Former President Jimmy Carter has written another book on American values. He is deeply saddened by the way the “religious right” uses religion for partisan political purposes. In an interview with an Atlanta magazine, he explains his concern: “Carter fittingly used a parable to illustrate how he’d like to see the political/religious debate unfold. ‘I was teaching a Sunday school class two weeks ago,’ he recalls. ‘A girl, she was about 16 years old from Pana
ma City [Fla.], asked me about the differences between Democrats and Republicans. ‘I asked her, “Are you for peace, or do you want more war?” Then I asked her, “Do you favor government helping the rich, or should it seek to help the poorest members of society. Do you want to preserve the environment, or do you want to destroy it? Do you believe this nation should engage in torture, or should we condemn it? Do you think each child today should start life responsible for $28,000 in [federal government] debt, or do you think we should be fiscally responsible?” ‘I told her that if she answered all of those questions, that she believed in peace, aiding the poor and weak, saving the environment, opposing torture,…then I told her, ‘You should be a Democrat.’”Jimmy Carter is deeply saddened by the way religion is used for partisan political purposes.
3 comments:
It is ironic isn't it.
Shalom,
Bobby Valentine
Several years ago while on a mission trip to Mexico, I was in a neighborhood building a house for a Mexican family. One day we took a different trip in, past a group of really nice, out-of-place, but obviously abandoned houses. I asked my host what the deal was. He told me that the homes were built by a Jimmy Carter led team from Habitat for Humanity. They were so out-of-place, and so much nicer than there neighbor's homes that they created a lot of jealousy in the neighborhood - so much so that the occupants chose to abandon them rather than deal with their envious neighbors.
Jimmy's politics (like his religion, perhaps?) make a bloke feel good, but when the television cameras go dark, I have to wonder if they really make a difference.
I biteth my tongue!
:-)
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