Bishop T.D. Jakes Blasts Graham for Questioning Obama's Faith
Bishop T.D Jakes believes Franklin Graham should apologize for questioning President Barack Obama’s Christianity.
The Dallas megachurch pastor, who has been gaining attention for his movie "Jumping the Broom," told Roland Martin of Washington Watch on Sunday, "I find it insulting. We didn't question the Christianity of President Bush when he said he accepted Christ, and I'm disappointed in Rev. Franklin Graham in that regard."
Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham and the CEO of the Christian charity Samaritan's Purse, questioned Obama's faith in an interview with ABC's Christiane Amanpour on her Sunday show, "This Week."
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"For him (Obama), going to church means he's a Christian,” Graham said in the interview last month. “For me, the definition of a Christian is whether we have given our life to Christ and are following him in faith, and we have trusted him as our Lord and Savior. That's the definition of a Christian. It's not as to what church you are a member of. A membership doesn't make you Christian."
He also suggested that although Obama says he's a Christian the "seed of Islam" is in him and "the Islamic world sees the president as one of theirs."
Under sharia (Islamic) law, Obama is still considered a Muslim because his father is a Muslim, Graham noted.
Disappointed by the remarks, Jakes said, "I would hope that he would see the rationale in apologizing for such statements because if the president's faith is suspect, then all of our faiths are suspect, because the Bible is quite clear about what it takes to be saved and the president has been quite open about his accepting Christ and him openly confessing it before men. And if it's good enough for the Bible it ought to be good enough for the rest of us."
Comparing Graham to his famed father, Jakes added, “I wish he had the diplomacy of his father, who brought the Gospel to people without being nuanced by politics, because when you do those things, you offend people that you’re actually called to save and to serve.”
Last year, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that nearly one in five Americans polled said the president was a Muslim. Only 34 percent identified Obama as a Christian.
Following the release of the poll, Obama stated that he is a Christian by choice and that “the precepts of Jesus Christ” were what drew him to Christianity.
