Dear Rev. Graham: If the Tax Cut is So Good for Churches, Then Why is Giving Down?

On the November 21 edition of the Eric Metaxas Show, Metaxas interviewed Franklin Graham and the two literally demonized Trump’s opponents. Watch:

Graham first suggested an “almost demonic power” is behind opposition to Donald Trump. Metaxas interrupted to say that such opposition is demonic and the product of a spiritual battle. I could talk for paragraphs about this idolatry, but I will refer you instead to a tremendous article by Peter Wehner in The Atlantic out today. Wehner deftly makes the point that Graham and Metaxas degrade political and religious discourse with their demonization of opponents. Instead of disagreement with contrasting ideas, we have damnation of an opponent’s character.

Did Trump Raise the Economy from the Dead?

And speaking of ideas, Metaxas and Graham threw out a couple I want to address. Metaxas first declared that “literally three years ago the economy was dead in the water” and then agreed with Graham that now it is “screaming forward. That’s a fact.” But is it a fact?

The economy is pretty good by some measures. However, as I pointed out on Twitter yesterday, it wasn’t dead in the water when Trump took over.  In his The Atlantic piece, Wehner expanded on this today.

At the same time, economic growth under Trump has been so-so. GDP growth—which, under Trump will not reach even 3 percent during his first three years in office—is decelerating. The deficit has exploded. The manufacturing industry is in recession. And job growth during the last 33 months of the Obama presidency was higher than job growth during the first 33 months of the Trump presidency.

A good analysis of before and now was done by Heather Long who examined 15 indicators during the Obama years and the Trump administration up to the present. No, Eric, the economy was not dead in the water. Your Dear Leader hasn’t completely tanked it yet, but he had a healthy starting point.

Do Big Tax Cuts Lead to Big Tithes?

After Metaxas’ incomplete economic analysis, Graham suggested that the good economy has a special benefit for churches and Christians. As the leader of two huge nonprofit ministries with somewhere around a million in salary per year, this is something Graham surely knows about. Graham said more people are working so more people are tithing. Graham attributed the economic growth to the tax cut.

However, are religious contributions up since the tax cut? The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was signed into law on December 22, 2017. Many provisions went into effect in 2018. Was there an immediate impact on religious giving?

According to the Nonprofit Quarterly, “giving to religion is estimated to have declined by 1.5% (a decrease of 3.9% adjusted for inflation).” Specifically in conservative churches, nearly half of churches in a Lifeway 2019 poll saw their giving decline or remain the same from 2017 to 2018. The tax law increased the standard deduction so many people may not have donated as much because they didn’t get a deduction for reporting it. Some may be saving up deductions for the 2019 tax year so the immediate effect won’t be known for awhile. However, there was no immediate obvious bump up in religious giving.

Furthermore, in Graham’s own Samaritan’s Purse ministry, giving was down significantly in 2018. Giving in 2018 was down $88.5-million which represents an 11% decline in giving over 2017.

So in short, opponents aren’t demons and perhaps things aren’t as good economically as Dear Leader and his followers suggest.

 

Samaritan's Purse Loses Erick Erickson's Recommendation

If Erickson has given up on Samaritan’s Purse, Franklin Graham should start to worry that his unwavering support for Trump will hurt his bread and butter.

Scroll down for a satirical look at Franklin Graham’s defense of Trump.
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Erick Erickson is a conservative pundit who is an evangelical Christian. If Erickson has given up on Samaritan’s Purse, Franklin Graham should start to worry that his unwavering support for Trump will hurt his bread and butter. After watching Graham’s defense of Trump’s morality in the face of Trump’s deceptions, Erickson has had enough.


When Bill Clinton was president, Christian leaders expressed so much concern about the corrosive effect of Clinton’s immoral behavior on theTrump court evangelical pic morals of the nation. Now, Trump’s behavior is rationalized or denied.
Many people commenting on Erickson’s tweet agree but some don’t. There are many reasons to consider another charity. Franklin’s excessive salary ($800k or so) is a good reason. Franklin spends a lot of time on political commentary which is ultimately underwritten and associated with his non-profit ministry.
If you have some extra funds to donate, I suggest your local food pantry.
 
 
A satirical look at Graham’s reaction to Trump. This is satire.
 

Graham: Trump Isn’t the Same Person as Five Minutes Ago
Boone, NC – Son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, Franklin Graham yesterday brushed off reports from the Wall Street Journal claiming that President Trump had an affair with porn actress Stormy Daniels and then covered it up with payment of hush money during the 2016 campaign. He said President Trump wasn’t the same man today he was a couple of days ago.
“He is constantly changing,” the evangelist said. “President Trump, at 70 years of age, is a much different man than he was last week or even five minutes ago. God isn’t finished with him yet.”
“I am sure he isn’t done changing. I don’t think anyone but God knows what’s coming next,” said the famous preacher.
Graham said even if the charges leveled by the WSJ are true, Trump isn’t the pastor of the nation and shouldn’t be held to the same standard as evangelicals have held other politicians.
Graham asserted that America has a sin problem and no one has a grasp on that problem like President Trump. He said Trump uses his own resources to address the problem head on and used the Stormy Daniels situation as an illustration. Graham explained, “In Donald Trump, we have a president who isn’t afraid to put his money where his mouth was.”

Franklin Graham's Salary is Again in Media Spotlight

The Charlotte Observer on Saturday posted an article about Franklin Graham’s salary from his two organizations the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse. The bottom line is that Graham makes a lot more than executives who run much larger organizations.
In 2010, Graham took no salary from BGEA but began receiving salary from BGEA again in 2011. Now, he is at almost $900k from both non-profits.
In 2009, Graham said his compensation “looks terrible” because it was so high. After getting kudos for taking a self-imposed reduction, he now is closing in on that terrible zone again.