The Other Reason for Cutting Graham from Pentagon Event Which Was Equally Important:

[Are_grits_groceries]

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."
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To begin with, all NDPTF volunteers must subscribe to the following "Statement of Belief," a statement which excludes all non-Christians and non-religious, and even many Christians.

"I believe that the Holy Bible is the inerrant Word of The Living God. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only One by which I can obtain salvation and have an ongoing relationship with God. I believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, his virgin birth, his sinless life, his miracles, the atoning work of his shed blood, his resurrection and ascension, his intercession and his coming return to power and glory. I believe that those who follow Jesus are family and there should be unity among all who claim his name."
More at: http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/4/23/15141/3801

The Pentagon and the DoD need to get out of the promotion of religion. This reason should be broadcast far and wide because the "Islam is evil" remark is drawing all the attention. That focuses more hate on the important but smaller component of the larger issue which needs to be noted as well.