I grew up in a small country town. It’s full of lovely and wonderful people. But, dear reader, you know that I have often heard my friends excuse the intolerance and narrow-mindedness of their relatives in these simple expressions: “Oh, they are from different times.”
Well, Jimmy Carter was born 100 years ago in rural Georgia. And he supported civil rights for black Americans throughout his life.
He reminded me of a white grandfather who was from a small town, from a “different time,” and who completely embraced his mixed-race grandson.
We are all creatures of our time and place. But as Carter showed, that doesn’t have to stop us from doing the right thing.
Carter rose to the most powerful position in the world. As a public servant, “he helped advance four major movements of the 20th century: civil rights, women’s rights, human rights abroad, and the environment,” said journalist Jonathan Alter.
Carter never used his presidency to make money for himself, either while in office or in the 40 years since he returned to Georgia. He worked to create peace, promote democracy around the world, eradicate disease, and build homes for the poor.
Through it all, Carter was guided by his deep Christian faith, embracing humility and approaching leadership as service to all of God’s people.
The contrast between the president-elect and the countless religious leaders who have condoned or excused his corruption, cruelty and self-glorification could not be greater.
I’ve heard people react with sadness to Carter’s death by implying that he was kind of the only one or the last of his kind. In their despair about the direction our country is going, they suggest that we owe our immediate future to Trumpism, which he has triumphed over and the aggressive white Christian nationalism he has mobilized and manipulated for his own benefit.
I don’t accept it.
Certainly, Trump and his allies will have the power to do great harm. I was offended that most of it would be done in the name of my faith. I am a progressive Christian and attend the Baptist church in DC that taught Sunday school when Jimmy Carter was president.
As an American and an activist, I will do everything I can to minimize that damage, and I will work with everyone I can.
It is a cruel situation that Donald Trump will be inaugurated on a day that commemorates Martin Luther King, Jr., who demonstrated the power of an inclusive religious vision that urged Americans to build beloved communities. That power is still available to us.
Despite Trump’s narrow election victory, most Americans are skeptical of his team’s plan to dismantle protections for workers, families, and communities and give irresponsible corporations and powerful billionaires more power over our lives. I believe you will not support .
I believe that millions of American Christians will see any effort to reverse progress toward dignity and equality for all people as a betrayal of the example and teachings of Jesus whom Jimmy Carter revered.
Carter reminded me of another great American, Norman Lear. He was the founder of my organization, People for the American Way. He was born two years before Carter and died one year before him.
Lear saw how authoritarian religious right movements could threaten freedom and equality in a multicultural country like ours. Lear, who was Jewish, worked to preserve secular government and maintain separation of church and state.
At the same time, he believed it would be a mistake for progressive leaders not to speak more openly about how their faith and values motivate their work to build a just and inclusive society. This has created a space for right-wing charlatans and Christian nationalists to falsely claim the moral superiority of policies that exclude and harm others, and to falsely claim that they represent the only authentic voice of faith.
Jimmy Carter was proof otherwise. He showed us a different way.
He was a devoted Christian committed to the idea that political and religious leaders should work to build a society where everyone can achieve their dreams. Millions of us, regardless of religion, share that vision.
It’s no surprise that a death like Jimmy Carter’s feels like the end of an era to many, especially at the beginning of the coming changes in Washington. But another era always begins. New generations are always taking responsibility and leadership.
Now is our time.
Chairman Svante Myrick American-oriented people.
