Speaking without notes but with a Bible at hand, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter presented his “worm’s-eye view” of religion on Thursday afternoon, covering abortion, homosexuality and climate change in less than an hour.

The theme of unity, both within Christianity and between different religions, formed the basis of much of his speech.

“I’ve been a victim of division in the Christian church,” said Carter, before explaining his public split from the Southern Baptist Convention.

“In my eyes, they rejected the creed when they formed the opinion that women shouldn’t be allowed to instruct men in the church,” he said.

Carter, who recently turned 83, has never made a secret of his strong religious views.

“Nobody in this country has been guided more by the Christian faith than President Carter,” declared the Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe, dean of the chapel and religious life, in introducing Carter.

Her office, along with the Candler School of Theology and the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, sponsored the event, titled “The Role of a Christian in the 21st Century.”

Baptized at the age of 11, Carter later followed in the footsteps of his father as a Sunday School teacher at Plains Baptist Church in the small town of Plains, Ga.

“I still teach at Sunday School around 40 times every year,” he said.

Carter recounted tales of division and turmoil in the 11 churches of his hometown, sharing humorous anecdotes about the churches of Plains splitting to form rebel congregations and sometimes reforming years later. More seriously, he reflected that some of the divisions were largely dictated by race.

Carter’s current church has a relatively small congregation of around 30 regular worshippers. But he laughed as he spoke about the influx of tourists — sometimes as many as 800 — to regular Sunday services.

“Many of them have never been to church before,” he said.

On the topic of international religious conflict, President Carter referred to his term in office.

“I was president once, in ancient times,” he joked, adding, “I had some difficult discussions at Camp David with people of different faiths, but we acknowledged that we were all children of Abraham.”

Then, pointing to the “strong emphasis on evangelism” within both Christianity and Islam, he said, “I don’t have a problem with competition, provided Christians go by the Bible and don’t enter into pre-emptive wars.”

Taking an implicit swipe at the Bush administration, Carter talked about his handling of the Iranian hostage crisis.

“I could’ve destroyed Iran, but I decided to use negotiation,” he said. “We never dropped a bomb or shot a bullet, so we preserved the integrity of our country.”

A full-house audience of 250 people filled Cannon Chapel to hear Carter. After his talk, Carter took unscreened questions.

On whether the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America — an organization that welcomes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members — should be admitted into the Southern Baptist Convention, President Carter recognized the difficulty of the situation.

“While I believe gay marriage is wrong, I think homosexual people should not be excluded,” he said. “However, leaders sometimes have to take an equivocal position to preserve unity.”

The questioner, Lucas Johnson, a second-year Candler student and board member of the BPFNA, said in an interview that he appreciated Carter’s honesty. He would have liked to have heard more commitment to preventing division in the Baptist community, he said.

Carter’s tone deepened when asked about his most significant moral struggle as a Christian president.

“I’ve never believed abortion is right,” he said. “But I was sworn before God to enforce the laws of my country.”

He then listed the measures he took to minimize abortion, including promoting adoption, sex education and support for women.

Carter also stressed the moral aspect of the climate change debate.

“We have an obligation to God to care for our environment, and it’s clear to me that we must act on this issue,” he said.

He concluded by stating his belief in the hope of a peaceful future.

“Christians must continually reassess their understanding of the teachings of Christ and relate that to the outside world,” he said.

Emory Christian Fellowship President Arunan Arulampalam said Carter raised important points and that it was these, not the full audience, that made the event a success.

— Contact David Wilkinson at diwilki@emory.edu