This is going to be a short diary, but I saw this headline today and thought I'd share.
Jimmy Carter sat down with the Huffington Post to talk about the Bible and his new book, NIV Lessons from Life Bible: Personal Reflections with Jimmy Carter. In passing, he also endorsed civil marriage equality for gays and lesbians. In response to a question about gay acceptance in the church and society, the former President had this to say:
Homosexuality was well known in the ancient world, well before Christ was born and Jesus never said a word about homosexuality. In all of his teachings about multiple things -– he never said that gay people should be condemned. I personally think it is very fine for gay people to be married in civil ceremonies.
I draw the line, maybe arbitrarily, in requiring by law that churches must marry people. I’m a Baptist, and I believe that each congregation is autonomous and can govern its own affairs. So if a local Baptist church wants to accept gay members on an equal basis, which my church does by the way, then that is fine. If a church decides not to, then government laws shouldn’t require them to.
I'm a little puzzled by the last part of his statement. Nobody is making the demand that churches be forced to do anything, and surely Carter knows that. But, that being said, I think it's great that the former President is on the record supporting marriage equality.
And this was the religious candidate in 1976.
I'm sure this isn't a completely new stance. In a 2005 interview with Fox News, he came close:
My own belief is that there should be a distinction between so-called gay marriages, which I look upon as a possibility of a church-ordained blessing of God on a union, which I think should be between a man and a woman. But at the same time, that people who do have gay union in a court or in secular terms not relating to religion, should be treated with complete equality.
But it now seems that he's completed his "evolution." Way to go, Mr. President!
With both Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton on the side of marriage equality, there's one obvious "evolution" left. And no, I'm not talking about W's.