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President Carter has written importantly about his spiritual life and faith. In this book, he offers a personal consideration of "moral values" as they relate to the important issues of the day. He puts forward a passionate defense of separation of church and state, and a strong warning of where the country is heading as the lines between politics and rigid religious fundamentalism are blurred. He reacts to some trends involving both the religious and the political worlds as they have increasingly become intertwined, and including some of the most crucial and controversial issues of the day--frequently encapsulated under "moral values." They include preemptive war, women's rights, terrorism, civil liberties, homosexuality, abortion, the death penalty, science and religion, environmental degradation, nuclear arsenals, America's global image, fundamentalism, and the melding of religion and politics. Sustained by his faith, Carter assesses these issues in a forceful and unequivocal but balanced and courageous way.--From publisher description.… (more)
User reviews
The more I find out about this man, the more I admire him. I was only 6 when he became president - and I knew three things about him. He was a
Since I've gotten older and since he's gone on to do many admirable things on the world stage, I've come to move him high up on my list of great people.
"Our Endangered Values" only reinforces that belief. These are essays on many of the issues that trouble me as I look at the horribly wrong direction our country is headed - and I now know that Carter is even more worried than I. (I didn't think that was possible!) He, of course, has been intimately involved in many of the most pressing issues of our time, and has met many of the world leaders involved.
Most of the book is tied into his Christian faith in some way, most powerfully, I think, when he talks about the rise of fundamentalism in the world. Not only Islamic fundamentalism, which seems to jump to mind first, but also Christian fundamentalism - a trend I find almost as scary. Maybe more so, at times, because I feel it affecting our country every day, and not in positive ways. He points out that fundamentalists of any faith have the following in common: They are led my authoritarian males who have an overwhelming commitment to subjugate women and to dominate their fellow believers, they believe the past is better than the present, they are convinced that they are right and that anyone who contradicts them is ignorant and possibly evil, they are militant in fighting against any challenge to their beliefs...hmmm - sound remarkably like the idiot in the White House!
By the end of the book, I found myself almost feeling worse for Jimmy Carter than for our country. Those institutions and people in which he had such faith are failing him and are heading down paths he is no longer willing to follow.
Carter writes with great emotion, and clearly refutes neoconservative arguments on abortion, the death penalty, the war in Iraq. (I was appalled by this fact: 90% of all executions are carried out in just four countries: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States. In fact, our nation and Somalia (which has no organized government) are the only two that have refused to ratify the International Covenant on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits execution for crimes committed by children. Nice company we're in.)
I found myself moved by his dismay and amazed by some of his facts, but I didn't finish the book with any sense of purpose. He does not offer much of a solution to the problems that are facing our country. He very clearly writes against what we should not be doing but doesn't really tell us what we should be doing to stem this tide.
I guess I can always look at my "Bush Countdown" clock for that...
whether Carter would be a good President because he was a professed
"born again Christian," and yet in the years after his term ended,
suddenly (according to the devout fundamentalists across the country)
belief in God was mandatory,
and God suddenly became property of only the Republican party. All
Democrats were labeled as godless liberals who reveled in killing
babies, adding massive programs to an already too-big government, and
were probably just a shade less sinister than the Red Communists with
their cries for affordable national health care programs. That's why Carter's moderate voice and considered opinions as put forth
in this book are so needed right now. No one can argue that this isn't
a highly intelligent, God-fearing man who lives his faith every day of
his life and has a unique perspective on government, having been there
and done that. He takes on the "fumdamentalist" views on everything
from gay marriage and abortion, to tax cuts, the horrifying new doctrine
of pre-emptive war, science and religion, church and state, the
subservience of women, environmentalism, and the sharp and growing
difference between rich and poor in this world. His is a clear and
intelligent voice, crying in the wilderness, justifying so-called
"liberal" view-points, and asking, somewhat rhetorically, "What Would
Jesus Have Done About Iraq?" He's trying to get America to open our
eyes about the unfair and unAmerican policies of the new Conservatives
who seem to have taken over our government. He's confronting the
"neocons" where they stand, on pulpits across America, and demanding an
explanation of how the Bush Doctrine of Pre-Emptive War can co-exist
with a Christian philosophy of turning the other cheek or even with our
own American history. He exposes something that I have long suspected
was true: that the foreign and environmental policies of this country
are being based, incredibly, on dogma from the Book of Revelations. No
need to take care of the earth because it's going to end soon anyway.
Back Israel, right or wrong, because that's how it's got to be.
Carter makes it obvious that the policies and doctrines of the current
government are paving the way for the fall of America and the
destruction of some of our basic values. This book was a joy to read,
the voice of a moderate who just happens to be a Democrat. It makes
total sense and finds the common ground between both parties and plans.
Whether you are Christian or atheist, Pagan or Jew, there is common
sense in this book that will appeal to that part of you that USED to be
a proud American. I'd recommend this book if you are at all interested
in politics or the direction this country is heading and why.
Shockingly enough, I probably agreed with at least 75% of the politics expressed in CarterâÂÂs book. But his way of expressing them drove me completely, completely insane.
Good
This is a fine book that explores the issues and controversies facing America in the 2000s in the context from a moral & Christian perspective. President Carter not so subtly blasts the current administration and those who blindly cowtow to their global view, which, his view, is neither Christian or moral in word or practice.
This is a fine book, though already a tad dated in discussing rapidly changing current events. It should be read by anyone who wishes for the return of common decency and morality to American society and politics.
I bought & got this book autographed on November 3,2005 at Books A Million in Concord NC. We were moved around frequently while waiting
I have a habit of putting my hand to my ear and leaning forward when I need to hear something repeated. President Carter said something I didn't catch and I thought I was going to be tackled by a security guard when I forgot myself and leaned forward. I think I will just pick up one of the previously signed copies and snap photos the next time I get the autograph of an ex president!
“You only need two loves in your life: for God, and for the person in front of you at any particular time.” – Reverend Eloy Cruz, p. 23
“I believe that anyone can be successful in life, regardless of natural talent or the environment within which we live. This is not based on measuring success by human competitiveness for wealth, possessions, influence, and fame, but adhering to God’s standards of truth, justice, humility, service, compassion, forgiveness, and love.” - p. 28
“When we recite the Lord’s Prayer and pray for God’s kingdom on earth, we are asking for an end to political and economic injustice within worldly regimes.” – p. 178
One of the things that struck me is the
This book should be a "must read" regardless of one's political philosophy.