Opinion: Why Jimmy Carter’s Life Should Make The Christian Right Feel Ashamed
By identifying their politics so closely with current culture wars like abortion and LGBTQ issues, Republicans today—whether moderate or MAGA, party leaders or firebrand activists—seek to reinforce what many consider a truism in American politics: Being a devout Christian is synonymous with being a conservative, and that Christian faith drives conservatism.
Therein lies one of the major problems for those of us who care about the role of faith in American culture. And it’s why former President Jimmy Carter’s legacy should inspire reflection and action, particularly following his death today at the age of 100.
As a person of faith, I have been horrified to watch Christianity’s fall from grace in mainstream America today. Having mentioned my church in passing to a group of peers, I was once recently met with surprise—surprise that I’m a practicing Christian because, I “seem like a nice person.” I’m no biblical scholar, but I’m pretty sure that if people conflate your religion with being a terrible human being you’re probably doing it wrong. Yet in recent years that has arguably become the face of mainstream Christianity, and any Christian who cares about the future of our faith should be deeply concerned.
According to Pew Research, the number of Americans identifying as Christians has been on a decline for years. Fifty years ago 90 percent of Americans identified as Christians. As of 2020 that number was just over 60 percent. It’s worth noting that there has been a rapid 12-percent decline in the last decade.
Furthermore, the number of Americans identifying as agnostic or atheist has risen from 17 percent to 26 percent since 2009. In a 2023 New York Times column, Nicholas Kristof quoted the authors of the book The Great Dechurching as saying, “More people have left the church in the last 25 years than all the new people who became Christians from the First Great Awakening, Second Great Awakening and Billy Graham crusades combined.”
I certainly don’t believe every American needs to identify as Christian. The founding of our country is intrinsically linked to religious freedom. What does concern me is the number of people fleeing organized religion because they view it as a source of harm. Seeing the way faith has been wielded as a political weapon for much of the last few years speaks to that.
Then Donald Trump came along and made things even messier. Despite his many wives, affairs, and on-the-record advocacy of sexual assault, Trump somehow became the Christian right’s flag-bearer.
Make it make sense, as the kids say.
Now, if Christianity is synonymous with perfection, I wouldn’t be allowed in a church myself. But it is supposed to embody striving for certain qualities in your daily life, among them kindness, generosity of spirit, certain standards of morality and the accountability that comes with that, along with honesty, forgiveness and love.
Jimmy Carter tried so hard to live up to these standards during his time in the public eye that he was often mocked. During a notorious interview with Playboy, for example, Carter’s acknowledgment that he had lusted after other women, and considered it a form of adultery, was shocking—but seems downright quaint now. (He and his wife Rosalynn were the longest wedded first couple, enjoying 77 years of marriage.)
Of course, in the same way plenty of Republicans play up their faith when they are trying to win the GOP nomination, plenty of Democrats never set foot in a Black church unless it’s an election year. By comparison, Carter regularly taught Sunday School in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, until his declining health made it impossible for him to continue doing so. Unlike other former politicians who chase fame and wealth, he found his calling in carpentry—just like a certain Christian leader—and spent decades building homes for the less fortunate with Habitat for Humanity.
Carter was followed into the White House by Ronald Reagan, who though known for being an early supporter of gay rights and abortion access as governor of California, became a conservative icon thanks to his alliance with the Christian right. A narrative took hold then that continues to dominate politics: Proud Christians are conservatives. Bill Clinton’s shameless behavior and lack of contrition during the Lewinsky scandal seemed to reinforce this, but it was also during that era that the hypocrisy of so many Christian conservatives came into full view. Many conservative Clinton critics carried similar baggage themselves. (Did I mention Newt Gingrich?)
In my documentary Reversing Roe, evangelical leaders explained that abortion was essentially the most important political issue, trumping all the others. (Personally, I have a hard time interpreting my faith as being one in which we should celebrate a 13-year-old rape survivor being forced to give birth because politicians calling themselves Christians believe she should.) But let’s say they were right and that justified their support of Trump in 2016. How do they explain their loyalty to him now—and while Mike Pence, who is by all accounts a far more devout man than Trump, is booed at a conservative Christian event because he actually adhered to the standards of his faith on Jan. 6, 2021.
It was a diverse coalition of clergy, including Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Christian pastors and priests of all races, who led the Civil Rights Movement here in America. I think it is time for Christians who do not identify with the Donald Trumps of the world to take back our faith, and champion candidates—of all parties—who uphold the standards or our faith instead of those just saying that they do.
Because just think of how much better our world would be if our leaders walked the walk like Jimmy Carter did so beautifully, instead of just talking the talk.
