by nwduffer at 3:14 PM on September 17, 2001

He also provided Martin Luther King Jr. with a lot of help, both strategic and material -- aside from simply providing a direct model for MLK with his "crusades."
posted by argybarg at 4:17 PM on September 17, 2001

thanks, that was nice.
posted by kliuless at 5:16 PM on September 17, 2001

Thanks for crystalizing something I've been thinking for a while. Growing up in the 80's, there was a tendency to lump Graham in with the televangelists of the time. I've know better for some time now, but I wonder how many see Graham as an ally of Falwell, Robertson, et al.
posted by yerfatma at 6:03 PM on September 17, 2001

Yes! Amen! Still, wish Martin Buber was here.
posted by Junker George at 7:11 PM on September 17, 2001

I had the set on during his sermon, while I was working on a home project and liked him fine until he spit out the dumbass line about how the victims would not come back if they could, because they were all so damn happy to be dead and in heaven. It could be a stumble, but it was so ugly that I had to switch until I found someone not covering the service. A friend suggested that this argument coluld be used to bolster a pro choice position position where we send souls directly to heaven and they can skip over all the crummy life part of existence. How kind.
posted by thirteen at 9:08 PM on September 17, 2001

Graham is the only superpreacher I ever had any respect for. I particularty respect this quote: "I have been asked on hundreds of times in my life why God allows tragedy and suffering. I have to confess that I really do not know the answer totally, even to my own satisfaction."

That being said, I don't care where the money went, it was crass to pass the collection plate at that service.
posted by ilsa at 11:04 PM on September 17, 2001