Photoshock:

I am pretty much in your same situation regarding my former fundamentalist church.

A closed mind is not the devil’s workshop.  He knows he has already done his work there so he needs not linger.

hello. President Carter, my favorite humanitarian. had this man come to his senses before being elected: he may have had far more support. i have always agreed with his point about personal interpretation of religious text being abused for gain. however, i have an opinion that- to each according to their abilities…; and to express the convoluted point of women being in the forefront of the battle for democracy in Iran, by handing their rocks to men to throw them; exemplifies my rationale. women deserve equality where performance merits it. they get exalted for treading where men cannot go; tarnish their pedestal where they do not belong. let boys throw stones. girls can influence behavior. girls do not want boys telling them how to act, they want to be allowed to act. male protection changes, from immediate to distant: as society develops; and women are more enabled to care for themselves. primitive cultures need to evolve.

Well and good for womens’ rights, but not a word about religious persecution of the LGBT community. That’s okay, we’re used to being ignored and invisible, and throughout Carter’s presidency homophobic street attacks were common, and he did nothing except possibly “sin in his heart.”

Bravo Jimmy Carter and kudos to Roslyn.

If more Christians(and Jews and Moslems and Hindus) were as honest and devoted to their faith, and to the good and healing side of their faith as Jimmy Carter is, I would have far less antipathy to religion.

Sadly, he, who is TRULY a model Christian, is a very, VERY rare person.  For every Jimmy Carter there are a thousand Pat Robertsons.

President Carter, like all the ‘Elders’ is a man of vision and integrity. We all, listen when men and women such as the ‘group of elders’ speak, for they speak from a position of knowledge and experience.
Real Christianity, and real religion, demands that people treat one another as equals, one not subservient to the other. We, men, have perverted the equality of women to the point that women were and are still thought of as chattel and treated as such in many countries.
Too many times, I have personally encountered this prejudice in my fellow christians, I have disassociated myself from many of the christian fundamentalist ilk, because of their lack of empathy and sympathy for the plight of women all over the world, and especially in the U.S.
In the Southern Baptist Convention, women may be missionaries in foreign countries, this entails them acting in the capacity of teacher, preacher and pastor. Yet, here in America, the land of opportunity
and freedom, women are subjected to the most stringent and ridiculous rules regarding their actions within the confines of the church.
It is without regret that I have chosen to be an outsider from the ‘flock’ of sheeple, no one can tell me that women are not equal to men in all capacities within the walls of the church. To this day, many of my ex-friends still will not contact me,
let alone talk to me, for my outspokenness in regards to issues such as this. Should any of you run across this prejudice and predilection within the confines of the church, my suggestion is to turn and run away as fast as you can from that place. For if not, you too will be subjected to the kind of prejudice and closemindedness that pervades the churches of the world.

“When Jimmy Carter talks, people listen!”

Hey Dubya.  This is what a real Christian looks like!