Not So Strange Bedfellows

Franklin Graham is once again trying to gain the job as “Spiritual Advisor to the President.” He’s been pissed about not getting promoted to his daddy’s slot in that position ever since Obama was elected, so according to the newspaper he’s now throwing in his lot with “The Donald” (Trump).

In the interest of full disclosure, I have no use for Franklin Graham. He is, in my opinion, one of those slimy television preachers who’s in it for the money. The reality is he went into the family business and, like many who’ve been born into dynastic families his sense of entitlement is significantly higher than his forefathers (well, just one father in this instance) who understood the concepts of duty, responsibility and obligation to others.

Instead, Franklin was sorry a couple of years ago when he got caught taking not one but TWO significant salaries from nonprofit organizations which he oversaw.

But that’s already been discussed.

Having been out of the headlines for a while, and looking to pick up the national audience again, Graham, Jr. went on television to further the birther debate regarding the current president, showing not only an amazing ignorance about public record laws in states other than North Carolina but also how quickly he is willing to trade whatever limited credibility he’s got for a shot at mo’ money and prestige.

Talk about being vindictive because he didn’t get a promotion. Let’s hear it for Franklin’s model of Christianity!

While we’re on that particular topic, it’s interesting to note that he’s unwilling to take President Obama’s word that he (the president) is actually Christian, instead raising the specter of doubt about it.

As I recall from all those years in Sunday School, all that is required is an internal decision to become a Christian; there’s no litmus test (at least in the Southern Baptist tradition) to determine Christianity, although one would hope that one would see those outward manifestations in, say, one’s personal choices and business dealings.

This, of course, makes Donald Trump the ideal Christian candidate for our nation, with his three marriages and chain of casinos. Of course, there’s no alcohol or dancing in any of those establishments, so that’s entirely consistent with the Graham Industries philosophical bent.  Everything is packaged up nice and neatly, no internal inconsistencies here.

No decidedly un-Christian behavior, like taking two salaries from nonprofit organizations, totaling over $1.2 million while at the same time laying off dozens of employees from those organizations because revenues are down due to a crashing economy.

That's what Jesus would do, right?

I love it when Franklin Graham makes the front pages of the newspaper. He continues to pump out such bizarre stuff, and his own moral directives are so far from those of the mainstream that an endorsement by him is really not that helpful to a potential candidate (and, for the record, I don’t think that Trump is a legitimate candidate. He’s workin’ an angle that will put money into his pocket – something at which he is admittedly the master – but he will not waste any significant amount of his own money trying to become the President of the United States).

Franklin Graham is one of those pseudo-religious leaders that true Christians wish would crawl back under his rock and just shut the hell up, like the Quran burner down in Florida (whom I am intentionally not naming, so as to not give him any more publicity).

Franklin's pronouncements (like the one that Jesus second coming will be announced by cell phone, something that gives a whole new meaning to being in a “dead zone”) just make legitimately pious people shake their heads in dismay. He provides easy fodder for those who believe the entire organized religion industry is a scam.

The interesting thing here will be to see how much of that money that Franklin sucks in from those of limited means, intended to feed orphans overseas and do other charitable work in the name of religion, will be channeled instead to The Donald’s campaign coffers.

I’m betting that it’ll be significant, and that it’ll be so well hidden that most people will never know about it. After all, both Trump and Franklin Graham have the funds to hire the best attorneys available to hide their misdeeds so that appropriate governmental regulators will never find out about them.

We can only hope that some higher authority is watching and will eventually enter an appropriate verdict.

Note:

I previously wrote about Mr. Franklin Graham, and you can find that post at:

http://cornerat8th.blogspot.com/2009/10/salaries-of-not-for-profit-executives.html

For the article in the April 25, 2011 Charlotte Observer, go to:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/04/25/2247541/franklin-graham-talks-politics.html