Billy Graham’s Legacy Is Conflating White Christianity And Patriotism

There is a story we tell about America ― one that twists together the conflicting narratives of patriotism, guns and God. We tell this story every time we hold our hands over our hearts, intoning, “one nation under God,” or whenever we stand teary-eyed in a stadium honoring our troops, Blue Angels flying overhead, while someone sings “God Bless America.”

It’s there in our trucks, in the before-dinner prayers at tables in the heartland, penetrating our politics until faith and the White House become one in a nation founded on the principles of separation of church and state.

This wasn’t always the story of America.

World-famous evangelist Billy Graham died on Feb. 21, 2018. In the wake of his passing, there will be a grappling with and a whitewashing of his legacy ― his spiritual advisement to every president from Eisenhower to Obama and his loathsome attitudes toward LGBTQ people, for instance. But it’s also worth noting that the toxic brand of evangelicalism that has kneecapped American politics, the full merging of patriotism and Christianity, would not have been possible without Graham’s relentless pursuit of civil religion.

Source: huffingtonpost