Editorial

EDITOR'S NOTE: President Carter responded to this editorial in a Dec. 9 letter to Florida Baptist Witness Executive Editor James A. Smith Sr.

As far as Jimmy Carter is concerned, Adrian Rogers and Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini are like-minded fanatics and, although each claims a different brand of the dreaded fundamentalism that is sweeping our world, both are equally as dangerous. This is the inescapable of conclusion of any reasonable person who has read Carter’s new book, Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis.

What’s truly sad about this book, however, is that Carter tarnishes the life of one of Southern Baptists’ most admired leaders in an attempt to prove his point, relying on a private comment Adrian Rogers supposedly made to Carter in 1979 – which Rogers later disputed to Carter – in order to buttress his argument.

In the chapter, “The Rise of Religious Fundamentalism,” Carter draws an astoundingly casual – and very harmful – comparison between the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention in the person of Adrian Rogers (without naming him) and Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini and the Islamic extremists he fomented to take hostage 52 Americans for 444 days. To read Carter, there is little consequential difference between Rogers and Khomeini.

After discussing the “disturbing trend toward fundamentalism” in the world which he experienced as president when Ayatollah Khomeini became Iran’s leader, Carter writes, “A few weeks before our hostages were seized in Iran, the newly elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention came to the Oval Office to visit me. This had been a routine ceremony for many years, especially when the president of the United States happened to be a Baptist. I congratulated him on his new position, and we spent a few minutes exchanging courtesies. As he and his wife were leaving, he said, ‘We are praying, Mr. President, that you will abandon secular humanism as your religion.’ This was a shock to me. I considered myself to be a loyal and traditional Baptist, and had no idea what he meant” (page 32).

In a Nov. 22 interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Carter is asked about the incident with Rogers. In response to the reporter’s question, “He said you were a secular humanist?” Carter replies, “Yes.”

There’s just one small problem with the now infamous Rogers’ quote – according to Adrian Rogers, he never said it! Incredibly, Carter continues to make the claim, even after Rogers disputed the story in correspondence and later in a face-to-face meeting with Carter – and even after Carter accepted Rogers’ denial.

Without referencing Carter’s book, which I did not know at the time included the account, I asked Rogers about the Oval Office incident in an Oct. 6 interview in Naples. The interview was one of Rogers’ last before his Nov. 15 death.

In my interview, Rogers spoke with great clarity about the secular humanism quote, noting that he first disputed the quote after Carter talked about it in address to the 2001 Cooperative Baptist Fellowship meeting. (According to a Baptist Press story, Carter told the CBF that Rogers said he was a secular humanist and urged him to return to Christianity. “I had no idea what this meant,” Carter said to the laughter of the audience.)

Rogers told me that he wrote a letter to Carter and categorically denied the account. According to Rogers, Carter defended the claim, but said that he would be willing to discuss the matter further with Rogers. Later, the two had a face-to-face meeting at The Carter Center in Atlanta.

In his interview with me, Rogers said he told Carter, “Mr. President, it is a heady thing for a Baptist preacher to be in the Oval Office” and “if I had had the cheek or temerity to say that, I will guarantee you I would have remembered it.” Rogers continued, recalling his statement to Carter, “I may have said going out the door, ‘We need to turn this nation back from secular humanism, back to its roots.’” He said further to Carter, “Now, unless you think I am a sheer fool, insane or [a] liar, I can tell you emphatically I didn’t say it. Had I said it, it would have been so etched in my consciousness.”

According to Rogers, Carter replied, “Very well, I accept that.”

While making clear his theological and political disagreements with Carter, Rogers went on to tell me that he respected Carter and expressed appreciation for a handwritten letter Carter sent him indicating he was praying for Rogers’ health. Rogers said he respected Carter as a “family man” who clearly “loves his wife,” lauded his work with Habitat for Humanity and praised Carter as a “peace-loving man.”

I contacted Carter’s press secretary at The Carter Center, first on Dec. 1 and again on Dec. 4, informing her of my interview with Rogers and his account of the disputed quote, and Rogers’ recollections of the correspondence and meeting between him and Carter. I provided excerpts of Rogers’ comments and asked for a statement from Carter in response. As we go to press Dec. 5, I have received no response.

Ever the lover of peace, Carter has attempted to bridge divisions among Baptists. In 1997 and 1998, Carter convened two meetings at The Carter Center in Atlanta with a theologically diverse group of Baptists, including Southern Baptists, which resulted in a joint statement urging, among other things, treating each other with mutual respect.

One portion of the statement is particularly relevant to Carter’s repeated use of Adrian Rogers’ comment and comparing him to Khomeini: “In response to the love of God that has been implanted in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we will treat each other with mutual respect as brothers and sisters in Christ. We will demonstrate this commitment in our personal devotions and public acts.”

Apparently, Carter’s signature to this statement does not prevent him from flippantly comparing Adrian Rogers to Ayatollah Khomeini – and using a disputed comment.

It’s unfortunate that Carter’s private kindness in sending Rogers a handwritten letter is now soiled by his cavalier use of the disputed secular humanism quote. For a man who has so highly valued peace – and was honored with the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts at peace – it’s disappointing that Jimmy Carter would continue to cite a quote that his brother in Christ has disputed.

Further, it’s incredibly irresponsible for Carter to compare Adrian Rogers, whose love of Christ and humanity compelled his preaching ministry sharing the Gospel with people around the world, with a totalitarian dictator in religious garb whose hate inspired the taking of American hostages and has lead to the deaths of countless people in Iran around the world.

Jimmy Carter owes Adrian Rogers an apology.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For further reflections on Carter’s new book, please see “Jimmy Carter’s endangered values” by R. Albert Mohler Jr. and “The SBC: A democracy Jimmy Carter cannot support” by Morris Chapman.