Billy Graham: Issues and Answers

Billy Graham, who cherishes his privacy, didn’t get much of it last month. The evangelist submitted to queries at news conferences with New York, Charlotte, Chicago, and Minneapolis journalists. He appeared on network television talk shows. He gave the main address and wielded the ceremonial shovel as ground was broken for the largest project with which he is identified, Wheaton College’s Billy Graham Center.

It was anything but a low profile for the preacher in the month following his evangelistic tour of Hungary. As the mass media continued to raise questions about the evangelist and his operations, Graham responded to dozens of queries about the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), the World Evangelism and Christian Education Fund (WE-CEF—see July 29 issue, page 36), the Better Business Bureau’s Philanthropic Advisory Service classification of the BGEA, a new book about him, and his own new book.

He climaxed the month on its last day when he led the BGEA board to agree to publicize the association’s annual report. The action is expected to satisfy the objections of those who have raised questions about the BGEA’s accountability.

An announcement issued following the BGEA board meeting said that the association’s officers “were authorized to make available to the public the annual report for the year ending December 31, 1977, including the audited financial statements of the association.” Such a report has previously gone to board members each year, said the release, and it covers “the affairs of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and its affiliated organizations, in a manner similar to the annual reports of publicly held corporations, including a description of the ministries and audited financial statements.” Even though such reports are not required of the BGEA by law (the organization is classified as a church by the Internal Revenue Service and is thus exempt from reporting requirements), the current “mood of the country” calls for disclosure, Graham told Minneapolis journalists. The board meeting was held in Minneapolis, the BGEA’s headquarters location. (See related editorial, page 27.)

In a later appearance on the ABC network’s “Good Morning America” television show, the evangelist stated that the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) will have access to the yearly reports. The CBBB has been telling inquirers that the BGEA had not furnished information about its financial affairs. The information included in the audit, he indicated, will put the association in compliance with the CBBB’s request for information. Many charitable and religious groups decline to furnish figures to that agency, he pointed out. Graham said the United Jewish Appeal is one of them.

The BGEA’s announcement of the board action emphasized that the disclosure decision was made at Graham’s suggestion. From early in his ministry the evangelist has tried to organize his financial affairs in such a way as to avoid an “Elmer Gantry” image, and from the time the original money-handling pattern of the BGEA was established he has generally left such matters to experienced business people on his board and staff. He told reporters that colleagues took care of these issues ordinarily so that he could be free to study and preach. His intervention at the September board meeting was considered a rare sortie into the BGEA’s fiscal affairs. He originally suggested disclosure to a board committee two years ago, the evangelist told a reporter, but he pressed the matter at the meeting this year.

Graham’s appearance in Minneapolis also symbolized a head-on confrontation with stories that had been circulating about BGEA annuities. Some reports had said the Minnesota state securities authorities were investigating the BGEA and had suspended the association’s permit to sell annuities. Graham said there never was an investigation and that the BGEA had voluntarily suspended annuity activity in Minnesota when it discovered that it was out of compliance with a technicality in the regulations. He explained that a “comedy of errors” prevented a state mailing from reaching the proper officials at BGEA, thus delaying the timely return of information required by the state. The association’s annuity program will be in “full compliance” with Minnesota law by the end of the month, stated George Wilson, the BGEA’s executive vice-president.

The annuity program is only a small part of the BGEA’s overall financial operation, and there are only about a dozen annuitants in Minnesota, the evangelist reported. He maintained that the soundness of the program is demonstrated by the fact that the BGEA is one of the few organizations that “fully funds” (leaves all payments intact until after the annuitant’s death) its annuities.

In the Wheaton appearance Graham symbolically disbursed millions of the dollars which have been accumulated by the Dallas-based WECEF. That fund, which the Charlotte Observer said in June had been “shielded from public view,” was organized in part to build just such a center, he noted. He is committed to providing $15.5 million for the project, and $8 million has already been handed over, said the evangelist.

“We hope and pray that the center will be a world hub of inspiration, research, and training for evangelism which will glorify Christ and serve every church and organization in preaching the Gospel to the world,” Graham declared in his address. “Our desire is not to build anything which could be interpreted as a monument.”

To be owned and operated by Wheaton College (and not by the BGEA, the evangelist was careful to point out), the center will house the college’s graduate school, an evangelism library, the archives of Graham and his various ministries, and a short-term training program for overseas Christian leaders to be known as the International Institute of Evangelism. The 193,000-square-foot building is being constructed across the street from the college’s administration building. One of the special features envisioned for the center is a walk-through display area where tourists will hear a presentation of the Gospel while viewing materials related to the history of evangelism. Completion of the building is scheduled in the summer of 1979.

When asked by reporters about the WECEF controversy, Graham emphasized that the foundation’s existence had never been a secret. He cited a 1971 news conference in Minneapolis at which its creation was announced, but the “dullness” of the matter, he said, prevented its being picked up by many papers outside the headquarters city. He noted, however, that Religious News Service did pick up the report and that some religious journals mentioned it in late 1971 and early 1972. He also reminded news people that an Akron Beacon Journal reporter, Peter Geiger, interviewed him about it and mentioned it in an article in 1972. The Akron paper is in the same chain as the Charlotte daily that accused Graham of concealing the fund.

Editor David Lawrence, Jr., of the Charlotte Observer personally interviewed the evangelist last month. In the resulting article, which was prominently displayed on the front page of a Sunday edition, Lawrence says Graham “is a very likable man.” He continued: “Regretfully lost in the discussion of that fund is a fuller picture of Billy Graham and his ministry, a ministry which has reached more people than any mortal’s in the history of mankind.”

In his news conference, Graham was also asked about his new book, How To Be Born Again, and the newest book about him, The Gospel According to Billy, by Chuck Ashman, a Los Angeles television personality. In response to the charges that his new book, published by Word, duplicates some material in his World Aflame (Doubleday), Graham acknowledged that there is some duplication. Future printings, he said, will mention that fact. Further, said he in reply questions about plagiarism, “How do you plagiarize yourself?” The evangelist pointed out that he holds the copyrights on both volumes.

He told journalists that he had not read the Ashman book. It contains a variety of unsupported charges. Mary Bishop, one of the reporters who wrote the Charlotte Observer articles, reviewed it in her paper. She said Ashman had promised to produce evidence on some of his charges for the Observer but had not done so. The Charlotte writer, who has completed the manuscript for her own Graham book (under contract to Grosset and Dunlap), says the Ashman volume is a “generous spread of innuendo, cliche, and corn” that is irreverent and “not always accurate.” His writing, she reports, “reads like a ninth-grade essay.” The author, a convicted felon, has been involved in a variety of journalistic, promotional, and educational enterprises across the country.

Bowing Out

The 75,000-member Christian Reformed Church (CRC) of the Netherlands last month pulled out of the International Council of Christian Churches (ICCC), the separatist world-church body founded and directed by New Jersey minister Carl McIntire. It was the largest ICCC body. Leaders complained that McIntire too often speaks and acts unilaterally, dwells excessively on politics, and is vague about financial dealings. A commission was appointed to investigate the handling of money at the ICCC’s Holland office, headed by J. C. Maris, a clergyman of the CRC and a top ICCC executive. Earlier this year, four staff members of that office complained that substantial amounts of ICCC money raised in the Netherlands never reached the projects for which the funds were raised (ministry in Eastern Europe and the digging of wells in India). Afterward, the staffers were fired.

Birth Control

More than nine of ten Roman Catholic married couples are using birth control methods forbidden by their church, according to a nationwide survey by two Princeton University researchers. Their study, published in Family Planning Perspectives, concludes that contraceptive practices of Catholics are about the same as those of non-Catholics. A decade earlier, say the researchers, only 58 per cent of Catholic couples were practicing artificial contraception.

The survey—based on statistics gathered in 1975—shows that 26 per cent of Catholic couples have been surgically sterilized (up from 4 per cent in 1965), 34 per cent use the Pill, and 33 per cent employ other artificial means, while 6 per cent rely on the rhythm method (down from 32 per cent in 1965).

Christian Yellow Pages

“They’re emotionally involved instead of looking at it factually.” That’s what the national director of Christian Yellow Pages, W. R. Tomson of Modesto, California, says about the people who are attacking his enterprise. “It’s being blown all out of proportion,” he insists.

Tomson and the Christian Yellow Pages (CYP) have plenty of attackers. In addition to writing letters to editors, passing resolutions in clergy associations and denominational assemblies, the foes are now going to court. Suits have been filed in several California jurisdictions, and Tomson was served with the papers in one of the cases last month. No trial dates have been set, however.

“We’re simply publishing lists,” the CYP national director stated in an interview. He sees nothing discriminatory, illegal, or unethical about distributing lists of business people who are willing to affirm that they are born-again Christians and who welcome business from others who want to do business with them. Such directories have already been published in thirty-six communities (mostly in the West and South), and thirty others are in various stages of development, he said.

“We hope to strengthen the body of Christ,” Tomson declared, denying that the directories are intended to discriminate against any group. In the communities where the booklets are published, CYP representatives go to churches and other groups to get names and addresses of members who might be interested in being listed. Then, armed with these prospect lists, the salesmen call and take orders for advertisements of various sizes. The order form requires an advertiser to certify that he has accepted Christ as personal Saviour. The finished product, similar in appearance to the classified section of telephone directories, is distributed free through cooperating churches or bookstores.

Taking a page from the strategy book used by church groups who advocate patronage of firms certified by Project Equality or the Better Business Bureau, Tomson said his publications do not advocate boycotts. Instead, he maintains, they list merchants who possess a particular qualification. The only criterion he recognizes is the advertiser’s acceptance of Christ as Saviour.

In suits filed in southern California non-Jews as well as Jews are plaintiffs. The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith has assisted with the legal actions. The plaintiffs alleged that they were discriminated against when they were denied space in the directories. Those denials were based on their refusals to affirm born-again experiences.

Tomson finds it curious that members of the Jewish community are taking issue with CYP. In a statement in the Los Angeles Times he claimed to be utilizing the constitutional freedom available to Americans of all creeds. He added: “The Jews of America have always been a persecuted minority, and by adhering to the principle of standing together and supporting one another, the Jewish community has built financial empires.… In recognizing the successful principle employed by our Jewish neighbors, Christian Yellow Pages is attempting to unify the Christian community while providing a service for all.”

One anti-CYP document issued by the National Conference of Christians and Jews recognizes that originally the target of discrimination (if there was one) was the “nominal Christian” who would not stand up and be counted as a born-again person. The writer of the staff memo described the development as “an intramural struggle of the Born-Again vs. the Liberals.”

Jewish leaders, however, apparently felt threatened and encouraged their Christian friends across the country to speak out against the directories. Among the national groups to denounce CYP was the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (Southern). A representative of the Anti-Defamation League testified before the assembly’s committee studying the resolution. (Tomson said he was never invited to appear before the committee or to send information.)

One of the charges made against CYP is that it is only for profit. Tomson says that it is primarily a Christian testimony. He acknowledges that since it was organized in 1973 it has been operated as a profit-making business. That is now changing, he says, and he is running CYP through the Family of Faith Foundation. The non-profit foundation has applied to the Internal Revenue Service for tax-exempt status and expects to be notified of certification soon. The little profit in the initial years was plowed back into the nation-wide expansion, Tomson told a reporter. In addition to directing CYP from his home he also manages a travel agency.

All of CYP’s troubles do not come from people who are opposed to the concept. There are also competing organizations. One of them, headquartered in San Diego, is Production House, whose booklets are called Christian Business Directories. Suits have also been filed against this firm by people who claim their exclusion amounts to discrimination under California law.

There are also independent operators issuing the books without permission of either of the parent groups. Some are using the names, soliciting business, running up unpaid bills, and then leaving town without producing the “pages.”

One of the latest entries into the field is the grand dragon of the California Ku Klux Klan, who said he intends to issue a directory of businesses favorable to the Klan.

Religion in Transit

Nearly 200 office employees of the National Council of Churches were considering union representation early this month, and a vote was expected soon. They could vote for the union or for an existing staff association as their bargaining agent, or they could vote against representation altogether. Executive staff members, who are not involved in the union election, were instructed to take a neutral position toward the organizing efforts.

Church historian Martin Marty of the University of Chicago Divinity School told an inter-Lutheran gathering in New York City last month that the “born-again movement” is the strongest movement in American religion today. There are commercial and faddish aspects, he said, but “it’s durable, and it’s not going to go away, very likely, when the fad level passes.” Its two major components, he said, are personal experience and biblical authority..

Congregations of the Lutheran Church in America and the American Lutheran Church are being invited to combine their efforts in a major evangelistic emphasis over the next year. It will employ paid ads in newspapers and on radio and television inviting people to engage in “face-to-face religion.” A four-week pilot project in Sioux City, Iowa, resulted in a 9.7 per cent increase in church attendance and a 20 per cent increase in giving, says a Lutheran official. Tests showed that as many as 80 per cent of those surveyed got the message and as many as 50 per cent could identify the source. Media kits for local use are available from the denominations.

The executive committee of the Consultation on Church Union (COCU) has worked up a timetable for “responses” in the mid-1980s by the top legislative bodies of ten U.S. churches to a proposed plan of union. The merger plan, first submitted in 1970, has been undergoing revision, a process projected to be completed by 1983. The revised plan will then be submitted to the denominations. Still unclear is the exact nature of the response that will be called for.

More than 500 Westmont College students turned out last month to help victims of the Sycamore Canyon fire in Santa Barbara, California, clean up their devastated homes and lots.

An advisory commission has proposed to the Washington, D.C., city council that churches and certain other non-profit institutions be required to pay property taxes—but at a rate of 10 per cent of what they would pay if they were taxed like other properties.

Personalia

The contributions of Lillian Carter, the President’s peppery Baptist mother, to the “furtherance of international understanding, justice, and peace” were cited by the Synagogue Council of America in its presentation to her of its Covenant of Peace Prize. She is the first woman recipient. Nine years ago she returned from a two-year stint as a Peace Corps volunteer at a small-town clinic in India (she signed up at age 67), and now a hospital she designed is being built in that town. Family friend Andrew J. Young, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, spoke at the award ceremony.

James E. Groppi, 46, the Roman Catholic priest and civil-rights activist who was married last year, announced plans to join St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Milwaukee and to apply for the Episcopal priesthood. Episcopal bishop Charles T. Gaskell, however, said his Milwaukee diocese and the local Catholic diocese have agreed that neither will accept the transfer of a priest from the other. Groppi, now a bus driver, is trying other Wisconsin dioceses.

World Scene

Methodism in much of the world is suffering from a loss of the will to evangelize, declared George C. Hunter III, a United Methodist executive, at a meeting of the executive committee of the World Methodist Church (WMC) in Switzerland. He said Methodists are actively evangelizing in only a dozen of the eighty-seven countries that have a Wesleyan presence. One of the problems, he explained, is that many church leaders have been raised in Christian homes and have never experienced “being newly evangelized.” WMC general secretary Joe Hale reported there are now just under 50 million persons in the Wesleyan community worldwide, including 20.7 million full members.

Trustees of the 500,000-member Korean Methodist Church released a statement opposing American troop withdrawal from South Korea. The action, they warned, might provoke an attack from North Korea or lead to further restrictions on freedom at home in the name of national defense. They said fifty Methodist clergy were killed or imprisoned in the 1950 Korean war, large numbers of members were kidnapped or massacred, churches were destroyed, and religion was severely repressed.

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