The Other Reason for Cutting Franklin Graham from Pentagon Event

While all the reports about Franklin Graham being cut from the Pentagon's National Day of Prayer event are focusing exclusively on Graham's anti-Muslim statements as the reason his appearance was cancelled, there is actually a second and equally important reason that he should never have been invited in the first place. Even if Graham had never uttered a single disparaging word against the religion of Islam, his invitation would still have been in violation of several Department of Defense regulations. As explained in the Military Religious Freedom Foundation's (MRFF) letter to the Secretary of Defense demanding that Graham be disinvited, the affiliation of the Pentagon's NDP event with Shirley Dobson's National Day of Prayer Task Force was in violation of the regulations that strictly prohibit the U.S. military from such endorsements or preferential treatment of a private organization, or "non-federal entity," regulations which apply across the board to both religious and non-religious organizations, as well as commercial entities.

As stated in MRFF's letter:

"MRFF also strongly objects in the most fervent magnitude to the Constitutionally noxious affiliation of the Pentagon's National Day of Prayer event with the National Day of Prayer Task Force (NDPTF). This illegal affiliation violates the Joint Ethics Regulation (DoD 5500.7-R) regarding the strictly prohibited endorsement of a non-federal entity (Section 3-209), and DoD Instruction 5410.19, which, likewise, prohibits the providing of a selective benefit or preferential treatment to any organization (Sections 6.7.1 and 6.7.2).

"By making it a regular practice to have the NDPTF's honorary chairman, who this year is Franklin Graham, as the designated keynote speaker for the Pentagon's event, and by using the promotional materials supplied by the NDPTF, the Pentagon Chaplains Office has clearly turned the Pentagon's event into an official NDPTF event. No other interpretation is reasonable, rational, or possible."

MRFF was already working on addressing another National Day of Prayer issue when we were contacted by the members of the Muslim worship community at the Pentagon requesting our help regarding Franklin Graham. This other issue is the scheduled participation of military personnel (i.e., military color guards and military bands) in other official NDPTF events across the country. This participation is not only in violation of the same military regulations cited above regarding non-federal entities, but DoD and individual service branch regulations on uniform wear.

And, of course, there's also that pesky constitutional issue of the military's endorsement of a particular religion by participating in NDPTF events. The NDPTF's message is very clear -- no non-Christians need apply.

NDPTF event coordinators must also agree, by subscribing to the following statement, to restrict any participation beyond simply attending an event to Christians only.

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/4/23/15141/3801

Thanks for the thread, Joanne.