Graham event a poor decision and an affront to Islam

By: Vernon Schubel

Posted: 4/5/07

There are many of us in the Kenyon community who have real concerns about the October 2007 event in the KAC sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA). Franklin Graham, the CEO of the BGEA, in the wake of the horrific events of September 11, 2001 called Islam "a very evil and wicked religion." He subsequently said, "the persecution or elimination of non-Muslims has been a cornerstone of Islamic conquests and rule for centuries" and that the Qur'an "provides ample evidence that Islam encourages violence in order to win converts and to reach the ultimate goal of an Islamic world." Asked on ABC's Nightline in March of 2006 if he had changed his mind he said, "No." He continued: "I know about Islam. I don't need an education from Islam. If you think Islam is such a wonderful religion, I mean, go and live under the Taliban somewhere. I mean, you're free to do that." Unlike the Rev. Billy Graham himself and many other evangelical Christians who have bravely refused to accept Franklin Graham's woefully inaccurate and dangerous depiction of Islam, the BGEA has not distanced itself from these statements.

Mr. Graham has emerged as a central figure in the movement to convince people that the problem of Islamic extremism isn't extremism-it is Islam itself. The tactics are simple, but effective. Point to the worst aspects of behavior by Muslims-9/11, the Taliban, the killing of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh-and imply, or say directly, that this is normative Muslim behavior. Then choose verses of the Qur'an or hadith out of context to "prove" Islam is inherently violent and wicked. (To be honest, similar and equally ugly tactics have been used to attack Jews, Catholics and Christian evangelicals as well.)

Franklin Graham has been very effective; in fact, he has become a hero in the anti-Islam movement. Go to Beliefnet and look at the comments on articles about him by people praising his courage to speak "the truth" about Islam. There are many people like him who are spreading fear of Muslims, a virulent disease some have called "Islamophobia" and whose closest analogue is anti-Semitism. It is a disease that has spread into the centers of power and policy-making, as is evidenced by the enthusiastic applause recently received by Bernard Lewis at the American Enterprise Institute as he received their Irving Kristol Award when he defended the Crusades as "a late, limited, and unsuccessful imitation of the jihad." There are numerous organizations and think tanks who are promoting fear of Islam and Muslims for their own political ends. Franklin Graham is at the center of that discourse.

As a Muslim, I am personally offended by the way the leader of the BGEA has depicted my religion. As a scholar of religion I am intellectually appalled at the inaccurate portrayal of Islam Graham continues to propagate. As a citizen of this community I feel morally obligated to speak out.

Some at Kenyon have defended the upcoming BGEA event on the basis of the money we will make from it. Others have argued that we invite controversial speakers all the time and this is no different. But when controversial speakers come, we question them, we engage them in dialogue and debate, and we confront them. This is different. This event is a revival, a major public event held by an extremely powerful organization designed for proselytizing. Kenyon will be seen as hosting a major religious revival that will likely attract many thousands of people. It will likely be widely covered in the local and national news. We will be seen as affirming the BGEA and by extension the Islamophobia of Franklin Graham.

Renting out our facilities to a politically powerful ministry whose leadership is openly hostile to Islam (as well as gays and lesbians) was, to my mind, an ill-considered and short-sighted decision. Would we have allowed a group to come to campus whose leadership advocated similar things about Jews or Catholics? I think not. I can only assume that the people at Kenyon who arranged this event were unaware of the anti-Muslim statements by Mr. Graham at the time.

In the wake of the inevitable media coverage of this event, I fear this event will hurt our attempts to attract more Muslim or Arab-American students to Kenyon at a time when we are struggling to become a more diverse campus. There are many Muslim immigrant families that have been extremely successful in this country. The Muslim community deeply values education. Their kids go to some of the best colleges and universities in America. Far too few choose to come here, despite our excellent programs. In my opinion, we don't try hard enough to attract them. For example, the proposed Islamic Civilization and Cultures concentration proposal-which would send a message that this is a place that takes Islam seriously-has for bureaucratic reasons still not cleared CPC ( see story, page 1). I am still hopeful it will clear the committee in time for students to graduate with it this year. If you Google "Kenyon College" and "Muslim," you pull up articles from the ultra-right wing American Thinker published by an alumnus of this institution that attacks Islam and the way it is taught on our campus and the controversial visit by Irshad Manji. There is clear and unfortunate evidence that Muslim students think twice about applying here. The presence of Franklin Graham's ministry on our campus will only affirm the false impression that Kenyon is a campus which emphasizes the study of neo-conservatism, but not the civilization of Islam and sends the inaccurate message that this is a place where Muslims would not be comfortable.

To be fair, Kenyon is now in a difficult situation. We risk being portrayed as supporters of a major public event by a ministry whose leadership is deeply Islamophobic. If we pull out, we risk being seen as enemies of evangelical Christianity. Neither is a true depiction of Kenyon. In my opinion, we should not have scheduled this event. But we have.

I believe as a community we need to thoroughly and openly discuss this issue and find some way to control the damage. One suggestion is that we hold a simultaneous campus-wide event on "Religious Tolerance and Diversity." That is a start, but I do not think that is enough. I think we should organize a public letter from the community-signed by as many people-students, faculty and administrators-who wish. In that letter we should distance ourselves from Franklin Graham's statements against Muslims and Islam and call on the Graham ministry to repudiate them as well.