Rev. Franklin Graham has slammed the world's lack of response to the shocking genocide being carried out against Christians and other minorities by the Islamic State terrorist group.
"It is genocide-and the world seems largely silent about it," Graham, who is the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse, wrote in a recent Facebook post. "Genocide perpetrated by the Islamic State against Christians, Yazidis, and other religious minorities of Syria and Iraq."
In continuing his comments, Graham charged that tactics employed by the Islamic State are "unimaginably cruel and heinous." He cited two particular occurrences reported by the Gospel Herald, where 12 Christians were murdered for refusing to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ and three others were executed on the Muslim "Feast of Sacrifice."
"Eyewitnesses said that ISIS militants crucified a 12-year-old Christian boy and his Syrian missionary father along with two other men after mercilessly brutalizing them. They cut off the boy's fingertips to try to get his father to convert to Islam," he recounted. "They left their bodies hanging on the crosses for two days under signs reading 'infidels.'"
On that same day, "ISIS militants publicly raped two Christian women in front of a crowd and then beheaded them along with six others when they refused to convert to Islam," he added.
"Pray for an end to this horrendous evil in the name of religion," he concluded.
Graham has heavily criticized Islam in the past, making him unpopular with many in the secular media.
Last year, he questioned whether Islam is really a religion of peace, as many claim: "Islamic State justified kidnapping women as sex slaves in the new issue of their online magazine. They said that it is a 'firmly established aspect of Shariah' and anyone who denies this is denying the Koran," he wrote.
He also slammed President Obama for remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast earlier this year when the president said that violence rooted in religion isn't exclusive to Islam, but has been carried out by Christians as well.
"Many people in history have used the name of Jesus Christ to accomplish evil things for their own desires," he wrote. "But Jesus taught peace, love and forgiveness. He came to give His life for the sins of mankind, not to take life. Mohammad on the contrary was a warrior and killed many innocent people. True followers of Christ emulate Christ -- true followers of Mohammed emulate Mohammed."
In 2012, the prominent evangelist came under fire for stating that the President may adhere to the Muslim religion due to his lack of empathy toward those persecuted by Muslim extremist groups.
"Islam sees him as a son of Islam because his father was a Muslim, his grandfather was a Muslim, great grandfather was a Muslim and so under Islamic law, the Muslim world sees Barack Obama as a Muslim," Graham said during an appearance on MSNBC. "I can't say categorically [that Obama is not a Muslim] because Islam has gotten a free pass under Obama," he added.
