Evangelist Franklin Graham, son of late evangelist Billy Graham, recently elaborated on a letter he sent to President Donald Trump last year asking him to stop using “foul language” in speeches. During a rally in Philadelphia last June, Trump told the crowd he doesn’t “want to use bad language“ because Graham, whom Trump said he “likes so much,“ wrote him a letter.
“Mr. President, I love your speaking. Your ability to speak is incredible. Your storytelling is great, but it could be so much better if you didn’t use foul language,“ the president said, quoting Graham.
However, Trump said Graham’s assessment was “wrong.”
In an interview with Deseret News‘ Jennifer Graham, who is unrelated to Graham, the evangelist spoke about the letter he sent to Trump.
“Profanity is as old as the Bible,“ Franklin Graham told Jennifer. “The Bible warns us about our speech, about taking God’s name in vain, so this isn’t something new. It goes back to the beginning of time.”
On a positive note, Graham “thinks Trump has modified his language in recent months“ following the letter.
“The president, his pulpit [and] his microphone is huge, and it carries a lot of weight,“ Graham said. “So I’m going to continue to try to encourage him. He’s not just the president of this country. He is a world figure that other nations, other presidents, other people look up to and want to emulate…That microphone goes a long way.”
In a post on X this week, Graham cited from Matthew 12:36, which states, “I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak.”
The Word of God says, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matthew 12:36). President Donald J. Trump has mentioned several times publicly a letter I wrote to him about his use of “salty” language, and Jennifer Graham…
— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) March 12, 2025
In addition to Graham’s comments, the Deseret News article noted that there has been an increase in the use of profanity, including the results of a 2023 Deseret News/HarrisX poll, which found that more than 70% of young Americans are “not at all“ or only “a little“ bothered by public profanity.
Jennifer Graham, who said “public profanity is worsening,“ noted how the movie “Anora,“ which won the Oscar for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards, uses the f-word 479 times. As noted by Focus on the Family‘s Plugged, that amounts to hearing the f-word once every 20 seconds over the course of 139 minutes.
Photo Credit: ©Billy Graham Evangelical Association
Originally published March 14, 2025.
