Graham family responds to global crackdown on Christians with $1.3M defense fund and urgent call to action

UNIQUE As Christians around the world face mounting legal and cultural threats for expressing their faith the Graham family is stepping up efforts to defend freedom of speech and religion through both financial endorsement and citizens advocacy The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association BGEA has launched a new million legal defense fund to assist Christians and churches across Europe who are being taken to court over their biblical beliefs At the same time Cissie Graham Lynch daughter of Franklin Graham and granddaughter of the late Rev Billy Graham is urging believers not to stay silent in the face of growing hostility including in the United States We preach a message of God s love but when a small group of activists in the U K called it hate we were cancelled Franklin Graham informed Fox News Digital Our advertisements were removed from buses and venues dropped our events We stood our ground and challenged the decisions in court Though it took seven years all nine legal disputes were resolved in our favor 'EVANGELICALS FOR HARRIS' APOLOGIZES AFTER USING BILLY GRAHAM IN POLITICAL ADSFollowing those victories BGEA created the Billy Graham Defense Fund seeded with approximately from court settlements Samaritan s Purse which Graham also leads contributed an additional bringing the total to million or about million We took the damages that we won through BGEA s court cases in the U K and put those funds into the Billy Graham Defense Fund a new war chest to help other Christians in Europe who are threatened or intimidated into silence and not expressing their faith Graham mentioned But the issue he added is not confined to other countries The silencing of Christians isn t just happening in other countries he revealed BGEA and Samaritan s Purse have also been involved in plenty of different legal cases that affect the freedom of believers to live out their faith here in the U S FRANKLIN GRAHAM MEETS WITH ZELENSKYY IN BERLIN OFFERS PRAYER AS RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR ESCALATESBetween and BGEA and Samaritan s Purse filed amicus briefs in religious liberty cases including Coach Joe Kennedy Jack Phillips and Baronelle Stutzman all of which were heard by the U S Supreme Court We want Americans who are standing up for biblical beliefs in court to know that we are with them they are not alone in this fight Graham announced We must work to preserve the right to proclaim the Gospel here in the U S and in the U K so that we can continue to share the hope of Jesus Christ around the world There is no human liberty more precious and essential than the freedom of speech and religion Cissie Graham Lynch reported she hopes the Defense Fund serves as a practical and symbolic source of strength for believers facing residents pressure and legal retaliation You could be canceled for speaking the truth You may be called names she stated But every time you choose to fight that fight you help build a stronger foundation for other people of faith to stand on There is no human liberty more precious and central than the freedom of speech and religion she added We must work to preserve the right to proclaim the Gospel here in the U S and in the U K because the stakes are far too high to stay silent Lynch shared a series of interviews exclusively with Fox News Digital recorded during the European Congress on Evangelism a Berlin gathering hosted by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association The event brought together more than Christian leaders from countries and territories She declared Christians around the world including in the United States are increasingly being pressured to suppress their beliefs My family personally knows the backlash that comes when you take a stand for the Gospel Lynch declared It may come with a high cost but I want people to know how powerful their voice is when they fearlessly share the Good News of Jesus Christ We are seeing so a large number of concerning cases in the United States where Christians are dragged into the courtroom if they share their beliefs in the workplace at school or on sports teams she added If you care about preserving religious liberty and free speech for the next generation we all need to pay attention Among those Lynch interviewed was P ivi R s nen a Finnish member of Parliament R s nen advised Lynch she is once again on trial for a tweet quoting Romans from the Bible She has been acquitted twice in lower courts but Finnish prosecutors have appealed sending the scenario to the nation s Supreme Court The police gave me a possibility to renounce what I believe R s nen disclosed I announced I will not apologize for what Apostle Paul has stated It is the Word of God it is not only my opinion She warned that even unsuccessful prosecutions can lead to a broader effect If we start to censor ourselves the more restricted becomes the space to use these rights she commented The biggest threat to these rights is self-censorship Kristen Waggoner president and CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom ADF also spoke with Lynch ADF has represented clients in multiple U S Supreme Court cases related to religious freedom including Masterpiece Cakeshop v Colorado Civil Rights Commission The organization has also taken on international cases involving silent prayer arrests in the U K and blasphemy charges in Nigeria Around the world we're seeing a rising tide of censorship Waggoner revealed These are God-given rights It's upon us to defend them and to protect those rights knowing that it leads to human flourishing and the flourishing of the Gospel British theologian Dr Amy Orr-Ewing who has taught at Oxford University recounted Lynch that she sees a hunger for truth among young people in the West despite increasing pushback on residents faith CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP I've been in ministry for over years and I haven't known a moment like the one we are in in the West for truth for the Gospel she explained Grievance and rage victim heritage and identity politics are not the answer to your rage Jesus is Lynch stated her goal is to equip Americans with a broader understanding of global threats to religious liberty and to encourage them not to retreat She hosts the Fearless with Cissie Graham Lynch podcast