Well, I guess Jimmy Carter was too good a person to be dragged into 2025.

As a somewhat  prominent (or at least adamant) atheist, people might wonder what I thought of Jimmy Carter. Personally, I loved the guy. He was the kind of Christian that I could really respect. He was a Christian who lived by the words of the Beatitudes, and not the Ten Commandments (which, in any case, is Moses and not Jesus).

Carter post-presidential career is legendary, and is essentially the model for what a post-presidential career can be. 

And Carter is also a model for what a Christian can be. I would most likely still disagree with him on the specifics of his belief, but I cannot argue with him about how he comported himself as a Christian and ex-President.

As a President, Carter had his limitations. He had some bad luck (like when the attempt to rescue the hostages misfired), which was not his fault. He was a bit of a micro-manager, and here he could have taken a page from Ronald Reagan’s playbook and set broad policy and let his subordinates work out the details. He was inexperienced, having served only four years in the Georgia State Senate, and four years as Georgia Governor. He clearly benefited from being almost the polar opposite of Tricky Dick Nixon. 

And finally, it’s also pretty clear that Carter got jobbed when Reagan administration officials conducted secret negotiations with the Iranians to ensure that the hostages were finally released on the day of Reagan’s inauguration. Would it have changed the outcome of the election? Probably not. But it’s more of a “stolen election” than anything that Trump was subjected to in 2020.

In any case, Carter was the kind of Christian I can respect. Authentic, sincere, and not a hypocrite. Unlike the followers of #45, who clearly cannot recognize a Christian when they see one.