[Magdalen] RIP Billy Graham, 99.

[M J _Mike_ Logsdon]

>>>What a horrid lot!<<<

Indeed.  But I may have blurred the line between my thinking about Billy and his son Franklin, who's been running the show now for a long time.  The lot is all horrid, certainly, but in a strange way I can somewhat point to my experience of hearing, seeing, and reading Billy while a flowering fundamentalist youth, as a catalyst to my becoming the stalwart unchurched Episcopalian I am today.  The AP article ( https://tinyurl.com/yamodofb ) points out how he was often criticised for being too influenced by ecumenism, believing God's people were present in all churches (and by Pauline "measure of faith" extension, all religions, though I don't know if he ever voiced such a "Vatican II" belief).  And I must admit that his being at root a southern Presbyterian (and I believe his wife Ruth was even more so) bothered this blinkered So Bapt kiddo.  But all that was most likely how I eventually made my way to Presbyterianism and then to Episcopalianism.  (And yes, the indie priesthood as well.)

So, Billy was and remains a powerful memory for me, if not an ultimate theological guide.

I just wish his son wasn't such an asshole.  (Wikipedia:  "On August 19, 2010, when asked by CNN correspondent John King if he had doubts that President Barack Obama is a Christian, Graham stated, 'I think the president's problem is that he was born a Muslim, his father was a Muslim.  The seed of Islam is passed through the father like the seed of Judaism is passed through the mother.  He was born a Muslim, his father gave him an Islamic name.'  Graham continues to say, 'Now it's obvious that the president has renounced the prophet Mohammed, and he has renounced Islam, and he has accepted Jesus Christ.  That's what he says he has done.  I cannot say that he hasn't.  So I just have to believe that the president is what he has said.'  In a March 2011 interview with the conservative Internet publication Newsmax, Graham claimed that Obama had 'allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to become part of the U.S. government and influence administration decisions...'")

M J (Mike) Logsdon.

"Aaugh[.]" -- Charles Brown.
"Avoid dull needles and use a soft cloth." -- E Kovacs.
"...[My mouth is a] shithole..." -- 45th US President.