Trump, Pence and many evangelical leaders mourn Billy Graham
About 2,000 people filled a huge white tent on Friday for a private funeral outside the red barnlike Billy Graham Library to honor the iconic evangelist who preached to millions across the globe.
Graham, who died Feb. 21 at age 99, was honored this week in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Graham served during the second half of the 20th century as the key leader of evangelicalism, which has become the largest religious persuasion in the United States today. A lifelong registered Democrat, he was a friend and counselor to several presidents.
President Trump and Vice President Pence attended the funeral, although Trump did not speak.
Graham met the president at a 95th birthday party for the spiritual leader organized by his son Franklin Graham, who has led the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in recent years.
Friday’s funeral took place under a 28,000-square-foot tent, a throwback to Graham’s 1949 crusade in Los Angeles that lasted eight weeks. That tent crusade sparked Graham’s explosion in popularity.
The funeral guest list included a who’s who of white evangelicalism, including entertainers Kathie Lee Gifford and Steven Curtis Chapman; pastors Rick Warren and Joel Osteen; popular speakers Ravi Zacharias and Beth Moore; and political figures Ben Carson and Sarah Palin.
Graham’s pine plywood casket, with a small cross at the top, was made by inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, where he once preached.
Graham’s grave marker, made of North Carolina stone, will include the phrase, “Preacher of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who have both cited Graham as important in their spiritual lives, visited Charlotte earlier this week to pay their respects. In 2007, Clinton and former presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush attended the library’s dedication ceremony.
Thousands lined up to see Graham’s casket as he lay in honor at the Capitol on Wednesday, and Trump and other political leaders spoke at a memorial service for him. For Franklin Graham, the Rotunda honoring of his father — a first for a religious leader — harked to an earlier era in America.
“We need to put God back in government,” he said Thursday. “We need God back into our schools. We need God back into our everyday lives. If we do that, we could see a spiritual healing in our country.”
Most of Friday’s service was planned about a decade ago by Graham and his friend Cliff Barrows, who died in 2016. More than 100 international delegates representing Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical traditions attended.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, said Graham epitomized “what’s best in American Christianity.” He said Graham continued America’s historical tradition of “spiritual renewal and social service.”
“He’s particularly refreshing today when religion is often abused and perverted for the cause of hatred and violence,” said Dolan, who attended the funeral. “He would always use it as an occasion of harmony, amity and respect.”
SOURCE: Washingtonpost
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