H.B. Shaffer, at the beginning of the crusade on June 5, compared it to
Billy Sunday's 1917 crusade and recalled that the press also predicted failure then, announcing it as "Billy's Rubicon" because New York was considered "the graveyard of evangelists". According to Shaffer, New York is the ultimate test of an evangelist's power. During this crusade, Billy Graham pushed his
ecumenism further than ever before. He stated that he would send participants of the crusade back to
their own churches – Catholic, Protestant, Jewish... and the rest to God. This statement was later reiterated in interviews for the
San Francisco News published on September 21 and November 11. In the fundamentalist Protestant community, voices emerged labeling Billy Graham as the
Antichrist. The reason was his referral of "converts" to various churches: liberal Protestant, fundamentalist Protestant, Adventist, Catholic, and even Jewish synagogues. According to these critics, Graham sent people who had entrusted their lives to Christ to churches that reject Christ's teachings. Pastor
Carl McIntire recalled Graham's statement from 1948, in which he said that the
World Council of Churches was heading towards choosing an Antichrist, and then commented that Graham was now helping to build churches that were part of it. but in recent times, he had turned away and drawn closer to liberals. Pickering reminded that during the , Graham stated,
I am not a fundamentalist. He pointed out that during the New York Crusade, "converts" were sent to liberal churches, Pickering called on all fundamentalist Protestants to cease supporting Graham's crusades from then on. Among the staunch critics of Graham from the fundamentalist side was Bob Jones, who had previously believed that Graham's activities were not the work of God. Jones could not accept the fact that the crusade was funded by liberal Protestant churches. Jones criticized Graham for organizing integrated crusades for blacks and whites, believing that whites and blacks would never want to sit beside each other, and racial segregation would always exist in the church. Criticism also came from liberal Protestants. A certain Christian publisher accused Graham of wanting to roll back religion fifty years. Others accused him of doing more harm to Christianity than anyone else in two thousand years. Niebuhr initiated criticism of Graham among
theologians. Only one critical article came from the Catholic community, written by an official from the
National Catholic Welfare Council. He wrote that Catholics should not participate in Protestant religious ceremonies, and that
Billy is a threat to faith. According to Graham, this was the only opposition from the Catholic side, and none of the known Catholic hierarchs spoke out against the evangelization of New York.
John A. Mackay, a Presbyterian theologian and ecumenist, and rector of the liberal
Princeton Theological Seminary, positively evaluated the crusade. He stated that the participants of Graham's crusade would be more responsible and effective in fulfilling their duties in society. He believed that the Christian community would be strengthened, social structures would be transformed, and thus the Kingdom of God would be brought closer. However, he noted that the consequences of the crusade would largely depend on local churches and cooperation between them.
Norman Vincent Peale, a preacher from the
Marble Collegiate Church and the creator of the theory of positive thinking, wrote to Graham on October 22 that his spiritual life had become stronger and deeper thanks to his sermons, and his church had been wonderfully led since the time of the crusade. Uta Andrea Balbier assessed in 2009 that the New York Crusade was the most expansive undertaking in the history of American evangelicalism. == See also ==