Franklin Graham: Donald Trump’s Immigration Ban Needed, American Muslim Mosques May Be Shut Down
According to Christian preacher Franklin Graham, Donald Trump’s immigration ban plan does not go far enough. Bill Graham’s son believes that all United States immigration needs to be temporarily banned for all foreigners, not just Muslims, in order to properly secure the U.S. borders. In addition, he believes it is possible that certain American Muslim mosques may need to be shut down by the U.S. government.
In a related report by the Inquisitr, the recent GOP debate had Rick Santorum surprising everyone by not only supporting Trump’s Muslim ban, but he also declared that World War 3 had already started with the war on terror. Santorum argues Islam is not only a religion but also a form of civil government, so he claims the “idea that that is protected under the First Amendment is wrong.”
“The fact of the matter is that not all Muslims are jihadists,” Santorum said. “No one—including, I suspect, Donald Trump—would say that. But the reality is all jihadists are Muslims. That’s a reality, and we have to stop worrying about offending some people and start defending all Americans.”
Santorum is not alone in giving support to Trump’s ideas. A recent poll by the Washington Post and NBC News found that 43 percent of Americans agree with banning Muslim immigration into America. Although the majority of American Muslim leaders and groups believe the idea is morally wrong, some Muslim leaders in America have thrown their support behind Trump.
“I certainly see it to be wise [to] stop temporarily accepting any new Muslim immigrants (refugees and non-refugees) into the United States,” explained Texas imam Nidal Alsayyed. “We American Muslims need to be sincere in our religion and to the country we are living in. Peace comes before religion.”
The issue is even more complicated by the fact that a recent Pew poll discovered 13 percent of American Muslims “agreed that there were circumstances in which terrorist attacks in the name of Islam could be justified.” Only 81 percent of U.S. Muslims said jihadist terrorist attacks were “never” justified, while the others believed that even suicide bombing could be justified sometimes. This means that there are roughly 234,000 adult Muslims living in America who believe terrorism against civilian targets can be justified.
Reverend Franklin Graham does support Donald Trump in his efforts, but he also took the idea one step further since Graham believes the U.S. immigration system is “broken” as it is now. In light of the Paris attacks and the San Bernardino shootings, the head of both the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the Samaritan’s Purse global charity is calling for an immigration ban on everyone, not just Muslims from Syria or the Middle East.
“I think we should put a halt on immigration, because our borders are broken, until we have a proper system to vet people,” he said, according to NewsMax. “I think all immigration, but especially those coming from the Middle East right now.”
Graham believes the Islam religion is not compatible with American values. In addition, if American mosques are shown to support groups like ISIS or al-Qaeda, then the Christian preacher believes the U.S. federal government has the responsibility to shut those mosques down.
“We might have to at some point,” he said. “I don’t know. We have a responsibility — our government, the president, our Congress — has a responsibility to protect all Americans.”
At the same time, Graham insists that he “loves Muslims” and is perfectly willing to work with American Muslim leaders. On January 5, 2015, the American evangelist plans on touring the entire United States in order to hold prayer rallies for the nation. The Christian preacher is even inviting American Muslim believers to join him in praying for all of America.
“I’m asking for Christians to join me — or anybody — to join me at the capital and to pray for our nation,” he said. “Everybody’s welcome. Absolutely. Muslims will be welcomed.”
[Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images]
