More than 2,000 churches in Britain are supporting the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association after venues scheduled to host evangelist Franklin Graham were pressured by LGBT activists to cancel.
Graham, known for his strong defense of traditional marriage, was to begin an eight-stop tour of the U.K. in Glasgow, Scotland, in May that would conclude in London in October. By last month, however, all eight venues had canceled their contracts, Ministry Watch reported.
BGEA has filed lawsuits against three of the venues, arguing the legally binding contracts were broken without justification.
Graham's organization, founded by his father, the late Billy Graham, said it was notified by the Glasgow venue, The Scottish Event Campus Limited, and the Glasgow City Council that they intend to resist BGEA's request for judicial relief.
BGEA said it will continue trying to work toward a resolution allowing the event to be held as planned.
"This is ultimately about whether the Scottish Event Campus will discriminate against the religious beliefs of Christians," Graham said. "More than 330 churches in the Glasgow area alone support this evangelistic outreach and their voices are being silenced."
Others named in complaints are FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield City Council and Sheffield City Trust in Sheffield, England, and ICC Wales and the Welsh government in Wales.
The venues have claimed the tour would have a "divisive impact." But BGEA argued that "in nearly 70 years of public evangelistic outreach ministry, there is no evidence whatsoever that any BGEA event involving Franklin Graham has ever caused a danger to public safety or incited public disorder."
BGEA said the cancellations are "clear efforts to distance the decision-makers from BGEA, Franklin Graham and other Christians who hold similar beliefs."
"There is no question that this was done under pressure from those with opposing views who have demonstrated a relatively predictable pattern of harassment and bullying of those doing business with BGEA."
BGEA said that more than 2,000 churches "of various denominations are now collaborating with this historic evangelistic effort."
In an interview in early February with Premier, a Christian radio network in the U.K., Graham said that not only will his tour go on, he likely will end up in venues larger than the ones originally planned.
He told Premier his views are shared by most Christians.
Newcastle City Council leader Nick Forbes is among Graham's opponents.
"Pastor Graham peddles controversial, repulsive views about LGBT people which are in direct conflict with the values we hold dear in Newcastle," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment