Christopher Hitchens proclaimed, and I agree, that acts of human decency do not require religion.

We certainly see the other side. Con men (and yes, many of these con men are senior executive management of LDS Inc) exploiting people for profit and sexual gratification in the name of Jesus.

However, former president Jimmy Carter does live by his creed. Whatever anyone’s views may be on his political deeds, he is one of the most decent men to walk the Earth.

His effectiveness is actually leading by example, and proclaiming his faith by the action of good deed. He does change families lives by his effort-and while doing so encourages others to meaningful deeds to help their fellow man.

I am not a Christian. I find unreconcilable fault with Christianity. With that stated, I hold deep respect for this man and the fulfilling of his religious faith by a continued action to help his fellow man.

I agree.

Jimmy Carter has consistently worked to make the world a better place for everyone.

The more I learn about Jimmy Carter the more I realize there are good men in the world, who actually have honesty integrity vision love leadership
I agree, he is a truly great man
What if they invited guest speakers to general conference? What would Mr Carter say? I wish they would so the mormons can see what a truly great man looks like, not those whited sepulchres and pharisees called "general authorities"

Habitat for humanity is religious humanism. Carter is a religious humanist. I am a secular humanist. At Least I didn't have to have 14 stitches above my left eye.

I agree. Some people are motivated by their faith to do great deeds.

He is someone to admire for sure.

I was raised by democratic parents. When my boyfriend at the time found out I voted for him, he hung up on me.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/2019 01:47PM by cl2.

I'm not a huge fan of Jimmy Carter. He was, in my opinion, a feckless president who made a lot of problems worse. Since then, he has occasionally intervened in politics in ways that weren't entirely helpful: he constantly praises dictators like Kim Jung-Il and his son, Kim Jung Un. So I'd say Carter isn't good at high-level politics whether in office or out.

That said, it is difficult to imagine someone who has used the credibility that came with the presidency more effectively as a humanitarian. He is the sort of person who makes even atheists feel a grudging respect for dedicated Christians.

Carter walks the walk, even when he needs a walker.

He won points with me when he left the Southern Baptist Convention after 70 years until they adopted a stance on women that matched his Christian beliefs.

Add his visible actions to serve humanity.

It just shows how slippery Christianity interpretation can be.

Like you, can't say I was impressed with him as a president.

Midway into his second term as president, George III asked his advisors what George Washington was likely to do when he left the presidency. Those advisors said, "he will probably go home and resume farming" instead of trying to turn the fledgling United States into his a dynastic enterprise. George paused for a moment, then said "that would make him the greatest man who ever lived."

The point being that sometimes the period after one leaves power can be even more important than the time in office. Washington was a unique person, establishing norms that would live long past him, and had more opportunity for post-office influence than perhaps any other president. But Carter has done a lot with the time he has had--and that deserves considerable respect.

So George Washington was better?

What?

Vastly. Immensely. Washington rendered the constitution and its limitations on executive power real; he established the tradition of a president whose power was constrained by the separation of powers and the bill of rights. He prevented the US from becoming a monarchy.

Jimmy Carter has built a lot of houses. That's more than most presidents have done after retirement, but it doesn't qualify him as anything comparable to Washington.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/2019 04:44PM by Lot's Wife.

How does Carter stack up next to Julius Caesar?

Sometimes I make the mistake of taking you seriously.

There you go.

Jimmy you done good . . . but . . .

Yawn. . .

but it was exciting until you realized i was joking . . . the thrill of proving you're right, a chance to pontificate . . . and then the let down . . . and then the yawn.

sorry for putting you through the paces . . . :)

Jimmy Carter is the only US president I know of who has admitted to seeing a UFO:

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/carter-files-report-on-ufo-sighting

During the presidential campaign of 1976, Democratic challenger Carter was forthcoming about his belief that he had seen a UFO. He described waiting outside for a Lion’s Club Meeting in Leary, Georgia, to begin, at about 7:30 p.m., when he spotted what he called “the darndest thing I’ve ever seen” in the sky. Carter, as well as 10 to 12 other people who witnessed the same event, described the object as “very bright [with] changing colors and about the size of the moon.” Carter reported that “the object hovered about 30 degrees above the horizon and moved in toward the earth and away before disappearing into the distance.” He later told a reporter that, after the experience, he vowed never again to ridicule anyone who claimed to have seen a UFO.

Jimmy Carter is the only US president I know of who has admitted getting in a fight with a swimming killer rabbit.

Mr. Jimmy Carter is an American saint. A highlight of my life is walking the Freedom Park Trail linking Carter’s Presidential Library and MLK’s National Historic Site.

There’s a flip side to the reductionist’s Christianity of hucksters, pedophiles and bizarre Puritanism, inquisitions, crusades and sectarian wars, etc. Jimmy Carter embodies that flip side, bless his soul.

I'm not gonna get that much into what Carter did well or poorly as President or the details of his particular brand of Christianity and how it stacks up to some other versions, but I was never that impressed with his Habitat for Humanity work. The housing problem isn't that there aren't enough actual houses for people to live in. The problem is increasingly unaffordable rents and mortgages. There are plenty of existing vacant or underutilized buildings that people just can't afford.

For all the trouble HFH goes through to build a big single family home, it's extremely inefficient way to house people. A multi-unit structure could be built for the same effort. There are also better options like recycled storage units that are becoming more popular and are more energy efficient.

But the main problem is NOT lack of actual buildings to live in, it's affordability.