I Am Not Religious, But Not Anti-religion

[b]Billy Graham (1918-2018)[/b]

William Franklin Graham Jr., better known as Billy Graham, passed away earlier today at his home in Montreat, NC. He was 99 years old.

Rev. Graham was an internationally popular Christian evangelist whose ministry took him to over 185 countries and territories on six continents. It's thought that his total lifetime audience was at least 2.2 billion and that he preached the gospel to more people than anyone in the history of Christianity. He also appeared on the Gallup Poll's list of most admired men and women a total of 60 times, more than any other individual.

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Billy Graham's basic work wasn't particularly meaningful to me as I'm not a religious person, but I greatly respect much of what he did, especially during the Civil Rights Era:

The North Carolina native publicly repudiated racial segregation, and beginning in 1953, he insisted that all of his revivals and crusades be integrated. In Chattanooga, TN, he tore down ropes set-up to segregate the audience and warned organizers to leave them down "or you can go on and have the revival without me".

He was a supporter and close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King and invited the civil rights activist to join him in a 16-week revival in New York City in 1957. In the 1960s, Graham bailed MLK out of jail when the latter was arrested in demonstrations.

Graham held integrated services in Alabama shortly after the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, and again, after the violence that accompanied the 1965 Selma to Mongomery march.

Rev. Graham's support for integration wasn't limited to the U.S. During the apartheid era in South Africa, he refused to visit the country unless integrated seating was allowed at his crusades, and during his first visit in 1973, he openly attacked the government's policy of apartheid. He also corresponded with Nelson Mandela during the future South African president's 27-year prison sentence.

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Billy Graham was a genuinely decent man who touched many lives. He will be missed by people all over the world.