Cal Thomas: A life of faith

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, January 1st. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast. Up next, commentator Cal Thomas on the life and faith of America’s 39th president.

CAL THOMAS: When Jimmy Carter began attending the First Baptist Church in Washington after becoming president, I thought it a unique opportunity to better understand his faith. He taught a Sunday School class as he had done for years in his native Plains, Georgia and I joined it.

Carter was an excellent teacher. He knew the Scriptures well and on one occasion he asked me to teach the class, which was an experience I shall never forget.

After the service, we went downstairs for coffee. There was a basket on the table for people to pay twenty-five cents for the beverage. Carter reached in his pocket and found no money. He asked wife Rosalynn if she had brought any change. She had not. I said “How far have we declined when the President of the United States can’t pay for coffee?” I gave him a quarter and he laughed.

Years later after he had left the presidency we met at a function and I reminded him of that time in the church basement. He reached in his pocket and this time had a quarter which he handed to me and said “we’re even.” I kept that quarter on my desk for years, unable to prove he gave it to me, but we both knew.

When Carter announced during the 1976 presidential campaign that he was a born again Christian, most of the media were flummoxed. John Chancellor of NBC News announced that he had looked up the term and “it is nothing new.” If he had read the Bible that Carter read he would have known this. Carter’s announcement and faithful church attendance attracted many newly energized evangelical voters which helped him defeat Gerald Ford in the November election.

By 1980 most of those voters had abandoned him in favor of Ronald Reagan, not because they necessarily doubted Carter’s declaration of faith, but because they disagreed with his application of it. Carter had made Sarah Weddington part of his administration. Weddington was the attorney who argued Roe vs. Wade before the Supreme Court, resulting in the overturning of all state election laws restricting the procedure. He also hosted a “White House Conference on Families,” which included same-sex couples, anathema to most conservative Christians.

No one should question the sincerity of another person’s faith, but its application is fair game for analysis. Mark Tooley of the Institute for Religion and Democracy says Carter’s faith was more in line with liberal Protestantism: “Although he professed admiration for Christian realist Reinhold Niebuhr, Carter’s accommodation of foreign adversaries, pseudo-pacifism, undermining of allies, and endless faith in personal diplomacy all more resembled the Religious Left’s utopian aspirations. It’s appropriate that Carter’s controversial UN Ambassador, Andrew Young, whom he removed for prematurely meeting PLO chief Yasir Arafat, later served as president of the National Council of Churches,” a theologically and politically liberal organization.

In 1979 at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Roman Catholic Bishop Fulton J. Sheen began his remarks this way: “Fellow sinners.” Turning to Carter, he added “and that includes you Mr. President.” Carter laughed along with the audience.

Carter’s faithfulness in church attendance inspired many who had given up the practice to return to Sunday worship. He focused on human rights as president and helped build houses for the poor after leaving office—two things in line with Jesus’s commands. He was a man of good character, kindness, and mercy. He expressed other characteristics Scripture calls “fruits of the spirit.” Whether you agreed with its application or not, his faith was genuine.

He also paid his debts. The quarter he gave me proves it.

I’m Cal Thomas.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.