Death of Billy Graham: Bona fide voice

THE death of Billy Graham has robbed the United States of its most notable evangelist.

Graham was one of the most famous and admired men in America.

He became a regular White House visitor, meeting with every US president from Harry Truman to Barack Obama.

He was especially close to his golfing buddy, Richard Nixon.

Born on a dairy farm in North Carolina four days before the end of the First World War, Graham went on to become one of the most famous preachers of the 20th century.

He used radio, television and, in later years, the internet to bring his passion for Christian beliefs to hundreds of millions of people, not just in America but throughout the world.

For the past six decades and more he was the pre-eminent voice of evangelical Christianity.

His evangelical crusade grew in tandem with his own personal journey as he embraced tolerance and civil rights, transforming his born-again theology into a moral vocabulary that confronted the fears and embraced the aspirations of ordinary Americans.

May he rest in peace.