The Graham Family launches a $1.3 million legal defense fund for Christians in court

Exclusive: As Christians around the world face legal and cultural threats to express their faith, the Grahams are stepping up their efforts to protect freedom of speech and religion through both financial support and public advocacy.

The Billy Graham Evangelic Association (BGEA) has launched a new $1.3 million legal defense fund to support European Christians and churches who are being taken to courts over biblical beliefs.

at the same time, Sissy Graham Lynchthe daughter of Franklin Graham and the granddaughter of the late Rev. Billy Graham, urges his followers not to remain silent in the face of growing hostility, including in the United States.

“We preach the message of God’s love, but when a small group of British activists called it hatred, we were cancelled.” Franklin Graham He told Fox News Digital. “Our ads were removed from the bus and the venue dropped our event. We stood on the ground and challenged the decision in court. It took seven years, but all nine legal disputes were resolved in our favour.”

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Following these victories, BGEA created the Billy Graham Defense Fund, which was sown with £500,000 (approximately $678,000) from the court settlement. The Samaritan wallet, Graham’s leading figure, added another £500,000, bringing it to a total of £1 million, or about $1.3 million.

“We took the damages we won in the UK’s BGEA lawsuit and put those funds in the Billy Graham Defense Fund, a new ‘war breast’ to help other European Christians who are threatened, blackmailed and not expressing their faith,” Graham said.

However, he added that the issue is not limited to other countries.

“Christian silence isn’t just happening in other countries,” he said. “Bgea and Samaritan wallets are Freedom of believers To live their faith here in America.”

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Between 2017 and 2024, BGEA and Samaritan wallets submitted 20 amicus briefs in religious freedom cases, including directed by Joe Kennedy. Jack Phillipsand Baronel Stutzmann, they were all heard by the US Supreme Court.

“We want Americans to stand up to biblical beliefs in court to know that we are with them – they are not alone in this fight,” Graham said. “We must work to maintain our right to declare the gospel in America and Britain, so that we can continue to share the hopes of Jesus Christ around the world. There is no human freedom that is more valuable and important than freedom of speech and religion.”

Cissie Graham Lynch said he hopes the Defense Fund will serve as a source of practical and symbolic strength for followers facing public pressure and legal retaliation. “You could be cancelled to tell the truth. You might be called your name,” she said. “But every time you choose to fight that battle, you help other faiths build a stronger foundation for people to rise up.”

“There is no human freedom that is more valuable and important than freedom of speech or religion,” she added. “We must work to maintain our right to declare the gospel here in the US and the UK, because the interests are too high to remain silent.”

Lynch shared a series of interviews exclusively with Fox News Digital, recorded at the European Conference on Evangelism, a Berlin gathering organized by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The event attracted over 1,000 Christian leaders from 55 countries and territory.

She said Christians around the world, including the United States, are increasingly being pressured to suppress their beliefs.

“My family personally knows the backlash that comes when you take the Gospel position,” Lynch said. “It may come at a high cost, but I want people to know how powerful their voices are when they boldly share the good news of Jesus Christ.”

“If you share your beliefs in the workplace, school, or sports teams, you see a lot of cases in the US where Christians are dragged into court,” she added. “If we are interested in maintaining religious freedom and freedom of speech for the next generation, we all need to pay attention.”

Among the lynches interviewed were Päivi Räsänen, a Finnish MP. Räsänen told Lynch he was again on trial for a 2019 tweet quoting Romans 1 from the Bible. She was acquitted twice in the lower court, but Finnish prosecutors appealed and sent the case to the country’s Supreme Court.

“The police have given me the possibility of giving up what I believe,” Resanen said. “I said, “I will not apologise for what the apostle Paul said. It is the word of God, and it is not just my opinion.”

She warned that failing prosecution could have wider effects. “When we start censoring ourselves, it’s a space for us to use these rights,” she said. “The biggest threat to these rights is self-censorship.”

Christian WagonPresident and CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) also spoke with Lynch. ADF is the masterpiece Cakeshopv. He represents clients in multiple US Supreme Court cases related to religious freedom, including the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The organization also covers international cases, including the quiet prayer arrest in the UK and the blasphemous asp crimes in Nigeria.

“Around the world, we see the trend of censorship,” Wagoner said. “These are God-given rights. It is our own to protect them and protect those rights. We know that this will lead to human prosperity and the prosperity of the gospel.”

Dr. Amy O’Ewing, an English theologian who taught at Oxford University, told Lynch that she saw hunger for truth among young people in the West, despite the increasing push to the faith of the nation.

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“I’ve been in the ministry for over 25 years and have never known the moments we were in the West… for the sake of the truth, for the gospel,” she said. “The complaints and anger, the culture of victims, the politics of identity are not the answer to your anger. Yes is yes.”

Lynch said her goal is to give Americans a broader understanding of the global threat to religious freedom and encourage them not to retreat. She hosts the “Cissy Graham Lynch” podcast, “Fearless.”