...about Christianity...
***
Even those like me who don't identify with being a
"Christian," as per today's organized religions of that
name, know enough of Yeshua's true teachings to realize
that Jimmy Carter carried more deep understanding of them
in his little fingernail than Donald Trump will ever come
anywhere near beginning to grasp...
All he understands is how to further the fulfillment of
his own desires and "power"-acquisitional designs...and
seduce "Christian" males into deeper disrespect of the
Divine Feminine and All Things Humane... And if
disappearing the line between Church and State (which
inherently disrespects and obliterates the RELIGIOUS
FREEDOM of ALL AMERICAN CITIZENS) serves those ends,
you'd better believe he'll be onboard with it
immediately........
***
During the 1976 presidential campaign, The New York Times
ran a front-page story on Jimmy Carter’s Baptist faith.
“There has been no serious challenge to Mr. Carter’s
sincerity or his spiritual credibility,” the reporter
concluded. “Most uneasiness appears to stem from a fear
that an evangelistically minded President might use his
power to advance his beliefs or violate the separation of
church and state.”
Carter, who died Sunday at the age of 100 in Plains,
Georgia, went on to win the presidency and spent the
decades of his post-presidency championing human rights
around the world and building houses through Habitat for
Humanity. He taught Sunday school classes before, during,
and after his time in the White House. No matter what you
think of his actions as president, there was no serious
challenge to his spiritual credibility. Jimmy Carter
faithfully followed Jesus.
It turned out that the most devoutly Christian president
in modern American politics was also an ardent defender
of the separation of church and state.
And as for the aforementioned “uneasiness,” it turned out
that the most devoutly Christian president in modern
American politics was also an ardent defender of the
separation of church and state. Carter modeled what it
looks like for a Christian to engage in politics while
steadfastly guarding against theocracy and Christian
nationalism.
It’d be difficult to find a starker difference in how a
president wields religion than the juxtaposition of Jimmy
Carter and President-elect Donald Trump.
As the Times noted in the same 1976 article, “Mr.
Carter’s supporters say that Baptists have been in the
forefront of struggles to maintain a wall of separation
between church and state and that the candidate’s record
shows nothing that could raise any objections on this
score.”
President Carter stood strong in support of healthy
boundaries between religion and government as president.
He opposed coercing students to pray in public schools.
He understood the difference between his duties as
president and as parishioner, ending the practice of
inviting evangelical pastors, like the Rev. Billy Graham,
to have services in the White House. Instead, he
worshipped with his family at a Baptist church near the
White House.
How Habitat for Humanity helped Jimmy Carter express his
faith
04:36
Carter understood the history of religion and politics in
the United States, and that religious freedom is
protected by not allowing the government to promote or
denigrate religion, something he succinctly summarized in
a speech to Southern Baptist Brotherhood Commission in
1978:
“Separation is specified in the law, but for a religious
person, there is nothing wrong with bringing these two
together, because you can’t divorce religious beliefs
from public service. And at the same time, of course, in
public office you cannot impose your own religious
beliefs on others.”
President Jimmy Carter, 1978
Carter also called out Christians who weaponized the
faith to serve their own political interests. “During the
last two decades, these principles [of church-state
separation] have been challenged, often successfully, by
Christian fundamentalists,” he wrote in 1996. “Under the
banner of the Christian Coalition, they have merged with
the conservative wing of the Republican Party, becoming
an active force in politics and enjoying a series of
election successes.”
Still, the merging of right-wing politics with Christian
fundamentalism continued to gain more strength,
culminating with Trump’s wins in 2016 and 2024.
“Mr. Carter … rejects any suggestions that he has a
messiah complex,” the Times reported in the 1976 article.
By contrast, Trump actively plays up his messiah complex.
“I don’t think God is going to make me president by any
means,” Carter said on the campaign trail in 1976. Carter
said he didn’t ask God, “Let me succeed,” but, “Let me do
the right thing.” Trump suggested that surviving an
assassination attempt was evidence God wanted him to be
president.
Carter said he didn’t ask God, “Let me succeed,” but,
“Let me do the right thing.” Trump suggested that
surviving an assassination attempt was evidence God
wanted him to be president.
Honesty is a consistent theme of Christian teaching.
Carter promised to restore faith in government, telling
Americans he would “never knowingly lie” to them.
According to The Washington Post, Trump made 30,573 false
or misleading claims during his first term.
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And perhaps the biggest difference between Carter and
Trump in terms of Christian living was that Carter didn’t
enter public service to enrich himself. He returned to
live in the modest house in Plains, Georgia, that he and
his wife of 77 years built in 1961. Compare that to Trump
Tower and Mar-a-Lago while reading Jesus in the
Beatitudes proclaim, “Blessed are the meek.”
It may at first seem ironic that Carter was devout and
didn’t push his Christian beliefs on others while in
office, while Trump uses religion as a political tool
divorced from personal devotion. But the lesson here is
that true faith doesn’t boast. True faith doesn’t coerce.
True faith sets an example.
True faith isn’t a stunt like selling branded Bibles.
It’s steadfastly teaching the Bible in Sunday school week
after week. Jimmy Carter was an example for all
Christians, and one we desperately need to embrace in the
era of growing Trumpian, far-right fundamentalism.
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