George,

Rev. Franklin Graham, son of the renowned evangelist Billy Graham, during a televised interview with CNN's John King that aired last Thursday, pontificated a lukewarm quasi-endorsement of President Obama's Christian faith. His wavering comments came on the heels of a Pew Research Center poll that indicated nearly one in every five Americans - 18% - believe Obama is a Muslim. Some pollsters indicated that African-Americans believe the same thing about Obama's faith. In a poll conducted by this writer 99% of African Americans believe that he is a Christian. That same percentage believe that Louis Farrakhan is a Muslim.

When I listened to that interview and observed Graham's physicality, his gestures and facial expressions, I got a gut feeling that he was one of those ones in the fives who believes that Obama is a Muslim. Listen to what he said, "I think that the president's probem is that he was born a Muslim, his faher was a Muslim. The seed of Islam is passed through the father like the seed of Judaism is passed through the mother. He was born a Muslim, his father gave him his Islam name. Now it is obvious that he has renounced the Prophet Mohammed, and had renounced Islam, and accepted Jesus Christ. That's what he says he has done. I cannot say that he hasn't."

Would Franklin say his father was born a Christian? Or, "He accepted Jesus Christ," and add, "That's what he says he has done. I cannot say he hasn't?" No, he would not. Doubt! Doubt! Doubt! is what I hear.

Although Franklin Graham was present when Obama visited with Billy Graham on April 25, 2010, I believe, primarily, in order to maintain the continuity of Billy Graham meeting with each president since he first met with President Harry S. Truman in 1950, I wonder if what Truman said after that meeting could be appropriately said of his son's meeting and praying with Obama. Truman called senior Graham a "counterfeit publicity seeker."

When Jesus said to the Pharisee ruler Nicodemus, "You must be born again," he was not referring to culture or religion. He and Nicodemus understood that Jesus was saying that your first birth was a matter of having been delivered from a mother's womb, and that prompted Nicodemus to ask Jesus: "How can a man be born when he is old?" Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?" (John 3:4). Jesus told him that being "born again" is a spiritual birth, not a birth of the flesh.

Obama was not born a Muslim any more than Grahmn was born a Christian. He and Al Capone, (Alplonse Gabriel), both born in America, but neither one a Christian. This is the case, despite the rhetoric on the part of some Americans who declare that "America is a Christian nation." That is not true. It is not biblically or theologically accurate.

Graham's "lukewarm quasi-endosement" of Obama's Chistian faith elicits a strong reaction from this writer in the vein of the response that a God-sent angel delivered to one of the seven churches in Asia, the church called Laodicea: "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So because you are LUKEWARM, neither cold or hot, I will spue (spit) you out of my mouth" (Rev. 3:15-16).

This writer accepts Obama's confession that he is a Christian. Before Obama was elected president he was a member of the 8,500-member integrated Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago of which Rev. Jeremiah Wright was the pastor. During that presidential campaign Rev.Wright was demonized by the media in an attempt to defeat Obama's chance of being elected president. I, a Christian minister myself, have heard, in person, Rev. Wright preach. He is a Christian minister who has delivered Christian mesasges at any number of Christian institutions. Obama, like his wife and other members of Trinity were Christians. In order to not allow his membership in that church to derail his chance to become president, he terminatd his membership at Trinity United Church of Christ.

Leaving a church does not 'dechristanize' a Christian. Since being president, on numerous occasions, Obama has testified of his having accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior. During his presidential inauguration he had the Rev. Rick Warrren, pastor of the Saddlleback Church in California and a best-selling author, to deliver a prayer. Obama took his oath on a Christian Bible, I believe it was the same Bible Abraham Lincoln took the oath on when he was inaugurated president. He did not take his oath on a Muslim Koran. However, he had a constitutional right to have done that had he chose to do so. Had he done that it is hard to imagine the outrage that would have swept across America. It would have been much greater than the current outrage over buiding a Muslim mosque near Ground Zero. Obama did not have a Muslim to give a prayer at his inauguration. And even though he met with Billy Graham, he has not had a private meeting with a Muslim Imam. I ask what more must Obama do to prove that he is a Christian? Of couse, if he was crucified like Jesus, that would not please his adversaries, especially those who contend that he is a Muslim.

Let me reiterate, my message for Franklin Graham is the same as the message God's angel delivered to the Church of Laodicea: "Because you are lukewrm, neither cold or hot, I will spue you out of my mouth." Franklin, I challenge, or simply request, that you deliver a clear statement regarding whether or not you believe Obama is a Christian with the clarity that Rev. Dr. Robert H. Schuller and Rev. Al Sharpton would, if they were interviewed by CNN's John King.

Personally, I have no hesitation or reservation about acknowledging that Obama is a Christian. His living is a superb example of what a Christian is called to be. In my view, he is a Christian par excellence.

Uriah J. Fields (August 21, 2010)