George,

Rev. Franklin Graham's critical conspiratorial and character assassination-prone statements made on Easter and the day after about President Barrack Obama make it necessary for me to reissue an article I wrote that attacked him for the right wing-oriented statements he made questioning Obama's nationality and religion in August 2010. As then, I, also a Christian minister, call upon Graham to cease and desist mocking Obama.

Before reissuing my statement here is my brief comment on recent statements Graham made about Obama when he appeared Easter on ABC's "This Week," hosted by Christiane Amapour. As in the past, he questioned whether Obama was a Christian and added, "For him (Obama) going to church means he is a Christian." What audacity? Obama has never defined his adherence to the Christian faith in terms of "going to church." On the contrary, he has publicly said, "I have accepted Jesus Christ as my my personal Savior." Graham said, he does not know whether he is a Christian, but he knows he was born a Muslim. Jesus said, "By your fruit, you will know them" and St. John said, "By your love one for another, they will know that you are a Christian."

A day after Easter, appearing on the MSBC's "Last Word," hosted by Lawerence O'Donnell, Graham repeated what he said on an earlier show and made it clear that he was on the Birther bandwagon. He called for Obama to present a new birth certificate to show that he was born in America. Graham said he might support Donald Trump for president in 2012. In recent weeks Trump has attempted to proclaim himself the self-appointed leader of the Birther accusers. "Graham and Trump are among the leadeing critics of Obama.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney called Graham's Birther harangue "pereposerous charges" and "Mother Jones" asserts that Graham has a new Obama-Muslim "conspiracy theory." It goes like this, "His father lived in Kenya and that makes Obama a Muslim by birth."

Because Graham's current attack on President Obama is a regurgitation of statements he made some eight months ago, I am unapologetically and with conviction reissuing an article I wrote immediately after Graham released his earlier statement about Obama.

Uriah J. Fields (Electronic mail, April 26, 2011)

Rev. Franklin Graham, son of the renown Evangelist Billy Graham, during a televisee interview with CNN's John King that aired last Thursday, pontificated a lukewarm quasi-endorsement of President Obama's Christian faith. His wavering comments came on the heels of a Pew Research Center poll that indicated nearly one in every five Americans - 18% - believe Obama is a Musilim. Some pollsters indicated that African Americans believe the same thing about Obama's faith. In a poll coducted by this writer 99% of African Americans believe that he is a Christian. That same percentage believe that Louis Farrakhan is a Muslim.

When I listened to that inteview and observed Graham's physicality, his gestures and facial expressons, I got a gut feeling that he was one of those ones in the fives who believes that Obama is a Muslim. Listen to what he said, "I think that 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 his Islam name. Now it is obvious that he has renounced the Prophet Mohammed, and had renounced Islam, and accepted Jesus Christ. that's what he says he has done. I cannot say that he hasn't."

Would Franklin say his father was born a Christian? Or, "He accepted Jesus Christ," and add, "That's what he says he has done. I cannot say he hasn't?" No, he would not. Doubt! Doubt! Doubt! That's what I hear.

Although Franklin Graham was present when Obama visited with Billy Graham on April 25, 2010, I believe, primarily, in order to maintain the continuity of Billy Graham meeting with each president since he first met with President Harry S. Truman in 1950, I wonder if what Truman said after that meeting could be appropriately said of his son's meeting and praying with Obama. Truman called senior Graham a "counterfeit publicity seeker."

When Jesus said to the "Pharisee ruler Nicodemus, "You must be born again," he was not referring to culture or religion. He and Nicodemus understood that Jesus was saying that your first birth was a matter of having been delivered from a mother's womb and that prompted Nicodemus to ask Jesus: "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?" (John 3:4). Jesus told him that being "born again" is a spiritual birth, not a birth of the flesh.

Obama was not born a Muslim any more than Graham was born a Christian. He and Al Capone, (Alplonse Gabriel), both born in America, but neither born a Christian. This is the case, despite the rhetoric on the part of some Americans who delare that "America is a Christian nation." That is not true. It is not biblically or theologically accurate,

Graham's "lukewarm quasi-endorsement" of Obama's Christian faith elicit's a strong reaction from this writer in the vain of the response that a God-sent angel delivered to one of the seven churches in Asia, the church called Laodicea: "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot, I wish you were cold or hot. So beause you are LUKEWARM, neither cold or hot, I will spue (spit) you out of my mouth." (Rev.3:15-16)

This writer accepts Obama's confession that he is a Christian. Before Obama was elected president he was a member of the 8,500-member integrated Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago of whch Rev. Jeremiah Wright was the pastor. During that presidential campaign Rev.Wright was demonized by the media in an attempt to defeat Obama's chance of being elected president. I, a Christian minister myself, have heard, in person, Rev. Wright preach. He is a Christian minsiter who have delivered Christian messages at any number of Christian institutions. Obama, like his wife and other members of Trinity are Christians. In order to not allow his membership in that church to derail his chance to become president, he terminated his membership at Trinity United Church of Christ.

Leaving a church does not 'dechristianized' a Christian. Since being president, on numerous occasions Obama has testified of his having accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior. During his presidential inauguration he had the Rev. Rick Warern, pastor of the Saddleback Church and best selling author to deliver a prayer. Obama took his oath on a Christian Bible, I believe it was the same Bible Abraham Lincoln took the oath on when he was inaugurated president. He did not take his oath on the Muslim Koran. However, he had a constitutional right to have done that had he chosen to do so. Had he done that it is hard to imagine the outrage that would have swept across America. It woud have been much greater than the current outrage over building a Muslim mosque near Ground Zero. Obama did not have a Muslim to give a prayer at his inauguration. And even though he met with Billy Graham, he has not had a private meeting with a Muslim Iman. I ask, what more must Obama do to prove that he is a Christian? Of course, if he was crucified like Jesus, that would not please his adversaries, especially those who contend that he is a Muslim.

Let me reiterate, my message for Franklin Graham is the same message God's angel delivered to the Chruch of Laodicea: "Because you are LUKEWARM, neither cold or hot, I will spue (spit) you out of my mouth." Franklin, I challenge, or simply request, that you deliver a clear statement regarding whether or not you believe Obama is a Christian with the clarity that Rev. Dr. Robert H. Schuller and Rev. Al Sharpton would, if they were interviewed by CNN's John King.

Personally I have no hesitation or reservation about acknowleging that Obama is a Christian. His living is a superb example of what a Christian is called to be. In my view, he is a Christian par excellence.

Copyright 2010 by Uriah J. Fields