Rev. Graham: Islam Is Not Compatible With American Values

Noting how Islamic law, sharia, contrasts with the U.S. Constitution and how women are treated under sharia, Rev. Franklin Graham said he did not believe that Islam is compatible with American values, and added that all immigration should halt “until we have a proper system to vet people.”

On CNN’s Newsroom on Dec. 15, host Carol Costello asked Rev. Graham, “Is Islam compatible with American values?”

Reverend Graham, son of world-renowned evangelist Billy Graham, said, “I don’t think so.”

When Costello remarked that Muslims claim such “rhetoric” is “hurting them,” Graham responded, “Well, you asked me a question and I answered you. But I don’t go out and preach against Islam. I don’t go out and preach against Muslims. I don’t. And I certainly welcome them.”

“But our Constitution certainly, the way we treat women, the way we treat all people – Islam doesn’t do that under sharia law,” he said.

Costello then claimed one could say the same about “Catholicism,” and moved on to ask about Donald Trump’s proposal to monitor radical mosques in the United States.

“Let me play Devil’s advocate just a little longer,” said Costello.  “Donald Trump thinks that some mosques should be shut down. Do you agree with that?”

Rev. Graham said, “Well, I don’t know, I haven’t heard what Donald Trump has said. I know that in France they have certainly shut down some mosques that were preaching hatred and violence against the people in France, so the French government has shut down some mosques. I don’t know how many it is, but I know they have done it there.”

Costello then asked, “Does that mean we should do it here?”

The reverend answered, “We might have to at some point. I don’t know. We need – our country’s broken right now, our borders are broken. We need to get it fixed. We need to get immigration fixed. We need to know who’s coming in to this country.”

“We can’t just open up our arms and just say ‘everybody come,’ because there’s people out there that want to destroy our nation, and want to destroy you and our way of life,” said Rev. Graham. “We have a responsibility, our government, the president, our Congress has a responsibility to protect all Americans.”

Franklin Graham is the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and also runs the international Christian aid group Samaritan’s Purse, which is working with refugees from the Middle East.

In relation to that work, earlier in the interview on CNN, Rev. Graham said, “I don’t believe in banning Muslims from coming [here], I think we should put a halt on immigration because our borders are broken, until we have a proper system to vet people. All immigration, but especially people – all people but especially those coming from the Middle East right now.”

“Carol, I’m working  in Greece,” said the reverend.  “We have people on the islands. As people [refugees] come out of those little rubber boats, I have people there helping them. They’re not just Syrian [refugees]. They’re Syrian, Iraqi, they’re also Iranians, they’re also Afghans coming into Greece.”

“We see a lot of families and, no question, they are fleeing for their life,” said Rev. Graham.  “They’re wanting a better life. But we see a lot of young men, who are military age, by themselves, coming in that way as well. And we don’t know who these people are and there needs to be some proper way to vet them.”

“So, I think we should be putting a halt on any immigration from that part of the world until our government has a system in place where we can vet them,” he said.