Franklin Graham Laments Global 'Christian Genocide', Claims 100,000 are Killed Annually for Their Faith

Franklin Graham Speaking at the
World Summit in Defense of Christians

By Joseph Hartropp
Christian Today

Franklin Graham has called Christians to stand against the global 'Christian genocide', saying that 100,000 believers are killed every year for their faith.

Graham, president of Samaritan's Purse and an outspoken conservative evangelical commentator, was speaking as he opened a four-day conference in Washington to draw attention to the suffering of the persecuted Church, according to Religion News Service.

'It is safe to say over than 100,000 a year are killed because of their faith in Christ. In the last 10 years that would be close to a million people. It's the equivalent of a Christian genocide,' he said.

'I am sure the number of Christians who are in prison or martyred each year would stagger our mind if we really knew what the total number really was. And it would send us to our knees in sorrow and in prayer.'

It isn't clear what Graham's figures – which the conference called a conservative estimate –are based on.

Open Doors, which also advocates for the persecuted Church, estimates that about 4,000 are annually killed for their faith.

'In the name of tolerance, Christians are often treated with intolerance because they stand for moral purity and they stand for God's truth. In the name of patriotism, Christians are often treated as unpatriotic because they follow a higher authority, almighty God,' Graham told his audience at the World Summit in Defense of Christians.

Graham highlighted the spectre of global persecution as well as the 'threat' of militant Islam to the Church.

Around 600 people from 136 countries have gathered for the conference, which draws delegates from regions of persecution such as Egypt, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, South Sudan and the Central African Republic. On Thursday the assembly will host US Vice President Mike Pence.

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Franklin Graham Disagrees With Pope Over Islamic Terror

By Bob Unruh
World Net Daily

Franklin Graham, who heads up the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the Samaritan’s Purse relief charity, has rebuked Pope Francis for saying that while the world is at war, the conflict has nothing to do with religion.

“It most certainly is a war of religion,” Graham said in a posting on Facebook.

CNN reported Francis said the world “is at war because it has lost peace.  There is a war of interest, there is a war for money, a war for natural resources, a war to dominate people. Some might think it is a war of religion. It is not,” he said. “All religions want peace. Others want war,” the pope claimed.

His statements came shortly after Islamic jihadists killed a Catholic priest in France.

Graham said: “I agree that the world is at war – but I disagree that it’s not a war of religion. It is most certainly a war of religion.” He said religion “is behind the violence and jihad we’re seeing in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and here in this country.”

 “It’s a religion that calls for the extermination of ‘infidels’ outside their faith, specifically Jews and Christians. It’s a religion that calls on its soldiers to shout ‘allahu akbar’ [“Allah is supreme” in Arabic] as they behead, rape, and murder in the name of Islam. Radical Islamists are following the teachings of the Quran,” he wrote. We should call it what it is.”

Some Catholics don’t agree with their leader.

Religion News Service reported U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a former Vatican official who is based in Rome, said last month that Islam “wants to govern the world” and Americans must decide if they are going to reassert “the Christian origin of our own nation” to avoid submission to Muslim rule.

WND reported Graham recently called out President Obama for refusing to recognize and acknowledge the threat from Islamic radicalism and terrorism.

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