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I Think The Bible Is Completely Inspired By God In Its Overall Messages. But, For The People Of Those Days To Know What Was Going To Happen 4,000 Years Later In A World Of Astronomy Or Subatomic Particles. They Didn't Have Access To The Knowledge That We Presently Have About Geology. So, We Know Now That The World Was Created Many Of Billions Of Years Ago, 13 Or 14 Billion Years Ago. As Far As They Knew, The Earth Was The Center Of The Universe. They Thought That Stars Were Little Twinkling Things In The Sky Where As Now We Know Stars Are Very Distant And Much Larger Than The Earth.

-Jimmy Carter

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I Think The Bible

Jimmy Carter

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I Think The Bible Is Completely Inspired By God In Its Overall Messages. But, For The People Of Those Days To Know What Was Going To Happen 4,000 Years Later In A World Of Astronomy Or Subatomic Particles. They Didn't Have Access To The Knowledge That We Presently Have About Geology. So, We Know Now That The World Was Created Many Of Billions Of Years Ago, 13 Or 14 Billion Years Ago. As Far As They Knew, The Earth Was The Center Of The Universe. They Thought That Stars Were Little Twinkling Things In The Sky Where As Now We Know Stars Are Very Distant And Much Larger Than The Earth.

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Homosexuality Was Massively Practiced In Some Of The Conflicting Religions At The Time Of Christ And Even At The Time Of Christ, In Roman Times Show That Homosexuality Was Widely Prevalent. I Think It's Quite Significant That Jesus Never Did Mention It.

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Working Together

I've Looked On Many Women With Lust. I've Committed Adultery In My Heart Many Times. God Knows I Will Do This And Forgives Me.

This War Has Been Motivated By Pride Or Arrogance, By A Desire To Control Oil Wealth, By A Desire To Implant Our Programs. (talking About The Iraq War)

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I Just Look At Death As Not A Threat. It's Inevitable, And I Have An Assurance Of Eternal Life.

In The Final Analysis, True Justice Is Not A Matter Of Courts And Law Books, But Of A Commitment In Each Of Us To Liberty And Mutual Respect.

It Is Clear That Global Challenges Must Be Met With An Emphasis On Peace, In Harmony With Others, With Strong Alliances And International Consensus. Imperfect As It May Be, There Is No Doubt That This Can Best Be Done Through The United Nations, Not Merely To Preserve Peace But Also To Make Change, Even Radical Change, Without Violence.

We Know That A Peaceful World Cannot Long Exist, One-third Rich And Two-thirds Hungry.

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All I Want Is The Same Thing You Want. To Have A Nation With A Government That Is As Good And Honest And Decent And Competent And Compassionate And As Filled With Love As Are The American People.

The Love Of Liberty Is A Common Blood That Flows In Our American Veins.

I Believe That We Are Saved By The Grace Of God Because He Loves Us Provided That We Have Faith In Jesus Christ.

Wherever Life Takes Us, There Are Always Moments Of Wonder.

I Think There's An Awakening Now Of A Realization That We Too Early Congratulated Ourselves On The End Of Racial Prejudice And White Supremacy. And That Was A Feeling That We Had When I Was President, That We Had Pretty Much Overcome That Problem.

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The Bible And Studying The Bible Has Been An Important Part Of My Life.

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People In The United States, Including Me, Are Naturally Inclined To Support Israel. I'm An Evangelical Christian Who Teaches The Bible Every Sunday At My Church. I Teach Half The Old Testament And Half The New Testament. We Americans Identify The Hebrews, The Israelites, With Ourselves.

We've Uncovered Some Embarrassing Ancestors In The Not-too-distant Past. Some Horse Thieves, And Some People Killed On Saturday Nights. One Of My Relatives, Unfortunately, Was Even In The Newspaper Business.

I Believe Those Passages In The New Testament, Not By Jesus, But By Paul, That Say Women Should Not Adorn Themselves, They Should Always Wear Hats Or Color Their Hair In Church - Things Like That - I Think They Are Signs Of The Times And Should Not Apply To Modern-day Life.

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At The Carter Center We Work With Victims Of Oppression, And We Give Support To Human Rights Heroes.

I Am No Big Shot. I Am Not Anybody's Boss. I Want To Be Everybody's Servant.

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If You're Totally Illiterate And Living On One Dollar A Day, The Benefits Of Globalization Never Come To You.

In The United States, You Might Say Every County Has Got Its Own Separate System. There's Not Even One Kind Of Ballot That You Use All Over The United States. We Require That In A Foreign Country.

If Any Agreement Between Two Nations Is To Last, It Must Serve The Best Interests Of Both Nations.

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The Best Way To Enhance Freedom In Other Lands Is To Demonstrate Here That Our Democratic System Is Worthy Of Emulation.

I Believe That We Are Given An Order By Jesus. One Of The Last Things He Did Was To Spread The Word Of God And He Being The Basis For Our Salvation. Christians Are Supposed To Be Evangelicals. And I Am.

You Can Not Divorce Religious Belief And Public Service. I've Never Detected Any Conflict Between God's Will And My Political Duty. If You Violate One, You Violate The Other.

"adjust To Changing Times But Sticking To Unchanging Principles" - Committing Me And All Americans To Real Ideals Of Justice And Truth, No Matter What Difficulties Faced Us.

I'm Going To Stay Active As Long As I Can Politically, And With The Carter Center Primarily, And If I'm Able Mentally And Physically, Will Continue To Be Quite Active.

To Be True To Ourselves, We Must Be True To Others.

God Always Answers Prayers. Sometimes It's 'yes.' Sometimes The Answer Is 'no.' Sometimes It's 'you Gotta Be Kidding.

I'm 86, And Too Old To Be President.

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The Decision To Attack The Entire Nation [of Yugoslavia] Has Been Counterproductive, And Our Destruction Of Civilian Life Has Now Become Senseless And Excessively Brutal. ... The United States' Insistence On The Use Of Cluster Bombs, Designed To Kill Or Maim Humans, Is Condemned Almost Universally And Brings Discredit On Our Nation (as Does Our Refusal To Support A Ban On Land Mines). Even For The World's Only Superpower, The Ends Don't Always Justify The Means.

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Whatever Starts In California Unfortunately Has An Inclination To Spread.

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We Are A Purely Idealistic Nation But Let No One Confuse Our Idealism With Weakness.

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I Don't Believe That Jesus Would Approve Abortion Except In The Case Of Incest, Rape Or The Mother's Life In Danger. But I Had To Enforce The Supreme Court Ruling On Roe V. Wade So I Tried To Do Everything I Could To Minimize The Need For Abortions.

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When I Ran, I Didn't Have Any Money. Now, It Requires Raising Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars Just To Get The Nomination, And I Don't Care To Be Involved In That Process.

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We Become Not A Melting Pot But A Beautiful Mosaic. Different People, Different Beliefs, Different Yearnings, Different Hopes, Different Dreams.

The Truth Is That Male Religious Leaders Have Had - And Still Have - An Option To Interpret Holy Teachings Either To Exalt Or Subjugate Women. They Have, For Their Own Selfish Ends, Overwhelmingly Chosen The Latter.

I Feel That My Role As A Former President Is Probably Superior To That Of Other Presidents. Primarily Because Of The Activism And The Injection Of Working At The Carter Center, And In International Affairs, And To Some Degree, Domestic Affairs, On Energy Conservation, On Environment, And Things Of That Kind.

We Have The Deepest Respect And Reverence For Islam And All Who Share The Faith Of Islam.

The Bottom Line Is This: Peace Will Come To Israel And The Middle East Only When The Israeli Government Is Willing To Comply With International Law, With The Roadmap For Peace, With Official American Policy, With The Wishes Of A Majority Of Its Own Citizens - And Honor Its Own Previous Commitments - By Accepting Its Legal Borders. All Arab Neighbors Must Pledge To Honor Israel's Right To Live In Peace Under These Conditions.

But I Am Not Discouraged. I Do Not Despair For Our Country. I Believe Tonight, As I Always Have, That The Essential Decency, Compassion And Common Sense Of The American People Will Prevail.

[jerry Brown] Is California's Way Of Celebrating The Year Of The Child.

The Founding Of Our Nation Was More Than A Political Event; It Was An Act Of Faith, A Promise To Americans And To The Entire World. The Declaration Of Independence Declared That People Can Govern Themselves, That They Can Live In Freedom With Equal Rights, That They Can Respect The Rights Of Others.

Inspirational Life

On Both Of My Major Trips To North Korea, The Leaders Of The Country Made It Plain That They Want To Make Progress Towards Doing Away With Nuclear Weapons And Towards Ending The Longstanding, Official State Of War Which Persists Between North Korea And The United States And South Korea, A War Which Has Continued Since The Ceasefire Over Fifty Years Ago. That Sort Of Thing Happens Quite Often When We Meet With People Who Are Kind Of International Outcasts With Whom The Government Of The United States Won't Meet.

Unfortunately, After Sept. 11, There Was An Outburst In America Of Intense Suffering And Patriotism, And The Bush Administration Was Very Shrewd And Effective In Painting Anyone Who Disagreed With The Policies As Unpatriotic Or Even Traitorous.

Go Out On A Limb. That's Where The Fruit Is.

I Am Not Here As A Public Official, But As A Citizen Of A Troubled World Who Finds Hope In A Growing Consensus That The Generally Accepted Goals Of Society Are Peace, Freedom, Human Rights, Environmental Quality, The Alleviation Of Suffering, And The Rule Of Law.

When You Invade Grenada, Or When You Invade Panama To Capture A Disreputable Person, Or When You Bomb The Bosnia Area, You Can Always Find Justification For Those Military Actions, But It's Really Surprising How Many Times In Those 25 Years - That's A Long Time - The United States Has Interceded, I Wouldn't Say Most Of The Time Militarily, But A Lot Of Those Have Been Military Actions.

I'm A Peanut Farmer At Heart, Still Grow Peanuts On My Farm In Georgia.

In The Bible Homosexuality Is Condemned, But Along With Divorce And Greed And Callousness Toward Poor People. So Its Elevation To A Highest Priority Among Some Religious Groups Has Been Very Disturbing To Me.

Let Us Learn Together And Laugh Together And Work Together And Pray Together, Confident That In The End We Will Triumph Together In The Right.

Working Together

I Would Say The Biggest Handicap We Have Right Now Is Some Nutcases In Our Country That Don't Believe In Global Warming. I Think They Are Going To Change Their Position Because Of Pressure From Individuals, Because The Evidence Of The Ravages Of Global Warming Is Already There.

We've Got To Stop Crying And Start Sweating, Stop Talking And Start Walking, Stop Cursing And Start Praying. The Strength We Need Will Not Come From The White House, But From Every House In America.

The Stronger The Ties That Bind Us To God, The More Likely We Are To Live, React, And Behave In Harmony With...greater Joy, Peace, And Happiness.

Each Of Us Must Rededicate Ourselves To Serving The Common Good. We Are A Community. Our Individual Fates Are Linked; Our Futures Intertwined; And If We Act In That Knowledge And In That Spirit Together, As The Bible Says: "we Can Move Mountains."

(doctors) Collectively Have Done More To Block Adequate Medical Care For People Of This Country Than Any Other Single Group.

I Don't Think The Tea Party People Are Racist, Except Maybe A Tiny Portion Of Them. But There Has Been A Deliberate Effort - Again, Referring To Fox Broadcasting - To Inject The Race Issue Into It. They Have Actually Called Obama A Racist On Television.

We Have Been Involved In More Wars, On A Bilateral Basis, Since The United Nations Was Formed Than Any Other Country By Far.

It Is Often Just As Important To Be Perceived As Something As Actually To Be That Something And, As A Matter Of Fact, A Candidate Need Not Be Anything Ideologically At All.

It's Politically Impossible For Any Member Of Congress To Make A Public Statement Condemning Or Criticizing The Policies Of Israel. It Would Be Political Suicidal For Them To Do So.

We Have The Heaviest Concentration Of Lawyers On Earth -- One For Every Five-hundred Americans; Three Times As Many As Are In England, Four Times As Many As Are In West Germany, Twenty-one Times As Many As There Are In Japan. We Have More Litigation, But I Am Not Sure That We Have More Justice. No Resources Of Talent And Training In Our Own Society, Even Including The Medical Care, Is More Wastefully Or Unfairly Distributed Than Legal Skills. Ninety Percent Of Our Lawyers Serve 10 Percent Of Our People. We Are Over-lawyered And Under-represented.

During The 1960s, We Used Twice As Much Oil As During The 1950s. And In Each Of Those Decades, More Oil Was Consumed Than In All Of Mankind's Previous History.

I Want To Stress Again That Human Rights Are Not Peripheral To The Foreign Policy Of The United States. Our Pursuit Of Human Rights Is Part Of A Broad Effort To Use Our Great Power And Our Tremendous Influence In The Service Of Creating A Better World, A World In Which Human Beings Can Live In Peace, In Freedom, And With Their Basic Needs Adequately Met.

I Can't Really Criticize The Tea Party People, Because I Came Into The White House Pretty Much On The Same Basis That They Have Become Popular. That Is Dissatisfaction With The Way Things Are Going In Washington And Disillusionment And Disencouragement About The Government.

No Poor, Rural, Weak, Or Black Person Should Ever Again Have To Bear The Additional Burden Of Being Deprived Of The Opportunity For An Education, A Job, Or Simple Justice.

Our Goals Are Also The Same, To Have A Just System Of Economics And Politics, To Let The People Of The World Share In Growth, In Peace, In Personal Freedom, And In The Benefits To Be Derived From The Proper Utilization Of Natural Resources. We Believe In Enhancing Human Rights. We Believe That We Should Enhance, As Independent Nations, The Freedom Of Our Own People.

I Come Out Of The Environment Of The Deep South, Where I Had Seen The Millstone Of Racial Discrimination Weighting Down My People, Both The Black People And The White People; And I Had Seen The Enormous Progress That We Were Able To Make After We Removed The Legal Restraints Of A Two-class Society, With The Whites Superior And Blacks Inferior. So I Was Very Convinced Before I Became President That Basic Human Rights, Equality Of Opportunity, The End Of Abuse By Governments Of Their People, Was A Basic Principle On Which The United States Should Be An Acknowledged Champion.

At The Beginning Of This Year Also, I Called Upon The North Korean Side To Open Dialog Between The Responsible Authorities Of The South And The North At Any Place, At Any Time, And At Any Level, In Order To Prevent A Recurrence Of War And To Cooperate To Speed Up The Peaceful Unification Of Our Fatherland. However, No Sincere Response Has Yet Been Made By North Korea.

The Reduction Of Nuclear Arsenals And The Removal Of The Threat Of Worldwide Nuclear Destruction Is A Measure, In My Judgment, Ofthe Power And Strength Of A Great Nation.

One Of My Greatest Pleasures Is Being On The Farmland That's Been In The Family Since 1833.

Greatest Pleasures

Well, As You Know, There Are Many Things In Life That Are Not Fair, That Wealthy People Can Afford And Poor People Cant. But I Dont Believe That The Federal Government Should Take Action To Try To Make These Opportunities Exactly Equal, Particularly When There Is A Moral Factor Involved.

We Consider These Settlements To Be Contrary To The Geneva Convention, That Occupied Territory Should Not Be Changed By Establishment Of Permanent Settlements By The Occupying Power.

I Believed What My Father Taught Me About The Separation Of Church And State, So When I Was President I Never Invited Billy Graham To Have Services In The White House Because I Didn't Think That Was Appropriate. He Was Injured A Little Bit, Until I Explained It To Him.

Communicating Our Questions, Hopes, And Fears In Prayer Makes Them-even To Ourselves-more Open And Clear.

The Awareness That Health Is Dependent Upon Habits That We Control Makes Us The First Generation In History That To A Large Extent Determines Its Own Destiny.

The World Is Safer Without Saddam [hussein]. Certainly The People Of Iraq Are Better Without Saddam.

We Only Have To Recall The Color Of The Faces Of Those Who Were Most Devastated By Katrina, To Know That There Are Not Yet Equal Opportunities For All Americans.

I Enjoyed Being President.

I Began To Expand My Personal Service In The Church, And To Search More Diligently For A Closer Relationship With God Among My Different Business, Professional And Political Interests.

I Remember The Last Three Days That I Was President, I Never Went To Bed At All. I Never Went To Bed Until We Had Negotiated The Final Release Of The Hostages.

There Were Two Unpleasant Surprises [about Washington]. One Was The Inertia Of Congress, The Length Of Time It Takes To Get A Complicated Piece Of Legislation Through ... And The Other Was The Irresponsibility Of The Press.

There Was Promulgation Of False Propaganda By The Administration About The Existence Of Weapons Of Mass Destruction In Iraq. There Was Promulgation Of False Propaganda About Iraq As A Base For Al Qaeda.

Mass Destruction

The North Korean Communists Are Implacably Pursuing Their Military Buildup In Defiance Of The International Trend Toward Rapprochement And Of The Stark Reality Of The Korean Situation, As Well As Of The Long-cherished Aspiration Of The 50 Million Koreans. The North Koreans Have Already Constructed A Number Of Underground Invasion Tunnels Across The Demilitarized Zone.

We Simply Must Balance Our Demand For Energy With Our Rapidly Shrinking Resources. By Acting Now We Can Control Our Future Instead Of Letting The Future Control Us.

I Enjoy Walking By Myself On The Same Paths Where, As A Little Boy, I Delighted In Following My Father Around.

I Don't Believe That China, In My Lifetime Or Maybe My Children's Lifetime, Be Equal To The United States Militarily Speaking, But They Are Very Careful To Avoid Any Engagement In War, They Are Basically A Peaceful Country, Which Gives Them Another Advantage Over The United States When We Are Much More Inclined To Go To War For Various Reasons.

Christmas Has Been A Season Of Mixed Interests And Meanings, But The Very Foundation, Of Course, Is Its Religious Significance. No Matter What Other Personal Desires Or Crises We Have Faced, I've Never Forgotten That This Is The Time To Celebrate The Birth Of The Baby Jesus, And The Impact Of This Event On The History Of The World.

I Would Like People To Remember That I Kept The Peace When I Was President And I Worked For Peace, That I Espoused Human Rights In Its Broadest Definition, Not Only Freedom Of Speech But Freedom Of Assembly, Freedom Of Worship And Trial By Jury But Also The Right Of People For People To Have A Decent Home To Live, Food To Eat, Employment, Healthcare, Self Respect, Dignity. So I Think The Broad Gamut Of Human Rights, Peace And Freedom. I Would Like To Be Remembered For Those Things To The Degree That I Deserve It And I Still Have A Long Way To Go.

The Importation And Sale Of Marijuana Is Condemned And Punished As A Serious Crime, But We Accept As Legitimate The Manufacture And Sale Of An Infinitely More Addictive And Deadly Drug: The Nicotine In Cigarettes That Cost The Lives Of 390,000 American Citizens Last Year.

Being Confident Of Our Own Future, We Are Now Free Of That Inordinate Fear Of Communism Which Once Led Us To Embrace Any Dictator Who Joined Us In That Fear. I'm Glad That That's Being Changed.

Under Lenin The Soviet Union Was Like A Religious Revival, Under Stalin Like A Prison, Under Khrushchev Like A Circus, And Under Brezhnev Like The U.s. Post Office.

We Have Seven And A Half Times As Many People In Prison. And We Have Eight Times As Many Black Women In Prison Now As We Did In 1981, When I Left The White House. So That's Been One Of The Major Concerns I've Had As A Non-lawyer, To Criticize The American Justice System, Which Is Highly Biased Against Black People And Poor People. And It Still Is.

Every Advance In This Half-century-social Security, Civil Rights, Medicare, Aid To Education, One After Another-came With The Support And Leadership Of American Labor.

Testing Oneself Is Best When Done Alone.

Ours Is The Most Wasteful Nation On Earth. We Waste More Energy Than We Import. With About The Same Standard Of Living, We Use Twice As Much Energy Per Person As Do Other Countries Like Germany, Japan, And Sweden.

Acknowledging The Physical Realities Of Our Planet Does Not Mean A Dismal Future Of Endless Sacrifice. In Fact, Acknowledging These Realities Is The First Step In Dealing With Them. We Can Meet The Resource Problems Of The World - Water, Food, Minerals, Farmlands, Forests, Overpopulation, Pollution - If We Tackle Them With Courage And Foresight.

We Will Have An Unchallenged, Open, Panoramic Opportunity On A Global Scale To Demonstrate The Finest Aspects Of What We Know In This Country: Peace, Freedom, Democracy, Human Rights, Benevolent Sharing, Love, The Easing Of Human Suffering. Is That Going To Be Our List Of Priorities Or Not?

I Happen To Be A Scientist. My Background Is In Nuclear Physics. I Was A Nuclear Engineer. But I Don't See Any Incompatibility At All With My Religious Faith And God The Creator Of Everything And The Incompatibility Between When The Earth Was Created As Specified In The Bible. I Don't See Any Incompatibility There Because Those That Were Interpreting God's Overall Message Didn't Know Anything About Modern-day Science.

Our Individual Fates Are Linked Our Futures Intertwined

In An All-out Nuclear War, More Destructive Power Than In All Of World War Ii Would Be Unleashed Every Second During The Long Afternoon It Would Take For All The Missiles And Bombs To Fall. A World War Ii Every Second-more People Killed In The First Few Hours Than All The Wars Of History Put Together. The Survivors, If Any, Would Live In Despair Amid The Poisoned Ruins Of A Civilization That Had Committed Suicide.

I Have One Life And One Chance To Make It Count For Something... My Faith Demands That I Do Whatever I Can, Wherever I Am, Whenever I Can, For As Long As I Can With Whatever I Have To Try To Make A Difference.

Sadat Was A Great And Good Man, And His Most Bitter And Dangerous Enemies Were People Who Were Obsessed With Hatred For His Peaceful Goals.

Those Who Start War Often Know That Because Of Their High Political Position Their Own Lives Will Not Be In Danger. On The Diane Rehm Show.

I Have A Very Personal Relationship With Jesus Christ. It Doesn't Depend On The Fact That He Can Walk On Water.

I Think The Most Challenging Thing For Me In My Life And In The Bible Is That We Worship Jesus As The Prince Of Peace.

I'm Feeling Better Than Anybody Expected Me To So I'm Still Maintaining A Pretty Normal Schedule, I'd Say.

I Wish I Had Known When I Was In The White House What I Know Now About The Third World.

I Believe We Accomplished A Lot Of Good Things While I Was In Office. We Maintained A Very Good Working Relationship With Both Republicans And Democrats During My Tenure. Consequently, We Had A Very High Batting Average In Dealing With Congress On Some Very Controversial Issues. Plus, We Kept Our Nation At Peace, We Obeyed The Law, And We Told The Truth.

Penalties Against Possession Of A Drug Should Not Be More Damaging To An Individual Than The Use Of The Drug Itself

Energy Will Be The Immediate Test Of Our Ability To Unite This Nation, And It Can Also Be The Standard Around Which We Rally. On The Battlefield Of Energy We Can Win For Our Nation A New Confidence, And We Can Seize Control Again Of Our Common Destiny.

I Think What's Going On In Guantanamo Bay And Other Places Is A Disgrace To The U.s.a. I Wouldn't Say It's The Cause Of Terrorism, But It Has Given Impetus And Excuses To Potential Terrorists To Lash Out At Our Country And Justify Their Despicable Acts.

I Don't Think That The Total Creation Took Place In Six Days As We Now Measure Time. If We Can Confirm, Say, The Big Bang Theory, That Doesn't At All Cause Me To Question My Faith That God Created The Big Bang.

Whether The Borders That Divide Us Are Picket Fences Or National Boundaries, We Are All Neighbors In A Global Community.

To Deal With Individual Human Needs At The Everyday Level Can Be Noble Sometimes.

I Think The Israelis Are Beginning To Realize More That They Are Moving Toward A One-state Solution, Which Would Be A Catastrophe For Israel.

Thomas Jefferson Declared, Stating That He Was Speaking On Behalf Of The Other Founding Fathers, ...(that) We Should Build A Wall Between The Church And State.

I Thought Then And I Think Now That The Invasion Of Iraq Was Unnecessary And Unjust And I Think The Premises On Which It Was Launched Were False.

I Think The Bible Is Completely Inspired By God In Its Overall Messages. But, For The People Of Those Days To Know What Was Going To Happen 4,000 Years Later In A World Of Astronomy Or Subatomic Particles. They Didn't Have Access To The Knowledge That We Presently Have About Geology. So, We Know Now That The World Was Created Many Of Billions Of Years Ago, 13 Or 14 Billion Years Ago. As Far As They Knew, The Earth Was The Center Of The Universe. They Thought That Stars Were Little Twinkling Things In The Sky Where As Now We Know Stars Are Very Distant And Much Larger Than The Earth.

When We Go To The Bible We Should Keep In Mind That The Basic Principles Of The Bible Are Taught By God, But Written Down By Human Beings Deprived Of Modern Day Knowledge. So There Is Some Fallibility In The Writings Of The Bible. But The Basic Principles Are Applicable To My Life And I Don't Find Any Conflict Among Them.

As A Christian, A Trained Engineer And Scientist, And A Professor At Emory University, I Am Embarrassed By Superintendent Kathy Cox's Attempt To Censor And Distort The Education Of Georgia's Students.... There Is No Need To Teach That Stars Can Fall Out Of The Sky And Land On A Flat Earth In Order To Defend Our Religious Faith.

Everyone Who Has Run Knows That Its Most Important Value Is In Removing Tension And Allowing A Release From Whatever Other Cares The Day May Bring.

Important Values

My Decision To Register Women Confirms What Is Already Obvious Throughout Our Society-that Women Are Now Providing All Types Of Skills In Every Profession. The Military Should Be No Exception.

This Intolerable Dependence On Foreign Oil Threatens Our Economic Independence And The Very Security Of Our Nation. The Energy Crisis Is Real. It Is Worldwide. It Is A Clear And Present Danger To Our Nation. These Are Facts And We Simply Must Face Them.

You Just Have To Have A Simple Faith.

The Respect For Human Rights Is One Of The Most Significant Advantages Of A Free And Democratic Nation In The Peaceful Struggle For Influence, And We Should Use This Good Weapon As Effectively As Possible.

I Believe There Is Complete Equality Between Men And Women. And I Believe Those Passages In The New Testament, Not By Jesus, But By Paul, That Say Women Should Not Adorn Themselves, They Should Always Wear Hats Or Color Their Hair In Church - Things Like That - I Think They Are Signs Of The Times And Should Not Apply To Modern-day Life.

In General, In The Matters That Relate To Theology Or Behavior, People To One Another, Paul Was Obviously Biblically Correct. But When He Said That Women Should Always Cover Their Hair Or That Women Should Not Teach Men, Women Should Not Have Leadership Positions In The Church, Women Should Not Speak In The Church, I Don't' Think That Those Writings Of Paul Can Be Extracted By Themselves To Stand Alone. Also, Paul Said That Women Should Be Subservient To Their Husbands But If You Read A Couple Of Verses Down It Says Husbands Should Treat Their Wives As Equals.

You Can Already Download Any Of The Religious Texts Onto Electronic Mechanisms Like A Kindle. But I Think Many People Prefer To Hold A Book In Their Hands.

It Would Be Almost Politically Suicidal For Members Of Congress To Espouse A Balanced Position Between Israel And Palestine, To Suggest That Israel Comply With International Law Or To Speak In Defense Of Justice Or Human Rights For Palestinians. If They Did So, They Couldn't Be Reelected.

We Have No Desire To Be The World's Policeman. But America Does Want To Be The World's Peacemaker.

It's Abominable, And It's A Disgrace To A Great Democracy To See What's Happened In Our Country. The Main Reason For That Has Been The Enormous Infusion Of High Quantities Of Money To Campaigns - Governors, Congress, President And The U.s. Senate.

One Of Our Nation's Greatest Leaders Of All Time Was Hubert Horatio Hornblower.

We Not Only Brought Peace To Many Countries And People Around The World, But We Never Dropped A Bomb, We Never Launched A Missile, And We Never Fired A Bullet While I Was In Office. Yet We Protected The Interests Of The American People In A Peaceful, But Strong Way.

I Think I Would Have Been Much More Attuned To The Concerns Of People Who Were Desperately In Need. I Was Unfamiliar, For Instance, With The Plight Of Those Living In The Small Villages In The Deserts And The Jungles Of Africa.

In Many Courts, Plea Bargaining Serves The Convenience Of The Judge And The Lawyers, Not The Ends Of Justice, Because The Courts Simply Lack The Time To Give Everyone A Fair Trial.

Unless Both Sides Win, No Agreement Can Be Permanent.

I Think My Wife ... Is Sure Of My Loyalty.... She Knows How Hard I Work. She Knows How Tired I Am Every Night. She Knows I Have Fifty Or Sixty Reporters Watching Me Day And Night.

Although Military, Economic And Political Strength Certainly Favors The More Powerful Side, The Matter Of Simple Justice Is A Counterbalancing Factor.

Quite Often, The People Who Do Leave Their Own Nation And Come To An Unknown Destination, Like The United States, Are Inherently Adventurous, So We've Had That Adventurous Spirit That Has Embedded Itself Collectively In The American Consciousness.

I Say To You Quite Frankly That The Time For Racial Discrimination Is Over.

We All Know Grandparents Whose Values Transcend Passing Fads And Pressures, And Who Possess The Wisdom Of Distilled Pain And Joy.

The Oil Lobby, Perhaps The Most Powerful Lobby On Earth, Is Almost Matched By Hospital Owners And Doctors.

I Think A Good Husband Has To Depend On Having A Good Wife.

I Think That, Regardless Of Our Culture, Age, Or Even Personal Handicaps, We Can Still Strive For Something Exceptional. Why Not Expand Our Sights Instead Of Restricting Our Lives And Accepting The Lowest Common Denominator Of A Dormant Existence? Faith. . . Will Permit Us To Take A Chance On A New Path, Perhaps Different From The One We Now Follow. It May Be Surprising Where It Leads.

I Am Confident That When The Facts And Policies Have Been Examined, When The Record Of Performances Have Been Reviewed, Barack Obama And Joe Biden Will Once Again Be Elected To Lead Our Beloved Country To A Better Future.

We Will Not Learn How To Live Together In Peace By Killing Each Other's Children.

I Have Experienced The Intensity Of Patriotism As A Submarine Officer, The Ambitions Of A Competitive Businessman, And The Intensity Of Political Debate. I Have Been Sorely Tempted To Launch A Military Attack On Foreigners, And Have Felt The Frustration Of Having To Negotiate With Allies Or Even Former Enemies To Reach A Consensus Instead Of Taking More Decisive Unilateral Action.

There Are Some Discrepencies In The Writings Of Paul. Some Christians Chose Those Ones That Say That Women Should Be Restricted In Their Services. I Choose To Emphasize The Equality Of People In God's Eyes.

The First Year I Was In Office, Only About 800 People Came Out Of The Soviet Union, Jews. By The Third Year I Was In Office... Second Year, 1979, 51,000 Came Out Of The Soviet Union. And Every One Of The Human Rights Heroes - I'll Use The Word - Who Have Come Out Of The Soviet Union, Have Said It Was A Turning Point In Their Lives, And Not Only In The Soviet Union But Also In Places Like Czechoslovakia And Hungary And Poland [they] Saw This Human Rights Policy Of Mine As Being A Great Boost To The Present Democracy And Freedom That They Enjoy.

Before I Became President, In The Aftermath Of The Vietnam War, There Had Been Fairly Dramatic, And I Think Excessive, Reductions In The Capability Of Our Military Forces, And As A Former Military Man Myself - I Was A Professional Naval Officer, A Submarine Officer - I Thought It Was Better, On A Step-by-step, Very Carefully Planned Way, To Increase The Technical, Or Technological, Capability Of Our Weapons Systems.

You Can Do What You Have To Do, And Sometimes You Can Do It Even Better Than You Think You Can.

And I Think The Almost Undeviating Support By Great Britain For The Ill-advised Policies Of President Bush In Iraq Have Been A Major Tragedy For The World.

Some Major Churches Overemphasize The Importance Of Preaching As A Means To Increase Membership And Fail To Reach Out With Compassion To Their Neighbors In Need.

On The Basis Of Both Values And Interests, The Natural Relationship Between Islam And The United States Is One Of Friendship.

I Think It Will Take Years Before We Can Repair The Damage Done By That Statement.

I Think An Overwhelming Portion Of The Intensely Demonstrated Animosity Toward President Barack Obama Is Based On The Fact That He Is A Black Man, That He's African American.

African American

We Know Definitively That Al-qaida Isn't All Over Afghanistan Anymore. According To Cia Estimates, There Are Less Than A Hundred Al-qaida Members In The Entire Country. Most Of Them Are In Pakistan. So, It's Hard For Me To Understand Why We're Still Fighting There And Sending In More And More Troops. I Would Get Out Of Afghanistan As Quickly As Possible.

There Has Never Been Any Evidence That The Death Penalty Reduces Capital Crimes Or That Crimes Increased When Executions Stopped. Tragic Mistakes Are Prevalent...it Is Clear That There Are Overwhelming Ethical, Financial, And Religious Reasons To Abolish The Death Penalty.

The Bond Of Our Common Humanity Is Stronger Than The Divisiveness Of Our Fears And Prejudices.

Common Humanity

I Officially Designated Every Us Ambassador On Earth To Be My Personal Human Rights Representative, And To Have The Embassy Be A Haven For People Who Suffered From Abuse By Their Own Government.

Because We Are Free We Can Never Be Indifferent To The Fate Of Freedom Elsewhere. Our Moral Sense Dictates A Clearcut Preference For These Societies Which Share With Us An Abiding Respect For Individual Human Rights. We Do Not Seek To Intimidate, But It Is Clear That A World Which Others Can Dominate With Impunity Would Be Inhospitable To Decency And A Threat To The Well-being Of All People.

Two Problems Of Our Country - Energy And Malaise.

I Don't Think That Israel Has Any Legal Or Moral Justification For Their Massive Bombing Of The Entire Nation Of Lebanon. What Happened Is That Israel Is Holding Almost 10,000 Prisoners, So When The Militants In Lebanon Or In Gaza Take One Or Two Soldiers, Israel Looks Upon This As A Justification For An Attack On The Civilian Population Of Lebanon And Gaza. I Do Not Think That's Justified, No.

I Can't Deny I'm A Better Ex-president Than I Was A President.

That Difference Between The Rich And Poor Is Growing Every Month.

Because (grandparents) Are Usually Free To Love And Guide And Befriend The Young Without Having To Take Daily Responsibility For Them, They Can Often Reach Out Past Pride And Fear Of Failure And Close The Space Between Generations.

I Thought A Lot About Our Nation And What I Should Do As President. And Sunday Night Before Last, I Made A Speech About Two Problems Of Our Countryenergy And Malaise.

Many Of The Most Highly Publicized Events Of My Presidency Are Not Nearly As Memorable Or Significant In My Life As Fishing With My Daddy.

Our Laws Were Not Designed To Accommodate Three Or Four Thousand Refugees Coming Here Per Day. Our Laws Were Designed For People To Be Screened In A Foreign Country, Carefully Catalogued, And Brought Here A Few At A Time. This Just Didn't Happen.

The Preeminent Obstacle To Peace Is Israel's Colonization Of Palestine.

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