BILLY GRAHAM MISSION IN SAN DIEGO
I talked with Kirk this afternoon and he said that he went to one of the Billy Graham meetings. His first comment was that it seemed a little heavy on patriotism. They sang patriotic songs and at one point Michael W. Smith was running across the platform waving the flag. In an era when Christianity and American patriotism are so often confused it seems less than wise to be punching that button at a meeting where the goal is to get people to make a commitment to Christ. The subtle (or maybe not-so-subtle) message is that if you're going to follow Christ you've got to be a hyper-patriot. Obviously with such a strong military presence in the area patriotism is a big deal. But the city is also home to a large international community that isn't going to relate to the flag-waving. And when you consider that it is right on the Mexican border and that there is a large Mexican population... For a lot of reasons this kind of syncretism seems inappropriate.