In the book Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis, former President Jimmy Carter argues from a liberal
religious
perspective that the "nation's basic moral values" are being challenged, and he offers
perspective's on how to turn that around. Much of the first half of the book is spent discussing basic religious questions that dominate the U.S.'s national debate: religious fundamentalism, conflicts between science and religion, the separation of church and state, divorce and homosexuality, abortion, the death penalty, and even the subservience of women. It's very interesting to hear the liberal viewpoint argued from the perspective of an evangelist. The second half of the book offers perspectives on foreign policy and the environment, and brings forth viewpoints that are also rarely heard in the present national debate. The book is a discussion of the most popular issues of the present, from the perspective of a liberal, religious, southern democrat, offering acceptable compromises in a time of polarization.
Jimmy Carter offers unprecedented insight into a politician's mind as he viciously dissects poll numbers and offers compromise. He does it with a variety of issues in the first chapter, most prominent of which is gun control. He is careful to assert the fact that he is not against hunting, and does so quite frequently, but he attacks the ability to acquire an assault weapon in the U.S. and the lack of moderate handgun control both of which are not used for hunting, resulting in most appalling violent homicide rate of any industrialized country. He then goes on to describe his traditional Christian faith and separates his views from those on the right, appealing in the next chapter for unification between the different Christian denominations. Carter offers short chapters on science in the classroom, supporting it's seperation from religion because "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1), and homosexuality, where he defends the gay marriage by with the prevalence of an seemingly equal sin, divorce, in heterosexual couples.
Yet, his most passionate religious compromises are exerted in the categories of the separation of church and state, and abortions. Carter appeals to Thomas Jefferson and the famous bible verse "render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's" when discussing the seperation of church and state, but the biggest problem he cautions against, is the fusion between the religious right and the politicians that are abusing their issues to stay in power. Carter is fairly moderate when it comes to abortion if there is such a thing, refusing to publicly fund abortions for lower income people. What he exposes in his chapter on abortion is the hypocrisy of people that advocate for the death penalty and come down hard against abortion, asking the simple question, what would Jesus do?
Carter doesn't express anything very revolutionary when discussing domestic policy but his views and information on foreign policy are very interesting if only for his role in shaping it for four years. Back in his chapter on abortion he writes this "in private, some of these legislators are quite cynical about Third World countries, while admitting that they are succumbing to rigid pro-life
political pressures. The claim that, in any case, the saving of children's lives only contributes to overpopulation and more future suffering." His basic argument is that the fundamental political litmus test between the Democrats and Republicans is the difference between endorsing diplomacy over military action. He explains how the U.S. has completely undercut valuable international agreements from the International Criminal Court to the Geneva Convention. He has a whole chapter on nuclear containment saying that the U.S. is choosing proliferation over setting an example. The worst thing the U.S. has done, es, is establish a policy of preemptive war which drastically changes everything in the international scene. He also offers solutions on curbing the major problem that is global warming, in which he is starkly against drilling for more oil. Yet the world's greatest challenge in the new millennium, Carter says, is taking on the challenge of poverty in the world.
In all honesty I initially wasn't very fond of the book but Carter won me over in the end, especially with his last chapters. I especially liked this quote "When we recite the Lord's Prayer and pray for God's kingdom to come on earth, we are asking for an end to political and economic injustice within worldly regimes". It definitely made his reference to liberation theology before the pope make sense. In my view greatest challenge for the world is the growing inequality between and within nations, and Carter does an excellent job of articulating it. He ends the book arguing for a humanitarian superpower, not a military one, including a demonstrable commitment to "truth, justice, peace, freedom, humility, human rights, generosity, and the upholding of other moral values."