Christian Evangelical leader Franklin Graham, son of the late friend-to-presidents evangelist Billy Graham, said he felt sad not to feel sad about the United States Women’s National soccer team losing to Sweden in the World Cup this week.
Though he “used to pull for our women’s soccer team,” Graham said he had to agree with former President Donald Trump that the “woke” women on the team deserved to lose.
Trump, as shown in the post below, taunted star player and LGBTQ activist Megan Rapinoe after the loss, and said the “USA is going to hell.”
The former President called the loss “emblematic” of what he alleges to be the decline of “our once great nation.” (Trump did not cite specific evidence of the decline of the U.S., whose citizens currently enjoy record employment and individual freedoms that are the envy of the world.)
Graham’s lament was not as spiteful as Trump’s — in that the preacher did not single out any individual team members to taunt for their failures. But Graham did say he agreed with Trump’s overall stance that the team exemplified a “woke” attitude and that, as Trump put it, “Woke Equals Failure.”
“I wish I didn’t feel that way,” Graham wrote about his satisfaction over the American women losing, “but when players think it is more about them than the nation they represent, I can’t support that. I agree with former President Trump who said about the team: ‘WOKE EQUALS FAILURE.’”
The US Women’s National Soccer Team lost to Sweden yesterday at the 2023 Women's World Cup. I used to pull for our women’s soccer team, but recently they have shown disrespect for the US & have used their platform to promote the LGBTQ agenda. When they lost, I wasn’t sad. I wish…
— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) August 7, 2023
While many Christians believe the idea of “woke” accurately channels and reflects the teachings of Jesus, MAGA adherents have characterized “woke” as the opposite. Instead of representing an enhanced understanding and empathy, “woke” to MAGA signifies a perilous perversion of the straight and narrow.
Not all Christians agree with Graham and MAGA on the deviltry of wokeness.
Here is a take on the wokeness of Christ by Bakersfield, CA reader Howard Acosta: “One only need to recollect the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Woman at the Well or the Healing of the Roman Centurion’s Pais to support that Jesus’ actions were woke — not to forget, Him being too inclusive was one of the many reasons, among several, for why He was murdered.”
But Graham’s brand of Christianity characterizes woke as evil, even if the Merriam-Webster definition — being “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues especially of racial and social justice” — seems more anodyne than satanic.
I recently spoke with @BethBrelje about “wokeism” in the church. Read our conversation here… https://t.co/paI2mM5gNG
— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) August 7, 2023
On the same day Graham slammed the U.S. Women’s soccer team for being a “woke failure,” Graham said in an interview with the controversial Epoch Times that the woke are sinners and enablers of sin.
“Wokeism is trying to accommodate sin,” Graham said, “and make people feel good about their sin.”
If Trump would have the “woke” U.S. women’s soccer team — like the rest of the USA — “going to hell” presently (and figuratively) here on earth, Graham’s equating of wokeism with sin places these young athletes on a path toward eternal damnation as well — in Graham’s theology.
Other politicians had a different take on the U.S. women’s efforts. Joe Biden thought they did the U.S. proud.
.@USWNT, you’ve made your country proud.
— President Biden (@POTUS) August 6, 2023
Congratulations on an incredible run. This team is something special and I’m looking forward to seeing how you continue to inspire Americans with your grit and determination – on and off the field. https://t.co/XWitTB3Gl4
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