The pro-Kamala Harris Christian political organization, “Evangelicals for Harris,” recently fired back at Rev. Franklin Graham, who has reportedly been battling to have ads taken off social media featuring the late Billy Graham. The prominent conservative evangelical figure has argued that a political ad the group has been running is a violation of copyright laws and has sought to have them taken down.
“Evangelicals for Harris” recently wrote on X, “Knowing he’ll lose in court, @Franklin_Graham lawyers are now sending repeat letters to trigger automatic blocks on our accounts. He’s fear Christians sharing the truth.” The post featured a note from Meta, which read, “I understand that you recently had your Page disabled due to one or more intellectual property report(s). The Page was removed in error, and we have restored it.” Undeterred, the pro-Harris group shared the controversial ad in the post again.
The Christian Tribune recently reported on action from the Bill Graham Evangelistic Association threatening to sue Evangelicals for Harris while issuing a cease-and-desist letter to the group over the ad. “We have communicated directly to this group our concerns about the unauthorized, political use of BGEA’s copyrighted video, and we will continue taking appropriate steps to address the matter,” a spokesperson for the Charlotte, North Carolina-based nonprofit organization said.
They continued, “It may be worth noting that, in all of his years of ministry and across relationships with 11 U.S. presidents, Billy Graham sought only to encourage them and to offer them the counsel of Christ, as revealed through God’s Word,” the spokesperson added. “He never criticized presidents publicly and would undoubtedly refuse to let his sermons be used to do so, regardless of who is involved.”
Franklin Graham previously criticized the group’s usage of his father’s likeness, emphasizing that Billy Graham would not have condoned being used in the ad. Graham further maintained that his father would have supported Trump if he were still alive today.
“The liberals are using anything and everything they can to promote candidate Harris,” Graham wrote in the post. “They even developed a political ad trying to use my father [Billy Graham’s] image. They are trying to mislead people. Maybe they don’t know that my father appreciated the conservative values and policies of President [Trump] in 2016, and if he were alive today, my father’s views and opinions would not have changed.”
Evangelicals for Harris responded to Graham’s statement, claiming, “Franklin has placed his hope in a man and a darkness we saw manifest when police lines were overrun at our nation’s Capitol on January 6, in Springfield this past month, and in the spirit of fear and anger fed at every Trump rally Franklin attends. Our hope is not in any man or woman but in Christ alone.”
“Our call is to serve, to witness Christ’s love and compassion, and to follow His example of standing between the hypocritical religious leaders and the social outcast. We know the law is on our side in this case. If Franklin follows through on his threats, we’ll see him in court,” the PAC added.
Featured image credit: By Paul M. Walsh – Billy and Franklin Graham, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4934708