Billy Graham, the most famous preacher of his generation, began speaking to packed auditoriums in the late 1940s. Known for his huge revival-style meetings, or crusades, Graham used mass media to reach national and international audiences through radio programs, television specials, movies, and newspaper columns. This excerpt from a 1958 speech shows Graham as a social critic. He laments Americans’ unhappiness despite their high standard of living, and he locates the problem in personal sin rather than in economic and political institutions.
As a nation, as a human race, what’s wrong with our world? . . . Our crime rate is increasing in city after city across the nation.
What causes those problems? What is back of it? Why cannot we solve our problems?
We in America have the highest standard of living in the world.
We are a prosperous nation. We have educational advantages. We have everything, and yet something is wrong.
We are not a happy people.
We have more boredom per square inch in this country than any country in the world.
Our divorce rate is the highest, indicating our homes are basically unhappy. . . .
We’re facing problems within ourselves. Many people today are searching for happiness. They’re searching for peace of mind. They’re searching for joy, and they’re not finding it. They’ve tried money, they’ve tried other things in life, but they haven’t been able to find the peace, the relaxation, the joy, that they want.
What’s wrong? What’s happened? What’s wrong with Man? What’s wrong with the world in which we live?
I believe that the “United Nations” is doing the best it can, but I believe the “United Nations” is only dealing with symptoms of something deeper that is wrong with the world.
. . . I think all over the world men want peace, but somehow peace doesn’t come.
We put out a fire in the Middle East and it breaks out again in the Far East. We put it out in the Far East and it breaks out again somewhere else. And it seems we’re jumping from fire to fire. We’re trying to solve the problems of the world but we make the mistake of treating symptoms!
The race problem is a symptom. War is a symptom. Crime is a symptom. The sociological problem is a symptom. Something deeper is wrong. . . .
What is the cause? The Bible has an answer. Jesus had an answer. Jesus said, “All these evil things come from within” and they devour the individual and they devour the society.
The Bible teaches that something is wrong with human nature. Something is wrong with Man himself. What is that something?
The Bible says that man has a disease and that disease is called S-I-N—“sin.”
Now, ladies and gentlemen, that is what is wrong with the world tonight.
Source: Billy Graham, “What’s Wrong with Our World?,” The Charlotte Observer, September 28, 1958, 10.
From The Charlotte Observer, September 9, 1958 © 1958 McClatchy. All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of this Content without express written permission is prohibited.http://www.charlotteobserver.com/.
Interpret the Evidence
Put It in Context