After the U.S. House passed the Equality Act on Thursday, Evangelist Franklin Graham urged Christians to take action and express their disapproval on making the legislation into law.
In his Facebook post, reacting to a Fox News article covering the issue, Graham encouraged the Christians to pray and show their objection of the bill's enactment in Senate.
"It is imperative that we pray and let our senators and President Biden know that you do not support the Equality Act and that you are asking them to vote NO," he said.
Further, he warned about the bill's dangerous implications to society in his letter, published Feb. 26 in Decision Magazine.
"I am writing to you about a very dangerous piece of legislation-the Equality Act. The Biden Administration has said they want to pass this within their first 100 days. I cannot say this more emphatically-for people, for businesses, and for ministries of faith, the Equality Act is a threat to life as we know it in our nation today. It's a real game-changer," he began.
He repeated his request to Christians of contacting the lawmakers, showing their opposition to the bill. Then, he detailed some of the legislation's harmful consequences to various areas of society.
First, he said that the bill would regard churches, schools and hospitals as "public accommodations." Thus, these institutions would be enforced to accept the government's rules on gender identity and sexual orientation. In this manner, misgendering and deadnaming would constitute punishment.
Second, it would allow transgender women to join the sports for women, as well as men's intrusion into areas designated for women, such as locker rooms, shelters and prisons. It would also mandate or encourage schools to instruct children, as young as first graders, to choose their own genders.
Third, the legislation would strip the rights of organizations across the country to hire people with their shared beliefs. Christian organizations would be regulated to employ regardless of a person's gender identity or belief.
Fourth, it would strip health professionals with the right to act in accordance with their moral convictions. This would enforce Christian medical professionals to engage in gender transition treatments, against their belief.
Finally, violation of the bill would allow the government to cut its support to religious universities receiving federal funding. This would also essentially impact federal grants and loans to students in religious schools.
The evangelist closed his statement with a passionate plea, urging the Christians to pray and take action against the legislation's enactment into law.
"People of faith need to PRAY. Churches need to recognize the significance of this and pray corporately, asking for God's intervention and mercy to extend the religious freedoms we have been blessed with for so long," Graham said.
"We also must get to work now, in these fleeting days before the Equality Act comes up for a vote again. As individuals, churches, and organizations, we need to let our representatives in the U.S. House and Senate know how important this is to us, and that we are asking them to vote an emphatic NO to the Equality Act," he concluded.
Three Republicans sided with the Democrats in passing the legislation, with 224-206 vote. GOP Representatives John Katko, Tom Reed and Brian Fitzpatrick voted in favor of the bill. They also voted for it when the bill was passed by the House in June 2019, but was blocked in Senate which was then controlled by Republicans.
