Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis
Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis
Author: Jimmy Carter
Publisher: Simon and Schuster, 2005
Pages: 212
Price: $25.00 (Hardcover)
To hear Jimmy Carter tell it, “Christian Fundamentalists” are the root of all evil in American politics. Former President Carter is deeply concerned about the moral divisiveness—sometimes called the “culture wars”—that characterizes contemporary political debate. In this book he shares his own “traditional Christian faith” as an “evangelical Christian and a Baptist” who affirms the truth of Holy Scripture “as interpreted by the words and actions of Jesus Christ.”
President Carter defines fundamentalism broadly, putting everyone into the mix from sincere American Christians who believe same-sex behavior is wrong, no matter what you call it, to religious extremists perpetrating indiscriminate terror worldwide. For Carter, fundamentalism is about rigidity, domination, and exclusion, and he sees this specter invading the Southern Baptist Convention, the Right, the Republican Party, and the current administration.
While President Carter believes it is “perfectly legitimate, even admirable, for us Americans to promote our personal beliefs through either religious or political processes,” he does not extend this freedom to those he labels the “Christian Right” or to those whose views differ from his own. When he applies his faith perspective it’s an appropriate mix of religion and politics. When people who disagree with his views apply their faith perspective, it’s a violation of the separation of church and state.
President Carter’s faith and his personal political experiences lead him to reserve marriage for only a man with a woman, while favoring “civil unions” for same-sex couples. Echoing his presidency, he says that “every abortion is an unplanned tragedy,” but he maintains a woman’s right to choose. He deplores capital punishment, and he believes faith-based initiatives violate the First Amendment. He opts for the old sacred/secular dichotomy by saying religion has no place in the sciences, so he supports stem cell research and religiously neutral sex education.
A growing number of Americans now agree with President Carter’s contention that the preemptive Iraq War is an unnecessary and unjust war undermining existing alliances and America’s moral credibility. His chapters dealing with American foreign policy are the book’s best.
This should be a thought-provoking book by an experienced and well-positioned statesman. But instead, Carter’s book is confusing and frequently unfair in its caricatures of even his own evangelical Christian faith. It turns out that “our endangered values” are not values Americans once held, but values President Carter now wants us to embrace. Personally, Carter is a moralist. Politically, he is a pragmatist. He wants us to hold to moral convictions, just not too tightly.
This is President Carter’s twentieth book, exceeding Theodore Roosevelt’s facile pen and making Carter the most published president. It’s an impressive record, including books on faith, outdoor life, family and aging, politics, poetry, and children’s literature. Carter is also the first president to publish a novel.
Together with his work for The Carter Center, his Nobel Peace Prize, and his support for Habitat for the Humanity, President Carter is setting a high bar of public service for men or women who will someday join “the most exclusive club in the world.”
-END-
Posted as "The Trouble with Jimmy," www.worldmagblog.com, (accessed November 12, 2005). Published as "Carter's Narrow View of Values Undermines His Message," The Grand Rapids Press, (November 27, 2005), p. J5.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved
This article may be reproduced in whole or in part but must include a full attribution statement.
