Tooley: Dealing with Jimmy Carter
Carter as a “born again” Baptist was famously devout, but he disdained the new Religious Right and repeatedly “resigned” from the Southern Baptist Convention.
Jimmy Carter, age 99, is America’s longest-lived ex-president. Much of my life has been a reaction against him. In my youth, his presidency seemed disastrous. His public Christian piety and politics seemed feckless. Theologically and politically, I aspired to be the opposite of Carter, writes Mark Tooley on Providence.com.
Now that Carter is reaching the end of his long life, he merits deeper reflection and appreciation.
Carter as a “born again” Baptist was famously devout. But he disdained the new Religious Right (which arose partly in reaction against him), criticized the pro-life movement, eventually supported gay marriage, and repeatedly “resigned” from the Southern Baptist Convention. He seemed more Mainline Protestant than evangelical.