They say one should not speak ill of the dead...

[Mamorien]

...but I have trouble keeping silent. All I can honestly do is not pollute the cursed thread with my jaundiced mutterings.

Another main of faith has passed on:  https://apnews.com/ea6f9efdc7544a6dab337690c5849bfc

Regardless of his politics and his stance of many social issues, the Reverend Graham did care for people.  May he rest in peace and enjoy his heavenly reward.

Rev. Billy Graham was a desegregationist in the South before it was legally required - that's enough to earn my respect.

More information: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/billy-graha...-1.4544809

I'm under-inclined to let that excuse his howling antisemitism, about which our memories are refreshed here:

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/po...sm-legacy/

He got too close to Richard Nixon and too eagerly joined the pile of history’s yard waste that was that worthy’s career. It was a marvelous environment for bigotry and Graham let his freak flag fly.

Again, from the Times: 

"Mr. Graham’s image was tainted in 2002 with the release of audiotapes that Nixon had secretly recorded in the White House three decades earlier. The two men were heard agreeing that liberal Jews controlled the media and were responsible for pornography.
"'A lot of the Jews are great friends of mine,' Mr. Graham said at one point on the tapes. 'They swarm around me and are friendly to me because they know that I’m friendly with Israel. But they don’t know how I really feel about what they are doing to this country.'"

Read the whole thing, I say.

[robkelk]

First, please do not confuse "respect" with either "admiration" or "liking."

Second, please do not forget that Nixon was his era's Trump - disagree with him to his face and you'd lose any possible influence you had.