OT: R.I.P. Rev. Billy Graham

[Bruce K]

Iconic American figure.

99 years old.

BK

[tv_vt]

I know where this is going to go.

Can we just lock this now, please?

[HenryA]

Originally Posted by tv_vt

I know where this is going to go.

Can we just lock this now, please?

How about just keep it dignified?

[ergott]

Originally Posted by HenryA

How about just keep it dignified?

Religion and politics all wrapped up in one person?

Not gonna happen.

[fa63]

Originally Posted by ergott

Religion and politics all wrapped up in one person?

Not gonna happen.

[miksibis]

yep. so many touchy subjects in one. this should go off the rails quickly.

[Bentley]

We should be able to be civil. One of the great things about being American and living in America is the diversity we enjoy. We don’t have to agree on anything but we can just acknowledge a life that was lived.

RIP Rev. Graham

[Chris]

Not religious, but I appreciate how he lived his life with dignity. R.I.P.

And...in before the lock.

[makoti]

I saw that. Not a fan. Still, one death diminishes us all.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by makoti

I saw that. Not a fan. Still, one death diminishes us all.

I don’t really agree...dying is part of living and BG did it the way he saw it so I’m guessing he was content. Not religious in any way but sure Rest In Peace. A meaningless death after a meaningless life is sad.

[GOTHBROOKS]

bye bye to the tiniest part of americas toxicity.

[johnniecakes]

RIP to a great American who contributed far more than he took. His influence will be sorely missed.

[FlashUNC]

A complicated figure, if one were inclined to give a charitable reading to his legacy.

An early champion of Civil Rights, but you can draw the through line from him directly to the televangelists of today who prey upon the elderly and the gullible. Encouraged inclusivity and understanding your fellow man, but advocated to Richard Nixon a bombing campaign in North Vietnam that could have killed as many as 1 million North Vietnamese at the height of the Vietnam war. Then there's the anti-Semitism, general misogyny, and Billy Graham Parkway is the worst road in Charlotte by a country mile.

But hey, in before the lock?

[bking]

At the level of the individual, who is not "complicated"? He lived through perhaps the most difficult times of our nations history. People say he went too far, and that he didn't go far enough. But go he did as he saw right to go; and too few of us even try.

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by bking

At the level of the individual, who is not "complicated"? He lived through perhaps the most difficult times of our nations history. People say he went too far, and that he didn't go far enough. But go he did as he saw right to go; and too few of us even try.

My less charitable reading is he was a media savvy and attention seeking carnival barker peddling a brand of Southern Protestantism that was and is a gross warping of the ideals set forth in the religion he espoused the world over; with a legacy of an army of Joel Osteens and TD Jakes doing a dimestore version of his brand of televangelism, getting rich off the backs of rubes. Oh, and a son who's an unrepentant, xenophobic bigot further poisoning the well of brotherhood and acceptance that's the bedrock of the religion the family has made a fortune from.

Complicated felt a bit more polite.