Thousands Sign Petition Seeking to Ban Franklin Graham From Entering the UK

Members of the U.K. parliament and over 6,000 people have signed an online petition calling for leading American evangelist Franklin Graham to be refused entry into the country ahead of his scheduled trip to Blackpool next September.

Over 6,100 people have signed onto a Change.org petition calling for Graham, the son of legendary evangelist Billy Graham, to be "banned" from entering the U.K. over his beliefs on LGBT issues and Islam, and fear he will do nothing but "promote prejudice and hatred."

The movement to refuse Graham a visa has picked up some steam as British news outlets are reporting that a number of parliament members, one high-ranking government official and even some Blackpool clergy favor refusing the 65-year-old Graham a visa to enter the country so that he can't speak at the Lancashire Festival of Hope in September 2018.

Gordon Marsden, a member of Parliament who represents Blackpool, has called on the home secretary to refuse Graham entry into the U.K. and argued that Graham might have violated the country's rules on hate speech, The Guardian reports.

"I think frankly the evidence is piling up that his visit to the U.K. ... would not be a good thing and not probably in my view a very Christian thing," Marsden told BBC Radio Lancashire, claiming that Graham's beliefs were "incompatible with what Jesus said in the Bible."

Afzal Khan, the member of Parliament for Manchester Gorton, told The Guardian that Graham's views "are not welcome."

Read more about Franklin Graham on The Christian Post.