Evangelist Christian leader Franklin Graham is blasting a religious watchdog group for demanding the removal of a post-9/11 "God Bless the Military" sign at a Marine Corps base in Hawaii.
The son of famed preacher Billy Graham, who heads the foundation named for his father, and leader of the Samaritan's Purse global charity, took to
Facebook Tuesday to challenge – and deride – the description of the sign by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation as "divisive."
"You've got to be kidding me!" Graham writes, noting the sign was erected after the 9/11 terror attacks.
But Chaplain Justin "Chappy" Roberts is defending the sign and says it has been a source of hope and comfort for over 10 years," Graham writes, noting that "tragically, 22 veterans a day commit suicide."
According to Marine Corps Times, which first broke the news of the demand, the sign at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe reads, "God Bless The Military, Their Families, And The Civilians Who Work With Them," in red, blue and black lettering on a white background.
The religious watchdog group wants the billboard either moved to chapel grounds or removed altogether. The sign stands out "like a tarantula on a wedding cake," the group's founder, Mikey Weinstein, tells the
Honolulu Star Advertiser.
The watchdog group is arguing the sign violates the "No Establishment Clause" of the Constitution and gives gives preference to those who hold religious beliefs over those who do not, and to those who believe in one God, Marine Corps Times reports.
Weinstein claims his group was alerted to the billboard by 23 active-duty Marines – all but two of them Protestant – who he asserted didn't lodge official complaints for fear of reprisals.
"We have no issue with the message that is being posited with that sign if they move that to the chapel grounds, but it is certainly something that is in violation to the No Establishment Clause of the Constitution," Weinstein tells Marine Corps Times.
"When it is not on chapel grounds it is divisive. It is elevating the concept of one faith over no faith, which the Supreme Court has made very clear is wrong, and so we have asked the commander — you know this sign is clearly not within the time, place and manner restrictions required by the law — and so we've asked him to move it to the chapel grounds or take off the installation altogether."
A base spokesman told the publication officials are looking into the issue.
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