If anybody is curious as to why fewer Americans are identifying as Christians, one needs only to listen to Franklin Graham, the son of Christian evangelist, Billy Graham. That opportunity presented itself, this morning, on America's morning Christian show otherwise known as Fox & Friends.  Fox & Friends guest, Franklin Graham spoke about his father's mission and how that mission - surprise, surprise - will be honored in the form of a Fox News special hosted by the oh, so Christian Sean Hannity who has written, on Fox News Insider, a tribute to Graham. The pals sat in rapt attention as Franklin spoke of America's rejection of God and how support for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (passed in the Senate today, yay) is an example of this God dumping. It got uglier. Not only did Graham describe gays as sexual sinners; but in discussing ENDA, as Jon Stewart said, in part, about Fox News, Graham "lied like a motherf**ucker."

Given that Fox News plays to those who believe that gays are on the fast track to hell, it isn't surprising that the network has devoted scant attention to ENDA. And the coverage which they have provided, much of it involving Fox's resident mouthpiece for anti-gay discrimination Shannon Bream, has been slanted against the bill which, according to Bream, could interfere with - tada - religious liberty. So Graham's appearance on Fox & Friends served a threefold purpose - he was able to promote his father's ministry, the upcoming special, and the view that ENDA is a violation of religious liberty, an assertion that is totally false because churches can still discriminate are exempted under ENDA. And as an added bonus, the homophobic Graham was able to reinforce the audience's views that God hates fags - a view that seemed to be shared by the nice Christian friends.

The first part of the interview (part of the "To Heaven and Back" Fox & Friends series) was devoted to Billy Graham and how he still wants his message to be heard.  About half way through, Brain Brian Kilmeade asked if, like his father, Franklin thinks the country "is a mess." Graham asserted that we are in a political, economic, and international mess; but "the problem is that we're in a spiritual mess" because "our country has turned its back on God." And that's when it got really, uh, interesting.

He continued that "we've taken God out of our government [which is where God doesn't belong] and the Senate is getting ready now to pass a bill recognizing same sex marriages." Good Christian Graham is lying. There is NOTHING in the act which even addresses same sex marriage let alone recognizes it. He claimed that it's not only marriages "but the gender issue where in the workplace we have to hire, even for Christians, we have to hire people who practice sexual, uh, [he seemed to be starting the word perversion] sin." Good Christian Graham is lying. There is nothing in the act which requires Churches to hire those who are LGBT. The bill clearly states that it "shall not apply to a corporation, association, educational institution or institution of learning, or society that is exempt from the religious discrimination provisions of title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964."

Franklin told his Fox friends that "any relationship that is outside of a marriage relationship is a sinful relationship and this bill that the Senate wants to pass affects Christians and churches who have to hire people to work and we would be forced to hire people that don't believe what we believe." (Is it a coincidence that this statement, which is a bold faced lie, has the same wording as Bret Baier's question, regarding ENDA, to the Fox audience?) Doocy said, uh,huh.

Franklin continued to drone about the "spiritual mess" that the country is in and how "we need God" whom "we've taken out of Washington and out of our schools." Kilmeade accused Pres. Obama of being "duplicitous with Cardinal Dolan...about Obamacare" - a piece of propaganda taken directly from Cardinal Dolan's playbook. The reality is that Obama tried, in vain, to accommodate the bishops regarding the birth control mandate - but that's not something you will ever hear on Fox. Franklin responded that "we need God" yadda, yadda, yadda.

Nice to see that the Christian Fox friends were so happy to aid and abet the ugly homophobia and lies of Franklin Graham who seems unaware that Thomas Jefferson, said that "the clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man." But that's not what the Fox says!