Evangelist and Samaritan's Purse founder Franklin Graham has said that conservative American Christians are being 'persecuted' for their opposition to the 'LGBT agenda'.
Graham was speaking on the radio programme Washington Watch, according to the The Christian Post. He was discussing the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's (BGEA) World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians, being held in Washington DC from May 10-13.
The conference will draw together over 600 people from more than 130 countries worldwide, sharing their own experiences of persecution.
Addressing both domestic and international persecution, Graham said: 'We need not only put a spotlight on what is happening around the world but what is happening here in this country, where Christians are being persecuted, but in a different way.
'Like you said, it's not with a gun or a sword but they are being forced out of business because they did not support the gay-lesbian agenda.'
Show host Tony Perkins, vocal conservative and president of the Family Research Council, said that 'indifference' to religious freedom concerns within the US sent 'a message to the terrorists and the tyrants abroad that they are free to do as they please when it comes to Christianity'.
Graham pointed to different public controversies in which Christians have allegedly been marginalised for their socially conservative convictions. He gave the example of the Christian bakers fined $135,000 by the state for refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding, and the Catholic pharmacy in Washington which attempted to sue after a state law demanded all pharmacies provide morning-after contraceptive drugs.
'It's over and over and over again across the country where Christians are being singled out, their businesses, because they won't support the agenda of another group of people,' Graham said. 'We need to protect them. We need to protect the Christians in this country and abroad.
Graham added: 'I think, by putting a spotlight on it, it's going to help. It's not going to hurt. It's going to help get the word out and get the voices of those who have suffered to give them a platform to speak.'
Graham urged a religious freedom bill that would 'protect Christians' and 'protect the Christian faith'.
There has been rumour that such a bill, in the form of a controversial executive order, could be signed by Donald Trump today on the National Day of Prayer.
Elaborating on the forthcoming summit, Graham said: 'I want our politicians to see what is happening and I want the voices of these people who have been persecuted, I want their voices to be heard.
'I want to give them a stage for them to be able to tell their stories and do it right there in Washington, where hopefully, we can see some policy changes.'
