By Richard Allen Greene, CNN
(CNN) – Billy Graham, the dean of American evangelists, has once again broken his usual silence on hot-button issues, defending the president of the Chick-fil-A restaurant chain for his opposition to same-sex marriage days after issuing a letter decrying what he sees as the nation’s moral decay.
Earlier this year, the ailing preacher publicly endorsed a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay unions in North Carolina, raising eyebrows among many who’d watched Graham studiously avoid thorny social issues for years.
On Thursday, he issued a statement of support for the popular fast-food chain. Many people have slammed Chick-fil-A President Don Cathy for saying his company backs the traditional family unit and is opposed to same-sex marriage.
Graham praised restaurant founder S. Truett Cathy and son Don Cathy, the company’s president, “for their strong stand for the Christian faith.”
“I’ve known their family for many years and have watched them grow Chick-fil-A into one of the best businesses in America while never compromising their values,” Graham said.
The Chick-fil-A controversy reflects what many see as America’s deep cultural and religious divide. The company’s position on same-sex marriage doesn’t sit well with Jim Henson Co., whose Jim Henson’s Creature Shop toys have been served in Chick-fil-A’s meals for children.
Jim Henson Co. is named for the creator of The Muppets. However, the company transferred The Muppets’ rights and ownership to the Walt Disney Co. in 2003, according to Jim Henson Co.
“The Jim Henson Company has celebrated and embraced diversity and inclusiveness for over 50 years and we have notified Chick-fil-A that we do not wish to partner with them on any future endeavors,” the company said in a posting on its Facebook page. [RELATED: Mayor urges Chick-fil-A ‘to back out of plans to locate in Boston’]
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a 2008 GOP presidential candidate, is backing Chick-fil-A. He urged people to turn out to Chick-fil-A restaurants on Wednesday to show their support for what Cathy had to say about marriage.
Graham says he appreciated Huckabee’s leadership and plans to visit a Chick-fil-A on that day, August 1.
“Each generation faces different issues and challenges, but our standard must always be measured by God’s word. I appreciate the Cathy family’s public support for God’s definition of marriage.”
On Tuesday, Graham leveled deep criticism at the United States. He compared the country to Sodom and Gomorrah, the Biblical cities synonymous with sin.
“Self-centered indulgence, pride, and a lack of shame over sin are now emblems of the American lifestyle,” Graham writes in the open letter released by his organization this week.
He blasts what he sees as efforts to keep references to Jesus out of the public sphere.
“Our society strives to avoid any possibility of offending anyone — except God. Yet the farther we get from God, the more the world spirals out of control,” he writes in the letter released Tuesday.
Graham, 93, has preached to untold millions over six decades, and provided counsel to generations of U.S. presidents.
His open letter also contains a fund-raising appeal and a notice that Graham’s son Franklin, himself a major evangelical figure, is launching a new effort to “bring the Gospel into neighborhoods and homes in every corner of America next year.”
Randall Balmer, the chair of the religion department at Dartmouth College, suspects the motivation for the letter is at least partly political.
“It’s hard for me to believe that this letter does not have political intent,” he said.
Its move to decry what he would see as moral decay “would be tied to the Obama administration,” he argued, asking rhetorically why Graham would not have issued the statement in response to an event like the Abu Ghraib torture scandal.
Graham’s spokesman did not immediately respond to a question about what prompted the letter.
It does not clearly refer to specific recent events.
Balmer said that evangelicals would take note of the letter, though Graham has largely retired from the public eye in recent years.
“There is certainly admiration for Billy Graham, as there should be,” Balmer said. “There is lingering respect for Billy Graham and I think that people will take notice.”
But he said the comparison to Sodom and Gomorrah — which Graham attributes to his late wife Ruth in the letter — was startling.
“When Billy Graham came to Madison Square Garden in 1957, he made comments comparing New York City to Sodom and Gomorrah and was roundly criticized for it,” Balmer said. Since that time, Balmer said, Graham has largely avoided making the comparison to the Biblical cities.
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