Pentagon draws fire for preacher engagement
The Bush administration has scored an apparent own goal in its effort to win the hearts and minds of the Arab world.
Muslims in the US are outraged that evangelist Reverend Franklin Graham will be preaching on Good Friday to the Defence Department. Graham stirred controversy in 2001 when he called Islam a �very evil and wicked religion.�
Muslim employees at the Pentagon have urged officials to find a �more
US President George W. Bush has been trying to show that he is not anti-Islam
inclusive and honourable� religious leader to replace Graham.
Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Yantis, spokesperson at the Pentagon told Reuters that Graham had been invited several months ago to deliver the Good Friday service, and that the invitation would not be rescinded.
�We are in a balancing act between accommodating the interests and requests of many faiths and we will do our utmost to keep that balance in mind in providing religious support to workers in the Pentagon,� said Yantis.
Spokesperson for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, Ibrahim Hooper said that inviting Graham to the prayer service �sends entirely the wrong message to the Muslim and Arab world that the Pentagon will host someone who has such Islamophobic views.� Hooper stressed concern over the perception that this will give people around the world. �This kind of incident can undo any kind of bridges built by a hundred public affairs officers at the Pentagon,� he said.
In any case, the criticism from Muslims at the Pentagon is an embarrassing incident for the Bush administration that has strived to portray an image to Arab nations and Muslims around the world that the United States is not at war with Islam.
However, the Graham family, although highly feted within the Christian-right wing and among American Zionist groups, is no stranger to controversy.
In released audio tapes of late president Richard Nixon, Graham�s father, Reverend Billy Graham is heard making anti-Jewish remarks to the president. He said that Jews have a �stranglehold� on American media and that it must be broken, �or the country�s going down the drain.� He added that his Jewish friends �swarm� around him, but �they don�t know how I really feel about what they�re doing to this country,� Graham said.
Reverend Franklin Graham�s relief organisation-Samaritan�s Purse, has also been the source of further controversy. It is accused of using the crisis in Iraq as a means to convert Muslims to Christianity rather than solely providing physical assistance.
In a recent opinion column written by Graham in the Los Angeles Times, Graham states, �In Iraq, as is the case wherever we work, Samaritan�s Purse will offer physical assistance to those who need it with no strings attached.�
�Sometimes the best preaching we can do is simply being there with a cup of cold water, exhibiting Christ�s spirit of serving others,� Graham wrote. -- Al Jazeera and agencies
