Last week, Huffington Post republished a clip of an older interview with former President Jimmy Carter on YouTube. The video is once again making the rounds on social media and sparking a new political/religious outrage from the Right.
During the interview, Carter is asked about his faith and his views on both equal/same-sex marriage and abortion. One could say the Nobel Peace Prize laureate raises some eyebrows on many sides of the spectrums. Carter doesn’t seem care as he continues to unabashedly speak his mind with uncommon integrity and without malice. It’s a beautiful thing.
Here’s a short clip from the interview (transcript to follow).
The Steve Bannon-trained conservative staff at Breitbart newsgroup got their pants in a twist because Carter said Jesus would approve of gay marriage, when Carter actually said he “believes” Jesus would approve of gay marriage. Big difference, but facts...well, it’s Breitbart.
The son of the late Rev. Billy Graham also had problems with Carter’s view, as did many of his followers on his Facebook page. Franklin Graham, who took over his father’s massive ministry, starts with a courteous intro and then quickly plummets into religious extremism. Here’s Graham’s post in full.
“I have to respectfully disagree with former President Jimmy Carter on this one.
He is absolutely wrong when he said Jesus would approve of gay marriage. Jesus didn’t come to promote sin, He came to save us from sin. The Bible is very clear. God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of homosexuality. God defines sin in His Word—it’s not up to our opinion, the latest poll, or a popular vote. What is very troubling is that some people may read what President Carter has said and believe it, whether it was this week or from a video 3 years ago that is now recirculating. God loves us and gives us the truth in His Word. He warns us of the serious consequences of sin.”
Graham goes deeper into archaic religiosity with the same views that cause many to leave the church. And worse, they are the same views that cause many to be abused by the church for being born with different feelings and attractions. I need to add a trigger warning for the following scripture quoted by Graham.
“Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due” (Romans 1:24-27).”
Graham’s extremist and conveniently chosen (cherry-picked) Bible content containing hate-filled scripture serves only to meet his own agenda and that of the most bigoted so-called Christians. Notice how he claims to know how God’s will? I call myself a Christian in that I strive to follow the words and teachings of Jesus Christ and often fail miserably. There is one thing for sure. Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus condemn homosexuality, and if that line of truth and defense is used when a so-called Christian condemns the LGBTQ community, it will most likely end the conversation and in a best case scenario, it might educate someone. If they persist, One might remind them that in the Christian religion, Jesus is God and the New Testament is called “new” because the Old Testament is of the past. If they still argue, they simply don’t want to hear the truth and would rather swim in their ignorance—or hatred—or both.
Once again, Jimmy Carter proves he lives by example and shows the world what a real leader looks like—someone with compassion, courage and strength.
Negative myths about President Carter have been perpetuated and spoon-fed to the American people by the Reagan administration, the GOP, and the corporate mainstream media of the day. Thanks to the social media platform, a Facebook page called “Honoring Jimmy Carter” has been created to perpetuate the truth. President Carter was, and is, a remarkable Democrat, humanitarian, world peacemaker, and national treasure. You
can visit/like the tribute page on Facebook click on this link: Honoring Jimmy Carter
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