Exclusive: While Christians around the world face legal and cultural threats to express faith, the Graham family is defending freedom of expression and religious freedom through financial support and public advocacy.
The Billy Graham Evangelical Society (BGEA) has launched a new $1.3 million legal defense fund to assist Christians and churches across Europe who have been courted for their biblical beliefs.
at the same time, Cissie Graham Lynchthe daughter of Franklin Graham and the granddaughter of the late Reverend Billy Graham, urges believers not to remain silent in the face of hostility, including in the United States.
“We preached the message of God’s love, but when a small group of activists in Britain called it hatred, we were cancelled,” Franklin Graham Tell Fox News numbers. “Our ads were removed from the bus and the venue abandoned our activities. We took a stand and challenged the decision in court. Despite the seven years, all nine legal disputes were resolved.”
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Cissie Graham Lynch and Franklin Graham participated in the parade in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2023. (Pretty: Billy Graham Evangelical Society)
After these victories, the BGEA created the Billy Graham Defence Fund, which received £500,000 (approximately $678,000) from the court settlement. The Samaritan, who was also led by Graham, contributed another £500,000 for the wallet, totaling £1 million, or about $1.3 million.
“We took the damage we won in court cases in the UK through the BGEA and put the funds into the Billy Graham Defence Foundation, a new “war box” to help other Christians in Europe be threatened or threatened to silent Christians without expressing their faith,” Graham said.
He added that the issue is not limited to other countries.
“Christian silence not only happens in other countries,” he said. Bgea and Samaritans’ wallets are also involved in many legal cases that affect the impact. The freedom of believers Realize their faith in the United States”
Cissie Graham Lynch spoke with Finnish parliament Päivi Räsänen at the Evangelical Conference in Berlin, Germany in May 2025. (Pretty: Billy Graham Evangelical Society)
Between 2017 and 2024, BGEA and Samaritan’s wallets filed 20 Friends Summary in including coach Joe Kennedy Jack Phillipsand Baronelle Stutzman, all heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“We want Americans who support the biblical faith in court to know that we are with them – they are not alone,” Graham said. “We must strive to retain the right to declare the gospel in the United States and Britain so that we can continue to share the hope of Jesus Christ all over the world. There is no human freedom that is more precious and important than freedom of speech and religion.”
Cissie Graham Lynch said she hopes the Defense Fund can be a source of practical and symbolic power for believers facing public pressure and legal retaliation. “You might be cancelled for telling the truth. You might be called a name,” she said. “But whenever you choose to fight, you help build a stronger foundation for other people of faith.”
“There is no human freedom that is more precious and important than freedom of speech and religion,” she added. “We must strive to retain the right to declare the gospel in the United States and Britain because the stakes are too high to remain silent.”
Lynch shared a series of interviews with Fox News Digital, which was recorded at the European Evangelical Congress, a Berlin gathering hosted by the evangelical association of Billy Graham. The event brings together more than 1,000 Christian leaders from 55 countries and regions.
Cissie Graham Lynch spoke with Dr. Amy Orr at the BGEA European Evangelical Conference in Berlin, Germany in May 2025. (Pretty: Billy Graham Evangelical Society)
Christians around the world, including the United States, are increasingly oppressed by their faith, she said.
“My family personally knows that there is a strong backlash when you stand for the gospel,” Lynch said. “It can be a high price, but I want people to be afraid to share the good news of Jesus Christ.”
“In the United States, we see a lot of cases if Christians share their beliefs in the workplace, school or sports team,” she added. “If you care about preserving religious freedom and freedom of speech for the next generation, we all need to pay attention.”
Among Lynch interviewed was Finnish Parliament Member Päivi Räsänen. Lassenin told Lynch that she was again judged to quote the 2019 tweet from Romans 1 in the Bible. She was acquitted twice in the lower court, but Finnish prosecutors have appealed to send the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The police gave me what I believed,” said Rassane. “I said, ‘I will not apologize for what the apostle Paul said. It’s the word of God, and it’s not just my point of view.'”
She warned that even unsuccessful prosecutions could lead to wider impacts. “If we start scrutinizing ourselves, then restriction becomes a space for using these rights,” she said. “The biggest threat to these rights is self-censorship.”
Christian TruckThe president and CEO of the Alliance Defends Freedom (ADF) also spoke with Lynch. ADF represents clients in several U.S. Supreme Court cases related to religious freedom, including Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The group has also taken international cases involving arrests for ongoing prayer in the UK and committed allegations of blasphemy in Nigeria.
“Across the world, we see the rise of censorship,” Wagner said. “These are God-given rights. We want to defend them and protect these rights – knowing that it will lead to human thriving, as well as the prosperity of the gospel.”
Dr. Amy Orr-Ewing, a British theologian who teaches at Oxford, told Lynch that despite the increased impetus for public belief, she longs for the truth of the young people in the West.
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“I’ve been in ministry for over 25 years, and I don’t know that like that moment we were in the West… for the truth, the gospel,” she said. “Graisal and anger, the culture and identity politics of victims are not the answer to your anger- Jesus is.”
Lynch said her goal is to give Americans a broader understanding of the global threat to religious freedom and encourage them not to back down. She hosts the “Fearless with Cissie Graham Lynch” podcast.
