They called themselves "Evangelicals for Harris" during the 2024 election cycle. Just weeks before the election, they released several ads that featured clips of evangelist Billy Graham – interspersed with clips of Donald Trump. The late evangelist's son, Franklin Graham, told Christianity Today at the time that the pro-Harris group was "trying to mislead people" by positioning his father's remarks against those of then-candidate Donald Trump.
Fast forward to the present: The group has since rebranded to "Evangelicals for America" – and this week apologized on its social media platforms (see the Facebook post) to the Billy Graham Evangelical Association (BGEA) for using Rev. Graham's clips for political purposes without authorization:
"We did this believing that our use of Rev. Graham, although not done with the prior permission of [BGEA], would meet the criteria for Fair Use under the US Copyright Act. BGEA wrote to us, concerned that we were infringing its copyright in the video clips of Rev. Graham by using them for political purposes without authorization. Our intent was not to infringe on BGEA's copyright or to give the impression that Rev. Graham would have taken a side in publicly supporting one political candidate over another in an election, so we apologize to BGEA."
The Facebook post goes on to explain that since the November 2024 election, the two groups have "dialogued," resulting in the group affirming that Billy Graham's purpose was always clear: sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and never politicizing it:
"Rev. Graham aimed to win a hearing for the Gospel with all people, whether they were Americans who identified as Democrats, Republicans, or something else, or simply people from another country who had no context for American politics."
The post concludes with an expression of appreciation the way BGEA handled the matter – in accordance with Romans 12:18 – and a commitment that Evangelicals for America will not use content copyrighted by BGEA for future electoral advocacy without clear, written permission:
"Our hope is that these actions … affirm the value and importance of Christian dialogue about the way we engage in politics and prioritizes Christians remaining in communion despite differences."
AFN reported in October 2024 that BGEA sent a demand letter to the liberal group, threatening a lawsuit if the ad was not removed. Lawyers from Evangelicals for Harris responded saying the use of the Graham video was legal under fair use laws and they would not be removing the ad.
