Canadian Christian leaders oppose Franklin Graham event in Vancouver

Christian leaders in Vancouver want to stop Franklin Graham from speaking at an event that will be held in Rogers Arena next week due to his past comments about Islam and LGBTQ people.

Graham's visit has prompted Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson to meet with evangelical, Catholic and mainline Protestant leaders to discuss their concern about the upcoming event, which is expected to draw more than 25,000 people.

Vancouver City councilor Tim Stevenson, who coordinated the meeting and who is also the first openly homosexual person to be ordained by the United Church of Canada, said that there were concerns that Graham will incite hate speech at the event.

"The mayor is concerned about safety. The kind of statements Graham makes about Muslims and gays can really inflame the situation," said Stevenson, according to Vancouver Sun.

The concerned Christian leaders have reportedly written a letter to the organizers of the Festival of Hope, which will be held on March 3 to 5, urging them to remove Graham from the event.

There is also a petition circulating among the clergy, calling on the organizers to find a replacement for Graham.

"Franklin Graham's recent public comments compromise Jesus's mission of justice and love for all. For instance, he has said that all Muslims should be banned from the United States because Islam is a 'very evil and wicked religion' at war with the Christian West," the petition stated.

Despite the opposition, the Festival of Hope organizers have stated that they have no plans to remove Graham from the event, which they said has taken years to plan.

"With every Festival of Hope we do in every city around the world there's always going to be some opposition to what we're doing," said Frank King of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association of Canada, as reported by CBC.

"To even entertain any kind of thought of changing any event ... we simply would not do that," he added.

King emphasized that the sole purpose of Graham's visit is to invite people to become Christians.

Graham also faced opposition from Baptist leaders in Puerto Rico when he held the Festival of Hope evangelistic rally in the country's capital city of San Juan earlier this month.

The executive minister and the president of the Baptist Churches of Puerto Rico withdrew their support for Graham's event due to his endorsement of President Donald Trump's anti-immigration policies.