Christian Latino Leader Calls Out Franklin Graham for Leaving the GOP

In an exclusive interview with CBN News on 2016 politics, evangelical Latino leader Rev. Samuel Rodriguez offered a bleak view of the country, called out evangelist Franklin Graham for abandoning the Republican Party, and encouraged Christians to be lights in their community by taking practical steps to care for transgender people.

Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Leadership Conference which oversees 40,000 evangelical congregations, said the country has dramatically shifted since it elected President Barack Obama in 2008.

"We are more divided now than we have been in the past 100 years," he said. "We would have to go back to the Civil War to see the level of division permeating through the culture."

He noted the nation has split along race, gender, and socio-economic status.

Rodriguez said he worries that Christians won't vote in the November General Election, in part because of evangelist Franklin Graham's announcement in December that he was resigning from the Republican party to focus on biblical values.

"This election, religious liberty and the Supreme Court are at stake. And for you (Graham) to say 'I'm abandoning the party.  I'm no longer part of the party,' it may convey a confusing message," Rodriguez said. "Because if Christians and those who have a commitment to biblical orthodoxy, if we do not vote this election, the Supreme Court is gone for generations to come."

Rodriguez also chided Graham for only calling out the GOP.

"It conveys a message the Republican party is the reason why America is experiencing so much darkness without addressing the Democratic party," he said.

Graham's spokeswoman said he was unavailable for comment but noted that he's in the middle of a 50-state Decision America tour where he's holding prayer rallies in state capitols and calling on Americans to live out biblical principles "at home, in public and at the ballot box."

Rodriguez advises the Ted Cruz campaign but talked at length about the GOP presidential frontrunner, Donald Trump.

He said that his rhetoric on immigration has been "counterproductive" but insisted that Trump is not a racist, adding he could work with Trump on immigration reform.

Rodriguez said he disagrees with Trump on issues surrounding abortion and the new bathroom law in North Carolina.

"I personally still believe it's wrong for a male, a physiologically defined male to step into a restroom where a 6-year-old little girl is in there and that man to go. It's wrong. To me there are things that are still black and white," Rodriguez said.

Fight for Unisex Bathroom

However, Rodriguez also called on Christians to fight for transgender people and for unisex bathrooms for them.

"That's the way we solve this," he said. "So we're not intolerant, we're accommodating the transgender reality. At the same time, we're not sacrificing the safety of children throughout America."

Rodriguez said he does not support Christians boycotting companies because he believes that ultimately it will prove impractical.

"What are we going to do--boycott everything?" he asked. "At the end of the day, instead of cursing the darkness, instead of whining about the darkness, instead of complaining about the darkness--why not turn on the light?  That's my call, let's be light."