Franklin Graham’s legal team has revealed details of a growing “defense fund” to support Christians facing discrimination for expressing their faith — a fund created from successful court rulings after multiple British venues attempted to cancel Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA)'s “God Loves You!” evangelistic events.
Speaking at the European Congress on Evangelism in May, attorney Justin Arnot, who represents Franklin Graham and the BGEA, referred to the legal victories as part of a broader spiritual and legal battle over freedom of religious expression in the public square. The so-called “Billy Graham Defense Fund”, sometimes referred to by Graham himself as a “war chest,” was formed from settlements and damages awarded in court cases where U.K. venues had withdrawn from hosting evangelistic rallies under pressure from critics of Graham’s biblical convictions.
In an exclusive interview with Christian Daily International, Arnot explained how the fund came about, why it matters for grassroots evangelists across the U.K. and Europe, and what it represents for the future of gospel proclamation in increasingly hostile environments. He emphasized that although Graham describes it as a “war chest,” the proper term remains “defense fund” — a resource not for aggression but for protecting legal access to proclaim the gospel.
The initiative emerged after BGEA events scheduled across multiple U.K. cities — including Liverpool, Sheffield, Glasgow, and Newcastle — were abruptly canceled in 2019 and 2020 following campaigns by LGBTQ+ and secular activists who objected to Graham’s views on marriage and Islamic extremism. BGEA responded with legal action, arguing that the cancellations violated U.K. laws protecting religious belief and expression. All of those disputes were resolved favorably, with BGEA securing new contracts for rescheduled events.
Negative Press
The series of debacles originated in 2018 when Blackpool Borough Council and Blackpool Transport Services removed BGEA’s “God Loves you!” adverts from buses after complaints about Graham’s biblical beliefs. However, a judge in 2021 ruled that both the council authorities and transport company had unlawfully discriminated against Graham. The council had to give a public apology and pay compensation.
Arnot, recalling the events of 2018, says there was no communication by the bus company to the BGEA about the removal of the adverts. He asserts the ads themselves were not offensive or even overtly religious. The wording just said “time for hope” with practical details of the Franklin Graham event.
“It was a real puzzle to us, about what was happening. And it was the beginning of, ‘Wait a second… You just removed our ads that we paid for. You don't communicate with us, and you don't even respond to us when we inquire about this.’”
The lack of courtesy shown did not befit professional business matters: “It was certainly not the way that somebody you’re doing business with should be treated. There should be a dialogue about expression of concern and what are the options. But there wasn't anything like that.”
After that initial legal success, an eight-city tour was planned for the UK in 2020. Contracts were agreed with seven of eight venues in 2019 but the eighth venue in London seemed to delay the agreement. Questions began to surface about why this was so: “It was kind of odd,” remembers Arnot.
Then a social media onslaught ensued, especially on Twitter (now called X), with Franklin Graham damned by opponents as a hate preacher. These opponents voiced opposition to the evangelist being given a platform to speak.
Suddenly all of the pre-booked venues were pulled out of the commitments with “almost zero communication with any of these venues.”
“There was one that reached out, asked for our response to public criticism, but didn't accept anything that we said. And then next thing you know, they just all canceled. It was mind numbing, and the negative press around that really was something that made us out to be toxic.”
The COVID-19 pandemic threw matters further into disarray and the BGEA began interceding earnestly in prayer, seeking the Lord’s will in the situation whereby investment had been made in an eight-city tour representing many months’ hard work and coordination. ”It’s not just a concert arrangement,” says Arnot about these events, with hundreds of local churches in each region, and the training of literally thousands of counsellors preparing to help attendees anticipated to make a commitment to Jesus, alongside follow-up workers for discipleship.
“It's just a very elaborate, intensive effort. And so by the time you're within a couple months of launching something like that, I think it's tremendously devastating to have the tour just abruptly canceled without consultation or anything,” says Arnot.
“And none of the venues would talk to us about how to remedy the situation. They just were stonewalling us.”
"Black Swan"
Arnot and other BGEA leaders spoke to a British solicitor, Tom Ellis of AI Law, who was helping them with the bus adverts court case in Blackpool, which was ultimately decided in BGEA’s favor, and asked about the available options to resolve the issue. A query was raised about whether a preliminary injunction could be raised to keep the venues to their commitments.
“There are limited options to do that in the U.K., but one of the requirements is to show that you couldn't get an alternative. And so we talked to over a hundred venues within the next couple weeks after those cancellations, and nobody would take us. That's how toxic the situation was.
“The negative press that ginned up about Franklin Graham and us and what we stood for was just horrific. I mean, it was a black swan. In the risk circles, they talk about a ‘black swan’, which is something that's so unanticipated and so disproportionately damaging that it couldn't have been mitigated through human means. COVID-19 was one of those things. It was a black swan.
“We had a black swan in the form of venue cancellations that jeopardized our flagship ministry, just before the black swan of COVID-19 arrived. So this launched us down a path of settling a longer, legal strategy.”
Arnot keenly points out that taking organizations to court is not on his heart. His objective is to pursue reconciliation in line with gospel values and to redeem the situation. “We don’t want to fight with folks,” he says.
“We want them to be able to do their business and for us to have the opportunity that we had originally contracted for. And so when there's a breach in a relationship like that, that has to be pursued and restored.”
Dark Flesh
Arnot explains when there is a breach in a relationship it can be “knitted back together,” using an illustration of the dark flesh that appears over a wound, leaving the flesh stronger than it was before.
Similarly he has found that after bringing strong court cases against the venues, there followed constructive dialogues about arrangements, resulting in “finding a path together that can allow us to go forward” with new contracts and rescheduled events.
“I would say we proved ourselves to be who we said we were, people of goodwill and of peace, and an atmosphere at the events that is of worship and where everyone was welcome.
“And that was true in Liverpool and in Wales and ultimately, in Glasgow and in Sheffield; and all the places that we've been. I think those venue managers would say that we’re a great group to work with, and true to our word.
“I think those relationships ended up being stronger just like dark flesh [that was wounded] because we worked through really difficult things together.”
Arnot opines that was even true of the Glasgow venue, which spent “a whole bunch of money” trying to win in court against the litigation put forward by the BGEA. In October 2022, Glasgow Sheriff Court found against Scottish Event Campus Limited for directly discriminating against BGEA because of Graham’s religious beliefs, by terminating their agreement, awarding £97,000. Matters were ultimately resolved after the ruling.
“We met up with them to settle at the remedies phase and our appeal, again, was let’s stop fighting over this. What we want is a venue. What you want is a return to your business, and let's find a way in this together.
“And they agreed, and that was a very cordial interaction with them at the end of the day. Their staff was very enthusiastic about having our event and very helpful.”
The Glasgow event originally intended for 2020 thus took place at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow in May 2024.
“That week, a couple of days before the event when we were finally wrapping up the last venue dispute, I communicated with Franklin Graham and told him we concluded it. It’s settled.”
The Phone Call
At that point Franklin Graham picked up the telephone and made a call to Arnot. The outcome of that conversation could have positive ramifications for evangelicals for many years yet who are struggling to finance legal costs in the face of secular legal opposition in different contexts.
“Rev. Graham called me and he said, ‘What have we got back out of all of these lawsuits?’” recalled Arnot.
He explained to Graham that between the awards for damage and various settlements and support, the final figure returned was a little more than £500,000 (US$678,163).
“And that's when he said, ‘Well, then we're going to build a war chest, and make this money available to help Christians who are threatened or intimidated into silence and or into not expressing their faith.'”
Billy Graham's Example
The defense fund idea as a whole would certainly have been approved by the late Billy Graham himself, according to Arnot, adding that the evangelist was “an ambassador for Christ, and that was true in every context.”
“If we take the Soviet Union and Soviet countries as examples, those were not contexts in which everybody was free to share the gospel openly in public meetings. And yet Billy Graham, because of his profile and because of the relationships and the favor that he had been given in different realms, won a hearing for the gospel.”
Billy Graham faced criticism at the time for adhering to restrictions when he preached the gospel in the Soviet Union: “He was widely criticized for doing that” but Arnot points out that Graham successfully won a “hearing publicly for the gospel in the public square.”
Roll on the years, and Arnot sees a similarity with what has happened in the U.K. after the BGEA was confronted with opposition for planned events under the leadership of Franklin Graham, and had to defend the right for the gospel in the subsequent disputes.
The defense fund, financed by the success of the lawsuits that proved necessary, is intentional in “making a way for the proclamation of the gospel in the public square to continue.”
"The Thing To Do"
Some may wonder why filing court appeals “is the thing to do” but Arnot gives two answers to that: firstly, he refers to the biblical example of Paul and the apostles shaking the dust off their feet where opposition occurred and then moved on to other opportunities. But in another case, he points out, Paul appealed to the Emperor Caesar.
“There was a framework for saying you can't do this to a citizen, and appealing to Caesar actually allowed the gospel to go further than it would have gone, perhaps, had he not.”
Secondly, Christians have compassion and empathy for persecuted believers in contexts where evangelism is not legal and that is dealt with harshly. Arnot points out that if evangelicals would rightly state that in such scenarios of persecution, Christians should also be free to share their faith openly in the public square.
“And if it's true that we believe that about those [persecution] contexts, why wouldn't we take the opportunity to try to preserve that freedom in places where it exists?” he points out.
“I think that where the concern lies in the U.K. and in continental Europe is that these freedoms have existed as a matter of law, at least. And they are being curtailed, not necessarily as a matter of law or maybe that’s not the express intent of some of the legislation but there are efforts to implement hate speech laws that can be interpreted, in unhelpful ways.”
A level of opposition also comes from cancel culture, which does not always follow legal precepts but it is “threats and pressure on individuals and officials, whether private or governmental organizations."
It is this type of pressure that the Billy Graham Defense Fund is ready to challenge whenever there are adverse legal efforts putting on evangelistic activities, which are contrary to law.
“We want Christians to be encouraged to not just let that pass where appropriate, and we want to provide some financial assistance realizing that there's a significant cost to standing up for those rights,” states Arnot.
Proclamation Is Not Optional
Proclamation evangelism is not optional, Franklin Graham reminded delegates at the European Congress on Evangelism, and Arnot sees that finding a public space for voicing the gospel, as the BGEA does so well, “has been well tested over the centuries.” The BGEA has adhered to such evangelistic methodology consistently for the past 70 years.
Arnot believes that times have changed and previously venues would do anything to have Billy Graham hold an event, especially in U.S. cities. Franklin Graham has the same evangelistic heart in wanting to proclaim the gospel in the public square, working with local churches and to encourage Christians to express their faith. However, the current culture in the West seems more opposed to evangelism.
“I think Rev. Graham recognizes that in modern culture, there's a threat to be silenced, an implicit threat in a lot of places, but people don't want to hear about your faith. And, so that's where he comes up with the stand.”
Opening The "War Chest"
The war chest was initially opened for Christians in the U.K but a wider relationship with evangelicals as a result of the European Congress on Evangelism means that it is likely to have a wider reach on the continent in the time ahead. Arnot says that Franklin Graham has approved that further objective for the defense fund.
“At this point, our funding has been dispersed in the U.K primarily but we are open to helping Christians in Europe.
“But we've not distributed any funds in Europe. We haven't had a lot of requests yet. There's been a few inquiries, but I'm continuing to reach out.”
Money has been channeled so far to help publicized legal cases brought forward by Christian legal rights groups working in the UK such as Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International or the Christian Legal Centre.
“Our role, we think, is to provide the funding to aid those that are actually doing the work.”
Arnot presents the reality that a Christian needing help, such as a street preacher, would need a legal organisation such as ADF International to bring awareness and also to fund the solicitor doing the hard work.
“We come in, on top of all that, to say we’re aware of the situation and would like to help by providing funding.”
This is not “always the case,” however, and Arnot says there are a few projects “where would get closer to the battle, and “not because we're trying to get in the into the business of doing legal work,” but trying to find those evangelicals working at grassroots level, perhaps not known, to then offer support.
Arnot sees a parallel between the defense fund and the quick efficiency of Christian aid agency Samaritan’s Purse, which Franklin Graham also leads, in getting help to places where no one else can get to, quickly providing disaster relief.
“God sees them, and that's what we're trying to discover [with the defense fund]. That's at least my heart in this. I'm certain that there are people who are intimidated into making decisions that they would not otherwise make.
Samaritan’s Purse has also contributed £500,000 ($662,532) to the Billy Graham Defense Fund, bringing the total amount in the war chest to £1 million ($1,325,035).
Educating Police Officers
A focus of the BGEA in the defense fund is also education, for example in educating police officers on the legal rights of street preachers in their rights of expression.
“What the police typically do in order to solve the problem is they arrest the street preacher and deal with removing him or her as the means to solving the issue. It's most expedient for them.
“But what that exposes the officer and the local police department to, is financial liability for violating the street preacher's rights. So it's a lose-lose and actually lose-lose-lose for the preacher, for the police, and even for the complainants. Because if it's true that one perspective should not be heard, then if that is allowed to prevail, then it means that other perspectives will not ultimately be heard either.
“What we’re trying to be about is maximizing the opportunity for Christians to be heard.”
In regards to educating local police, Arnot believes they receive basic education on freedom rights but not the “contours” of free speech laws and freedom of expression.
“Those real dynamics on the street when they're faced with a crowd that doesn't like what they're hearing, it's often just easier to arrest the street preacher. We want to try to get ahead of that and plant the seed of thought in those local law enforcement communities that that might not be the best approach.”
Reach Out
Arnot advises any Christian struggling with a potential legal issue in the workplace or in street preaching, or similar scenario, to contact a known Christian legal aid organisation.
“If they don’t know who to contact, then they can reach out to us and maybe we can get them connected with those folks.”
A local solicitor, such as at a local church, would make for an appropriate initial contact, adds Arnot, who can then be given support by the larger organizations.
Arnot asks for prayer that the financial resources will be directed rightly to those in need of it, and for the BGEA to have the “eyes to see where those opportunities are.”
Future Possibilities
Looking to the future, he sees two possibilities for the fund: “One is that there will be a greater awareness of the opportunity, for help, through the Billy Graham Defense Fund alongside others, actually doing the legal work, whether they're solicitors or legal aid organizations.”
The other option is that as awareness of the fund grows, the BGEA can provide assistance on an expanded basis.
What Arnot really wants to see is getting ahead of the resistance felt by Christians, especially those in the UK. He believes a lot of this opposition stems from ignorance and fear by those trying to silence evangelicals and the bold proclamation of the gospel.
“I think cancel culture is driven primarily by fear and greed,” says Arnot. “You have business organizations, for example, that exist to make profit. And when they experience great pressure, social media and otherwise, then individuals are forced to make decisions about what to do.
“And if they fear for their personal well-being or their careers, then they will make decisions that disadvantage the weaker folks in that equation, which they would view to be those holding beliefs that are unpopular.
“So just as in our situation, folks in business organizations that get pressure, they say, ‘Hey. I'm not going to risk my career by being seen as a hater or sympathizer with haters, so I'm just going to cancel.’
“But if we can give them the framework within which they can make commercially reasonable decisions that actually benefit their business organization by saying, for example, ‘We're a neutral venue. We serve all comers, and we're going to mitigate the risk of violating the discrimination laws by continuing to treat people equally. And I'm sorry that's not popular, but that's what we need to do’.... that's a very defensible position and one that I'd like to continue to help people understand.”
Mindful Of Responsibility
For that reason, BGEA as an organization is working hard ahead of planned events, with venues, to communicate clearly what the evangelical body believes, and the benefits for the facility in hosting these evangelistic events.
Arnot is mindful of the responsibility given by God to the BGEA in stewarding the resources wisely.
“I think Rev. Graham has shown himself to be a determined steward of the enormous assets that have been entrusted to the care of these two organizations, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse and their respective affiliates around the globe.
“There's a large amount of financial resources that have been provided through people who are like minded, and I think the sense of responsibility that he has to steward those things well, under God's sovereignty and provision is enormous. And so we're trying to help them with that.”
