Thread by @spulliam

🔔NEW story from me:

Evangelist @Franklin_Graham pushed a domestic abuse victim to return to her husband.

He asked whether she was cheating on her husband.

“It was a good question to ask,” Graham told me. “I would’ve asked it again.”

washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/…

I have been following @naghmehspanahi for a long time, watching how she once vigorously fought for her then-husband's release from an Iranian prison.

When she disclosed allegations of her abuse, I wanted to know--how was she treated behind doors by religious leaders?

Evangelicals have been having a reckoning around abuse.

I once asked major Southern Baptist leader Paige Patterson about his advice to persuade an abused woman to go back to her husband. Like Graham, he said he would do it again:

washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-f…

#churchtoo #sbctoo

There's more: After Panahi emailed her followers about her abuse, she said prominent lawyer Jay Sekulow recommended she explain her allegations of abuse by suggesting she was under stress, on medication. Sekulow denied having conversations with Panahi about her husband’s abuse.

I have receipts: I have recordings, emails, texts. I drove by the house where police say she was beaten, the courthouse where she rushed to get protection orders, the hotel where she met Franklin Graham where she recorded audio of how he pushed her to go back to her husband.

Naghmeh Panahi’s experience with Franklin Graham offers another rare glimpse into how a towering figure in American religious life reacted to an abuse claim.

washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/…

@BozT — a grandson of the Rev. Billy Graham, a nephew of Franklin Graham and a lawyer who represents sex abuse survivors — said there is a pattern in parts of conservative evangelicalism that emphasizes the authority of men and fosters skepticism toward abuse allegations.

@BozT According to the recording, Franklin Graham said the marriage could “be fixed easily,” and he seemed to dismiss the severity of her abuse. “I’m not here to defend him calling you bad names, yelling at you, whatever,” he said.

“Beating me,” Naghmeh Panahi interjected.

@BozT If you got to the end of the thread and don't have a Washington Post subscription, here's a "gift" article where you should be able to read for free: wapo.st/3O9PcMz

@BozT "Franklin Graham" is the No. 25 trending topic on Twitter: twitter-trends.iamrohit.in/united-states

Once upon a time #SaveSaeed was a leading trending topic on this platform. What most people forgot about was what happened to his wife...