Holy war: Franklin Graham shreds 'vile' media

Franklin Graham

Franklin Graham, chief of Samaritan's Purse as well as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, is pulling no punches in his criticism of the New York Times.

His comments appeared on Facebook regarding an opinion piece published by the newspaper.

The newspaper also was cited by the Federalist for an "atrociously brutal piece" by Frank Bruni who called Vice President Mike Pence a "holy terror."

Federalist writer Glenn T. Stanton said, "Bruni actually warns the best case against impeaching Trump is the much greater danger of Pence."

For Graham, it was too much.

"The New York Times published a slanderous, vile op-ed piece about Vice President Mike Pence. They were specifically attacking his faith, which really is an attack on all of us who believe in God and His Son, Jesus Christ," he said.

"I am disappointed that the New York Times would stoop so low. I've never seen such hatred poured out against such a good man. Vice President Pence is a dedicated public servant who is doing an exemplary job for our nation. Attacks like this against him and the Lord that He serves should remind us all to keep him in our prayers because he not only represents our country, but all who hold a deep and sincere faith in God.

"Pray for Vice President Pence, his wife Karen, and their entire family, that God would put a hedge of protection around them."

Stanton had explained more.

"Think about that a moment though. For all the venom and apocalyptic hysteria being spewed at everything Trump has ever said, done or probably even thought — and there is plenty there of concern — there is someone even 'worse' than this president. Bruni makes Chicken Little seem measured," Stanton wrote.

He explained Bruni's perspective: "Pence's original and most damning sin is that he's a Christian who actually believes what Christians actually believe. Imagine that."

He wrote, "Pence is really no different than your run-of-the-mill evangelical, like millions of Americans. He believes that God governs the affairs of men, that prayer is effectual and worth doing, that marriage and family are best when built upon a married mother and father, that life is sacred and abortion destroys life, and that God appoints our government’s leaders, even those who are hostile to Him."

Bruni had slammed the vice president for his "regressive, repressive version of Christianity."

His statement that to trade Trump for Pence would be to go "from kleptocracy to theocracy" drew Stanton's disbelief.

"How does one even respond to such meteoric hyperbole masquerading as thoughtfulness? Every person in government who’s possessed any measure of traditional Christian conviction and has the temerity to live by it has been accused of wanting to start a theocracy. The charge has grown quite thin and it has never even come close to happening. Chicken Little again."

And he warned that Bruni fails to see that "it is precisely this kind of elitist bigotry that fueled Trump’s ascendency. But they keep topping off that tank with tanker-truck after tanker-truck of high-test vitriol."

"It’s interesting that when Joy Behar said on 'The View' that Pence was mentally ill because he says he sometimes hears from God when he prays, she was answering the panel’s question as to whether Pence would be a worse president than Trump. (She later apologized.) She was willing to call Pence psychotic, but she would not go as far as to say he is worse than Trump, because she explained 'No one could be worse than Trump.' Saying Bruni is rhetorically more extreme than Behar is certainly saying something."