The Rev. Franklin Graham has given up on the Republican Party.
He quit, citing Congress’s refusal to stop federal funding for Planned Parenthood. So, Graham — son of the legendary preacher the Rev. Billy Graham — has had enough of the GOP.
I thought immediately of a bumper sticker I once saw on a car here in Amarillo. I am paraphrasing, but it said, “God is bigger than a bumper sticker.”
Indeed …
Graham isn’t the first high-profile preacherĀ to become involved in partisan politics. Another Republican, Mike Huckabee, is a former Baptist preacher seeking the Republican presidential nomination; Democrats Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton,Ā both of whom areĀ ordained Christian clergymen, also have run for the highest office in the land.
Still, I find it intriguing to hear that Franklin Graham is quitting the Republican Party because of an intensely emotional issue. That would be abortion.
Perhaps, though, he ought to know that the Hyde Amendment — named afterĀ the late Republican U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde — prohibits the federal government from dedicating public money for abortion and that Planned Parenthood’s mission goes far beyond providing abortion referrals for women seeking to terminate their pregnancy.
And, yes, God truly is far bigger than a bumper sticker.
Or a political party.