Our Endangered Values : America's Moral Crisis

Our Endangered Values : America's Moral Crisis Jimmy Carter Date: 01 November, 2005   —   $15.00   —   Book product page Rating:

I couldn't help reading this book with the accent: Owa Endaynjud Val-yewwwz. Seriously though, whatever you think of Carter as President, there's no denying he's a spiritual and moral guy. When he talks about these subjects, I listen.

First, I just want to point out that the only reason I gave this book four stars instead of five is because I was hoping for more fire and brimstone from a Baptist.

This is a really important book if you want to know why some so-called Christians are supportive of torture, the death penalty, keeping women subservient to men, ignoring the poor and less fortunate, and railing against science and medical procedures that save lives and ease suffering, And Carter -- instead of ranting and frothing at the mouth about it -- presents the explanation in a rational and objective "you decide" manner.

One really interesting thing I learned about Carter: he broke his Baptist congregation away from the Southern Baptist Convention because they became too fundamentalist and too anxious to break the Constitutional wall between separation of church and state. That gives him a truck-load of street cred in my book. Here's a guy who is serious about practicing what he preaches.

One of the best quotes in the book:

Narrowly defined theological beliefs have been adopted as the rigid agenda of a political party. Powerful lobbyists, both inside and outside the government, have distorted an admirable American belief in free enterprise into the right of extremely rich citizens to accumulate and retain more and more wealth and pass all of it on to descendants. Profits from stock trading and income from dividends are being given privileged tax status compared to the wages earned by schoolteachers and firemen.