Billy’s gospel simplistic and insufficient, and his critiques were
prominently published in national magazines.
When the Protestant Council of the City of New York
announced it was inviting Billy Graham to hold evangelistic meet-
ings in Madison Square Garden, Newsweek reported Niebuhr’s
anger, quoting him as saying, “We dread the prospect.”
In July of 1957, right in the middle of the campaign, Niebuhr
wrote in the hugely popular Lifemagazine that “Graham’s mes-
sage promises a new life, not through painful religious experience
but by merely signing a decision card. Thus, a miracle of regener-
ation is promised at a painless price by an obviously sincere evan-
gelist. It is a bargain.”
For months, in the influential magazine the Christian Century,
Niebuhr had been attacking Billy’s approach. “Revivalism,”
charged Niebuhr, “requires the oversimplification of moral issues
and their individualization for the sake of inducing an emotional
crisis. Collective sins are therefore not within the range of a
revival.” And “Graham still thinks... the problem of the atom
bomb could be solved by converting the people to Christ, which
means he does not recognize the serious perplexities of guilt and
responsibility.”
Regarding racism, Niebuhr conceded that “Graham does not
condone racial prejudice. But neither does he incorporate the
demand of love transcending racial boundaries into his evange-
listic appeal.”
What was Billy to do? Most leaders are tempted to avoid crit-
ics, to shield themselves from the pain of a well-positioned adver-
sary. Though the prospect of meeting face-to-face with such an
entrenched and well-equipped intellectual foe was intimidating,
Billy was determined to try. Perhaps even this chasm could be
spanned.
One of Billy’s associates called Niebuhr to see if he would
agree to a meeting, but he declined. Not one to give up easily, Billy
worked though the chairman of the Union Theological Seminary
board, a prominent banker, who confidently said there would be
no difficulty in arranging a meeting.
The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham