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Franklin Graham Apologizes For Seeming To Question Obama's Faith

Rev. Franklin Graham in 2007.
Davis Turner
/
Getty Images
Rev. Franklin Graham in 2007.

One week after saying "you'll have to ask President Obama" when asked if he believes the president is a Christian, Rev. Franklin Graham has issued an apology for "any comments I have ever made which may have cast any doubt on the personal faith of our president, Mr. Obama."

Graham, the son of Rev. Billy Graham and a nationally known religious leader in his own right, made his original comments last week on MSNBC-TV's Morning Joe. His statement of apology was first reported by Religion News Service.

The news service adds that:

"Graham's apology came after a group of prominent black religious leaders criticized the evangelist for saying he did not know whether Obama is a Christian and suggesting that Islamic law considers him to be a Muslim."

In his statement, as CNN adds, Graham also states that:

"The president has said he is a Christian and I accept that (and have said so publicly on many occasions). I apologize to him and to any I have offended for not better articulating my reason for not supporting him in this election — for his faith has nothing to do with my consideration of him as a candidate."

During the Morning Joe conversation, Graham also said of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's religion that "most Christians would not recognize Mormonism as part of the Christian faith."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.