WASHINGTON,
DC (ANS)- The Stars and Stripes (http://www.stripes.com)
is reporting that the U.S. Army has disinvited Franklin Graham to speak at the
Pentagon on National Prayer Day after a military advocacy group objected
because Graham has reportedly described Islam as “evil” and
“wicked.”

“I regret that the Army felt it
was necessary to rescind their invitation to the National Day of Prayer Task
Force to participate in the Pentagon’s special prayer service,” Graham
said in a statement on Thursday.

“I want to express my strong
support for the United States military and all our troops. I will continue to
pray that God will give them guidance, wisdom and protection as they serve this
great country.”

Graham was expected to speak at the
Pentagon on May 6, 2010, drawing the ire of the Military Religious Freedom
Foundation, a watchdog group focused on religious favoritism in the military.

In a story written by reporter Jeff
Schogol for the Stars and Stripes, which describes itself as “The
Independent News Source for the U.S. Military Community,” said that the
Military Religious Freedom Foundation had been prepared to seek a temporary
restraining order against National Prayer Day if it were “polluted by
someone as hideously Islamophobic as Franklin Graham,” said Mikey
Weinstein, head of the group.

Schogol said that in a 2001 op-ed
piece, Graham wrote that he does not believe Muslims are evil, but he objects
to the treatment of women in Muslim countries and Islam’s historic
“persecution or elimination” of other religions.

Today (Thursday, April 22, 2010),
Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham, told Fox News that while
he loves Muslims, “I speak out for people that live under Islam, that are
enslaved by Islam and I want them to know they can be free through faith in
Jesus Christ and Christ alone.”

The story said that Council on
American Islamic Relations spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said it is “completely
inappropriate” for Graham to speak in front of a military audience.

“These are individuals who are
potentially going to be stationed in Muslim majority nations, and they don’t
need to hear from someone spreading hatred of Islam and Muslims,” Hooper
said.

“What does that say to those
who are going to be asked to serve in these regions and how is that going to
affect their interaction with the local population?” Graham is honorary
chairman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, a group that organizes
Christian events that was invited to participate in National Day of Prayer by
the Pentagon chaplain’s office.

An Army spokesman told the
Associated Press the Pentagon’s relationship with the Christian group does not
violate Defense Department rules.

“We are an all-inclusive
military,” said Col. Tim Collins. “We hold observances throughout the
year. This one happens to be a Christian-themed event.”

But, said the reporter, his comments
were criticized by the Secular Coalition for America, an advocacy for
non-religious Americans.

“For the Pentagon to hold an
explicitly ‘Christian-themed event’ around the day of prayer is brazenly out of
all reasonable bounds, and explicitly exclusionary to U.S. service members of
all non-Christian faiths and of no faith,” group Executive Director Sean
Faircloth said in a release.

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About Dan Wooding

Dan Wooding is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 46 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST
(Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service
(ANS).

Wooding was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC., and now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California and which is also carried on the Calvary Radio Network throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK. Wooding also a regular contributor to The Weekend Stand on the Crawford Broadcasting Network, and a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries. He is the author of some 43 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books.

To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, also recently released “God’s Ambassadors in Japan” which is available at amazon.com.

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