Franklin Graham to deliver prayer at Donald Trump's inauguration

Jardine Malado Friday, December 30, 2016

Franklin Graham is among the six faith leaders who were chosen to pray and offer readings at the inauguration of Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20.

Franklin Graham is seen here in a screen capture of a video from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. | YouTube/Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

The Presidential Inaugural committee announced on Wednesday that Graham, along with Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Rabbi Martin Hier, Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, and Pastor Paula White will offer the invocation, benediction, and readings at the inauguration, The Charlotte Observer reported.

Graham had delivered a prayer at the inauguration of George W. Bush in 2001. He came under fire for mentioning the name of Jesus Christ during his prayer.

Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz argued that Graham excluded people of other faiths by "invoking 'the Father, the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ' and 'the Holy Spirit.'"

The North Carolina evangelist traveled around the country this year on his Decision America tour to encourage Christians to vote for leaders based on biblical values. He did not endorse Trump during the campaign period but was present at the president-elect's "Thank You" rally in Mobile, Alabama, last week. He told the crowd that he believed that Trump won because of God's intervention.

"I don't have any scientific information. I don't have a stack of emails to read to you. But I have an opinion: I believe it was God. God showed up. He answered the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people across this land who had been praying for this country," Graham said, according to Washington Examiner.

Trump said at the rally that Graham and the evangelicals were instrumental in his victory.

Some of the members of the clergy who were chosen to pray at the inauguration had expressed their opposition to some of Trump's proposed policies.

Dolan, the leader of Catholic archdiocese in New York, agrees with the president-elect's views on abortion, but he has criticized Trump's stance on immigration. Rodriguez, the founder of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, also opposed Trump's rhetoric about immigrants. Hier, the founder of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, denounced Trump's proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the U.S.