Billy Graham has been the pre-eminent evangelical Christian leader of the past fifty years. I found on the Evangelical Dialogue on Evolution site a post on his view on whether evolution is irreconcilable with orthodox Christianity. This post is excerpted below.
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…when many voices in the Evangelical movement are claiming evolution cannot be reconciled with Evangelical theology, and that any compromise with evolution is virtual heresy, and that those who do compromise on this issue do not deserve to be called Evangelical, it is interesting to hear what Graham has to say about the scriptures and science, including evolutionary science:
“I don’t think that there’s any conflict at all between science today and the scriptures. I think that we have misinterpreted the Scriptures many times and we’ve tried to make the Scriptures say things they weren’t meant to say, I think that we have made a mistake by thinking the Bible is a scientific book. The Bible is not a book of science. The Bible is a book of Redemption, and of course I accept the Creation story. I believe that God did create the universe. I believe that God created man, and whether it came by an evolutionary process and at a certain point He took this person or being and made him a living soul or not, does not change the fact that God did create man. … whichever way God did it makes no difference as to what man is and man’s relationship to God.” Billy Graham: Personal Thoughts of a Public Man, 1997. p. 72-74
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Stepping back from evolution to the broader topic of the age of the earth (billions of years like the scientists say, vs. thousands of years indicated by a literal interpretation of Genesis), the Reasons to Believe site here lists about 40 well-known, impeccably conservative Christian leaders and writers that endorse or are at least open to an old-earth perspective. These include names like Gleason Archer, Michael Behe, Chuck Colson, Norman Geisler, Hank Hannegraff, C. S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, C. I. Schofield, Lee Stroble, and B. B. Warfield.
Good for Billy Graham!
I think it would do well to be reminded of what paul said to the Galatians in ch 5:9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. when we start to mix one view with scripture, then more follow and we end up with a watering down of Gods word and sadly we see to much of this already happening within the church today. God bless