Franklin Graham, the Christian evangelist and son of Billy Graham, offered an explanation for the suspicions that some people have about President Obama’s religion, during an appearance Thursday night on CNN.
“I think 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 an Islamic name,” Graham told John King. “Now it’s obvious that the president has renounced the prophet Mohammed and he has renounced Islam and he has accepted Jesus Christ. That’s what he says he has done, I cannot say that he hasn’t. So I just have to believe that the president is what he has said.”
For the record, Obama’s father was Barack Hussein Obama, who gave the future president his own name. President Obama has written that his father, who he rarely ever saw, was raised a Muslim but was in practice an atheist.
This line of discussion came about due to a Pew national poll showing that 18% of Americans think that Obama is a Muslim — nearly twice the number from last year.
Graham further explained: “The confusion is, is because his father was a Muslim, he was born a Muslim. The Islamic world sees the president as one of theirs. That’s why Gaddafi calls him ‘my son.’ They see him as a Muslim. But of course the President says he is a Christian, and we just have to accept it as that.”
King noted that Graham and his father have met Obama, and prayed with him. With this context, King asked, does Graham believe Obama when he says he is a Christian?
“Well, you know, you can be born a Muslim, you can be born a Jew, but you can’t be born a Christian,” said Graham. “The only way you can become a Christian is by confessing your sins to God, asking his forgiveness, and by receiving Jesus Christ by faith into your heart, that Christ died for your sins, shed his blood on Calvary’s Cross, and that God raised him to life. If you’re willing to accept that and believe that, and let Jesus Christ be the lord of your life, God will forgive your sins, he will heal your heart, and that’s the only way you can become a Christian. And so if the President has done that, then I would say he’s a Christian, if that’s what he has done.”
