Evangelist Franklin Graham announced on Tuesday that he is leaving the Republican Party following Congress' approval on Friday of a $1.1 trillion budget that included funding for Planned Parenthood which he likened to Nazi concentration camps.
The measure was swiftly signed by President Barack Obama on the same day.
"Shame on the Republicans and the Democrats for passing such a wasteful spending bill last week," he said. "And to top it off, funding Planned Parenthood!" a clearly frustrated Graham posted on his Facebook page.
Graham—who has expressed support to Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and even lauded his controversial call to ban Muslims from the U.S.—said he's lost faith in the political system.
"I have no hope in the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, or Tea Party to do what is best for America," he wrote. "Unless more godly men and women get in this process and change this wicked system, our country is in for trouble."
"After all of the appalling facts revealed this year about Planned Parenthood, our representatives in Washington had a chance to put a stop to this, but they didn't. There's no question — taxpayers should not be paying for abortions!" Graham said.
"Abortion is murder in God's eyes. Seeing and hearing Planned Parenthood talk nonchalantly about selling baby parts from aborted fetuses with utter disregard for human life is reminiscent of Joseph Mengele and the Nazi concentration camps! That should've been all that was needed to turn off the faucet for their funding."
Graham was disheartened that nothing was done to trim down the 2,000-page, $1.1-trillion budget.
The evangelist urged more faith leaders to seriously consider running for office because America needs God-minded individuals to help run the country.
"I want to challenge Christians, even pastors, across the country to pray about running for office where they can have an impact. We need mayors, country commissioners, city council members, school board members who will uphold biblical values," Graham said.
