A Life of Service

With Rosalynn Carter’s funeral this week, I’ve been thinking about the legacy of the Carters. I’ve always admired them. They demonstrated how Christian politicians should be—concerned for the poor, focused on peace, and placing their values above greed or power.

Jimmy Carter may not have been the most effective or most popular president, but I think he may be the most admirable ex-president. From divesting from his peanut farm to avoid any semblance of conflict of interest to negotiating the famous Camp David Accords to devoting his later years to building houses and Bible studies, he’s been a role model in a world where good role models seem harder and harder to find.

Jimmy and Rosalynn are also a wonderful example of love. Jimmy’s mother was Rosalynn’s delivery nurse, so they literally knew once another her entire life. They married right after he graduated from the Naval Academy, and they celebrated 77 years of marriage. Jimmy spoke and wrote adoringly of Rosalynn. “Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished… As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me,” he said after her death.

Jimmy described himself as a born-again Christian. He first became a deacon at his Baptist church in 1942. He spoke openly about his faith in the 1976 presidential campaign, but it doesn’t seem like his faith was merely performative politics. He said he was influenced by a sermon he had heard as a young man that asked, “If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” He was known to pray several times a day and led Sunday School at his church into his 90s. Carter’s faith clearly influenced his priorities and decisions in politics—care for the poor, work for human rights, and aversion to violent conflicts, especially nuclear armament. In 2002 he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his continued effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts and to advance democracy for human rights. 

Ironically (or maybe not so ironically) Carter lost his run for a second term due in large part to the evangelical vote. The “moral majority” of 1980 started the strong branding of Christianity and the Republican Party. A Christian president, very open about his evangelical-style faith, lost to the divorced Hollywood star. It’s always seemed so bizarre to me.

We need more leaders like Jimmy Carter. We need more examples of partnership like him and Rosalynn. We need discussion of ethics, role models, and faith in action playing a part in our political landscape. It feels more and more people prefer a “winner,” regardless of how he actually is as a man. We should be willing to lose if winning means selling your soul. We should be ready to lead with moral conviction if called. We should find ways to serve morally wherever life finds us. Sometimes the good man loses the battle. But if he stays true to the faith, he will win the war. That’s the lesson I’ve learned from the Carters.