Faith in What

Review by Bill Doughty

A former president of the United States compares his faith and "commitment to a higher calling" to his time in the Navy, especially on deployment. Jimmy Carter contemplated death and eternity while served during the Korean War.

"It is difficult to explain, but I found this sense of inevitability and acceptance to be most similar to my feelings as a young submarine officer, when everyone who served in the military had to accommodate the prospect of potential death. We had a remarkable sense of liberation when we left our home port for a wartime cruise. The multitude of life's routine responsibilities and worries could be forgotten, with our concerns limited to those duties within the narrow confines of the submarine hull. Our written monthly reports concerning personnel and equipment were in abeyance until we returned, and even the cherished duties of a husband and father were left behind. I would be with seventy-one other men for a pre-ordained time and, of necessity, I had faith in the abilities and steadfastness of my fellow crewmen. The duties were onerous but, except for unforeseen crises within the ship, they were routine and predictable. The simplicity of this life was surprisingly satisfying. I dealt with potential concerns, even the possibility of tragedy, by focusing on my immediate duties, realizing that all results could not be under my control. On the ship, we all knew that a few dozen special people shared a special bond, each depending on all the others."

Carter's service in the Navy is brought up several times in "Faith: A Journey for All" (Simon & Schuster, 2018). It's an easy, introspective book with deeply personal thoughts, serving as another stream-of-consciousness memoir by the 39th president and a discourse on the meaning of faith. He writes, "My faith in other people, concepts and things ... (and) my faith as a Christian has provided necessary stability."

Among the concepts he values are peace, truthfulness, equality and justice. He says, "Regardless of our wealth, education, or other blessings, each of us can decide whether we want to be kind or cruel, generous or selfish, humble or proud, truthful or a liar, peaceful or combative, and loving or hateful." 

This book is a fascinating exploration what it means to be faithful and truthful, and how someone can balance facts revealed by science with beliefs in Christianity today.

Midshipman Jimmy Carter

"There is a difference between reasoning and believing," Carter explains, "but both can lead to faith. 'Faith' usually means belief either in a doctrine that we accept as truth or in a truth that is self-evident."

"The importance of telling the truth has been deeply engrained in me, first by my father and then at the U.S. Naval Academy. Daddy always reserved his most severe disapproval for any of us children who made a false statement to him or my mother. At Annapolis, we midshipmen all know that any revealed lie would be punished by instant dismissal."

Carter recounts growing up in the segregated South in Plains, Georgia, where white students rode to school in buses and black children had to walk, and where – even one hundred years after the Civil War – "only white adults were permitted to vote and to serve on juries."

"The next event that affected me directly was when I was a submarine officer and President Harry Truman ordained as commander in chief that all our military forces and the U.S. Civil Service end racial segregation. There was no trouble in implementing this command, and all of us on the ship saw the advantages gained by both black and white members of the crew. When our family returned home from the navy in 1953, this commitment to racial equality had become a part of our lives."

As in his other writings, Carter recounts his relationship with one of his mentors, Adm. Hyman Rickover, father of the nuclear Navy.

"I never discussed religious faith with him," Carter writes, "but Rickover had exemplary faith in his own ability and judgment, the value of tenacity, and the ultimate triumph of scientific facts."

Carter cites the influence of theologians such as Reinhold Niebuhr, author of "Justice and Mercy," along with evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould, author of "Rocks of Ages." Carter writes:

"The basic moral codes that shape and control our lives are the results of the laws of evolution; they have not varied for ages, and we know that their preservation is always dependent on transmission from one generation to the next. Primarily because of the tools and weapons that ensure our dominance, our physical development of strength and agility is no longer important in competition with other animals for survival. This means that the course of ascending evolution will be shaped by whether we learn to cooperate in doing what is good for each other instead of how we can prevail over others in combat. I believe this means that humans will have to evolve and implement fair and equitable treatment among ourselves, which could come close to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, along with the Bible's Ten Commandments and moral verses in the Koran, Carter says, can provide guidance for the future. Other major world religions from the East, such as Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism, are barely mentioned if at all in "Faith," which makes Carter's argument for inclusionary religion curious.

Carter visits USS Carl Vinson in 2013. (MCSN Iain Stratton)

He acknowledges a personal interpretation of what may be fallible or infallible in scriptures, including in subjects such as women's rights, race and homosexuality. And he recognizes that his Christian orientation toward religion is rooted in his family and place of birth and in individual choice. "When there are apparent discrepancies I decide what to believe."

Faith, he says, is innate to all humans, and it comes in many forms.

"The first absolute faith that most of us developed was in our mothers, as we suckled at their breasts or relished the warmth of their protective bodies. Even as a child, I soon acquired faith in my father and later in my siblings, my teachers, some other relatives, and then a few of my close friends and playmates. I evolved faith in myself, with an increasing awareness of my own limitations. Later came faith in the U.S. Navy and fellow crew members on my submarine, plus things to which I was devoted during my career: democracy, freedom, and the ideals shared by citizens of the United States; service to others, justice, equality and truth."

Carter's Christian faith is one of tolerance and acceptance as well as action. His "higher calling" is service to others and living an honorable life. The former president says Jesus Christ is "a constant source of reassurance, strength and guidance" in finding a purpose in life and in combating the Seven Deadly Sins: "lust, gluttony, greed, laziness, wrath, envy and pride."

Committed to peace, Carter nevertheless acknowledges the need for a strong defense. "Although the life-and-death power I held as commander in chief was sobering, I was and am convinced of the moral rightness of maintaining America's military strength."

This book includes an op-ed by Carter from March 2003 just before the war in Iraq: "Just War – or a Just War."  And it comes with a recommended bibliography with works by Gould, Niebuhr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Clarence Jordan, Richard Kroner, Barbara Brown Taylor, Paul Tillich and others. Carter is a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Seawolf-class fast-attack submarine USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23) transits the Hood Canal, Sept. 11, 2017, as the boat returns home to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. Jimmy Carter is the last and most advanced of the Seawolf-class attack submarines. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Cmdr. Michael Smith/Released)