Evangelist Franklin Graham warned that “there will be an attack against Christian businesses” should Democrat Joe Biden win the United States election.
Evangelist Graham, the president of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, is concerned about the impact that the win of Biden would have on people of faith and religious institutions.
Tom Basile of Newsmax’s “America Right Now”, described the Obama administration as “perhaps the most hostile to religious freedom and the rights of conscience that we’ve seen in this country.”
“I’m afraid there will be an attack against Christian businesses like we saw during the Obama administration. Florists who refused to do flowers for a gay wedding, they will put out of business. Someone who didn’t want to make a cake for a gay wedding, put out of business,” Evangelist Graham said. During the Obama administration, Christian-owned businesses faced lawsuits if they refused to participate against anything that was against their believes.
Barronnelle Stutzman, a Christian florist has received fines for refusing to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding, because of her religious beliefs. Jack Phillips, a Christian baker, faced similar lawsuits for not baking a cake for a same-sex wedding in 2012 and a gender transition party, all when this wasn’t even legalised in the state.
Not only will Christian business owners face more attacks in a Biden administration, Evangelist Graham warned that they will “want to try to come after churches and tax churches and tax tax-exempt organizations that are doing humanitarian work, social work throughout the country.”
Some democrats want to revoke the tax-exempt status of faith-based organizations and churches that subscribe to the biblical definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
Beto O’Rourke gave following answer to a question about whether “religious institutions like colleges, churches and charities should lose their tax-exempt status if they oppose same-sex marriage” in the affirmative. “There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone or any institution, any organization in America that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us,” he said.
According to Evangelist Graham and other prominent Christians who wrote a letter to congressional leaders urging them to oppose the Equality act, as “the Equality Act would gut religious freedom protections — even the protections enjoyed by houses of worship.”
The Christian leaders contested that by changing the “nondiscrimination provisions in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, some houses of worship would be barred from ensuring their leaders and other employees abide by their beliefs about marriage, sexual behavior, and the distinction between the sexes.”
Evangelist Graham has been warning Christians in the U.S. several times about what could happen with the 2020 elections over the past few months. In July, he mentioned that the U.S. would experience “all-out socialism” if the Democrats won.
In August, Evangelist Graham said that if the the U.S. should fall into socialism, the left would “close the Church down in many places” because of COVID-19, despite the fact that the First Amendment gives Christians the right to worship without interference from the government.
During his appearance on Newsmax, Evangelist Graham said that he was “independent” and analyzes both political parties. He concluded that “one party is pro-life and the other is not. One party is … pro-police and supports our law enforcement, the other doesn’t.” Graham urged the American people to “pray before they vote” and “ask God to give you wisdom as you cast that ballot.”
Source: The Christian Post