Graham's message

Dear editor:

So the occasion of warmongering, Islam-hating evangelist Franklin Graham's state-hopping into Little Rock on his daddy's coattails, attracting far fewer of the statewide fundamentalist faithful than did our mayor's bane (our very own raucous St. Patrick's Day parade), warrants yet another holy harangue from our very own little brother? Sorry, but this brother begs to differ!

God causes the rain to fall on the just and unjust alike, suggesting that the same is probably true of the "beautiful sunny day" little brother ascribes to the recent appearance, in the flesh, of Billy's boy. But never mind such illogical, pagan prognostications about Arkansas weather. Let's instead examine the blessed bona fides of this opportunistic offspring of America's most famous mass evangelist, shall we?

Once upon a time, Squire Franklin was practically giddy at the prospect of beloved war criminal George Bush's trumped-up (deliciously ironic, ain't it?) invasion of Iraq. He and the Southern Baptist Convention were "poised and ready" to follow in on the heels of our high-tech slaughter and cleanse (sorry, convert) the shocked and awed remnants of a "very evil and wicked religion."

That Christian crusade didn't turn out so well, did it? No matter, young Franklin merely shifted his gaze to more immediate prospects, namely the fertile crescent of unrest here at home over the uppity black man in the White House. According to little brother, Franklin sees no hope, either on bended knee or by gazing into the sun directly, in either the Democrat (sic) or Republican Party. Heartbroken, he laments that America's last recourse is "Gawd A'mighty hisself." Theocracy is the way to go, democracy, thy name is mud!

Let's cut to the chase. Today, Franklin Graham is just another tea party darling, telling his faithful few to vote only for Christians determined to preserve the sanctity of public restrooms and closed borders. Had he lived a half-century earlier, no doubt young Franklin would have stood with George Wallace against integration. And he'd have been among the lily-white mob screaming their love of Christ at the Little Rock Nine.

So yes, little brother, let's pray for revival and spiritual awakening. Let's pray that we soon awaken from the delirium of our idolatrous notions that only we exceptional Americans are deserving of the blessings that come from being sentient beings on this backwater planet in a minor solar system in a remote corner of the Milky Way. Let's pray that we soon get over ourselves.

Your bigger brother,

John Ragland

Hot Springs

Editorial on 05/01/2016

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