Prominent American pastor Franklin Graham has defended a former Mayor of New York after media slammed him for his comments against President Barack Obama.
Ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani recently came under fire when he criticised President Barack Obama's reluctance to criticise Islam in the wake of Islamist extremism in the Middle East and Central Africa in his address during the National Prayer Breakfast.
In his address, Obama acknowledged that the Islamic State in the Middle East and Islamist terrorism in Central Africa were examples of how faith can be used "as a weapon" against other people. However, he also said that Christianity has done its share of atrocities in the name of religion, and pointed to the Crusades as an example of that.
"What's wrong with (the president) that he can't stand up and say there's a part of Islam that's sick?" Guiliani said, Politico reported, during a dinner with right-wing businessmen and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker on Wednesday.
"I do not believe that the president loves America," Guiliani added. He later wrote an op-ed at the Wall Street Journal in which stated his opinion that the President lacked "moral clarity."
As the criticisms against Guiliani started to pile up, Billy Graham Evangelic Association President Franklin Graham wrote in his Facebook page that he doesn't know if Obama loves America or not, but he knows that the President has been chastising Christians while defending Muslims.
"(He) rebukes our allies and befriends our enemies, and fully supports gay marriages and abortion but denies the religious freedoms of those who don't agree," Graham said.
"Our nation is ridiculed abroad and morally crumbling within. We are in trouble. We have turned our back on God," the son of Billy Graham warned.
Graham himself had earlier criticised Obama for his referring to the 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians as "Egyptian citizens" rather than as Christians. The pastor then accused the Democrat President of "seemingly continuing to protect Islam" despite the atrocities committed by the Islamic State abroad.
