The Freedom From Religion Foundation is calling on North Carolina officials to reverse course on a planned monument of the controversial religious figure Rev. Billy Graham Jr.

The North Carolina General Assembly passed a state budget bill that included funding for a monument honoring Graham. There was no chance for public input or debate about the monument.

Currently, the North Carolina Capitol grounds feature monuments relating to the world wars, the Vietnam War, prominent presidents or those from the state and governors of North Carolina — all included for secular reasons. A statue of Billy Graham can have no secular purpose and should not be placed at the seat of state government, FFRF emphasizes. The state/church watchdog is therefore asking that the Legislative Services Office use its discretion to refrain from using official government resources to promote a divisive religious figure and honor a single faith’s leader.

“Although remarks by those who proposed the monument say that this monument would be to ‘honor those people who have done great things for the people of this state,’ the fact is that Graham lived his life in service to his evangelical Christian religion and the bible that he believed was an infallible reference manual,” FFRF Co-Presidents Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker write.

The question is not whether Graham was influential. He plainly was. The question is whether the seat of North Carolina government should permanently honor a figure whose influence was overwhelmingly religious and sectarian in nature, and whose public record included disparaging atheists, opposing LGBTQ+ equality, making antisemitic remarks and working to inject his evangelical beliefs into government.

Graham had a checkered history that included antisemitism, disdain for atheists and other alienating and divisive views. A released Watergate tape from 1972 caught Graham telling President Nixon that Jews had a “stranglehold” on the news. His career was additionally devoted to revivals, Christian conversions, hellfire preaching and the insertion of his brand of religion into what is supposed to be a secular country governed by a godless Constitution barring establishment of religion or governmental preference for religion.

Graham also notably lobbied Congress to pass a law declaring an annual National Day of Prayer, saying he wanted to “see the leaders of our country kneeling before almighty God in prayer.” Unfortunately, Congress, in 1952 (with a minor amendment in 1988), did his bidding. This law enacted at Graham’s behest has entangled religion and government, spawned countless inappropriate prayer breakfasts, prayerful governmental events and prayer resolutions at all levels of government, sending for generations a message that evangelical Christians are “insiders” and non-Christians and the nonreligious are “outsiders.”

FFRF’s freethinking North Carolina membership has been feeling estranged that the leaders of the state have chosen this outsized honor for Graham, especially given his years of advice columns deriding the nonreligious. In a column published on Aug. 7, 2010, by the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, Graham opined that “a true atheist has no real reason to believe in right and wrong, or to behave sacrificially toward others.”

Graham vociferously opposed gay rights and marriage equality, saying that “we traffic in homosexuality at the peril of our spiritual welfare.” Even in 1993, Graham’s views offended public opinion so much that, after once suggesting that AIDS could be a “judgment” from God, he was forced to withdraw the remarks. He belonged to a denomination that refused to ordain women, including his own daughter, who defied the convention against preaching. The “Billy Graham” rule directing a man not to be alone with a woman other than his wife continues to influence evangelicals.

Billy Graham believed fervently in Christianity and people listened to him. But that is not worthy of a spot on the North Carolina Capitol grounds, which must serve and welcome all citizens, whether Christian, non-Christian, atheist or LGBTQ+. Graham sought to undo the only sure way to guarantee freedom of religion: a government free from religion. Giving him this unearned honor excludes those among the 31 percent of North Carolinians who are non-Christians, including the 26 percent of adult North Carolinians who are atheists, agnostics or religiously unaffiliated.

“North Carolinians are free to admire Billy Graham, and churches and religious organizations are free to build as many monuments to him as they wish,” Gaylor and Barker state. “But the state Capitol is different. It should be a civic space that welcomes everyone, not a platform for the government to elevate an evangelical preacher whose life’s work and public positions excluded and demeaned many of the people the state represents.” 

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With more than 41,000 members and several chapters across the country, including almost 1,000 members and a chapter in North Carolina, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.

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