Our Endangered Values

America's Moral Crisis

De: Jimmy Carter

Narrado por: Jimmy Carter

President Carter has written importantly about his spiritual life and faith. In Living Faith, a huge best seller, he recounted the values and experiences that shaped his personal and political life. In his companion book Sources of Strength, also a best seller, he meditated on fifty-two of the favorite Bible lessons he has taught.

In Our Endangered Values, Carter offers a personal consideration of "moral values" as they relate to the important issues of the day. He puts forward a passionate defense of separation of church and state, and a strong warning of where the country is heading as the lines between politics and rigid religious fundamentalism are blurred.

Now, he describes his own involvement and reactions to some disturbing societal trends that have taken place during the last few years. These changes involve both the religious and the political worlds as they have increasingly become intertwined, and include some of the most crucial and controversial issues of the day, frequently encapsulated under "moral values".

Many of these matters are under fierce debate. They include preemptive war, women's rights, terrorism, civil liberties, homosexuality, abortion, the death penalty, science and religion, environmental degradation, nuclear arsenals, America's global image, fundamentalism, and the melding of religion and politics.

Sustained by his lifelong faith, Jimmy Carter assesses these issues in a forceful and unequivocal but balanced and courageous way. Our Endangered Values is a book that his millions of readers have eagerly awaited.

©2005 Jimmy Carter (P)2005 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

Reseñas de la Crítica

• Grammy Award Winner, Best Spoken Word Album, 2006

"Carter speaks eloquently of how his own faith has shaped his moral vision and of how he has struggled to reconcile his own values with the Southern Baptist church's transformation under increasingly conservative leadership. He also makes resonant connections between religion and political activism." (Publishers Weekly)

Very interesting

I found this book very interesting and with a humanistic viewpoint as you would expect from Jimmy Carter. He is definitely not in favor of current political policy and gives some background why he believes as he does. While it is a biased book, I found it worthwhile as another perspective on our current domestic and international situation. And, President Carter's reading of the book was warm and genuine.

This Should be Required Reading

In this book, Jimmy Carter does an amazing job of emphasizing the separation of church and state while still being able to hold to his Christian values. He tackles abortion, war, homosexuality, and how Christian fundamentalism (not Christianity) has lead to a corrupt, hypocritical, and warmongering government.

Thoughtful, insightful.

Truly informative. An inspirational call to action for all who care about American values.

Best Ex-President Ever!

President Carter once again shows the intelligence and articulateness that earned him the Presidency. He puts forth a solid argument against the fundamentalism that is running rampant through the far right in America today. He uses scripture to completely debunk the idea that any Christian should support "Preemptive attacks".

It is good to read a solid argument from someone with real credentials in politics and religion.

eye opener

great summary of the misguided actions our country has taken over the past couple decades. Pres. Carter is a great person compassionate of others.

Real insight on fanatical fundamentalism

President Carter has written a real and insightful explanation of radical fundamentalism's impact on today's politics. The dangers of extreme right-wing thinking and political power cannot be ignored and need to be exposed. They were ignored 75 years ago in Germany, and the result was horrendous.

Those same tendencies exist today, in the USA, and they must not be allowed to reign free without check. This book is a wakeup call for all who have actually read and understood history that NOW is the time to act to forestall the inevitability of history's repeating itself.

Timeless Wisdom

President Carter offers a thought provoking look at American society and how it has been shaped by government policies. By presenting accounts of his personal life and the choices he made along the way it gives the reader a greater understanding of how having a moral compass is able to guide us to have compassion and respect for others and ourselves. At a time in history when it seems like we have lost our way and personal attacks on an individual's character have become the norms it's a breathe of fresh air to take a step back and say we can be our better angels. President Carter encourages us in this book to do just that.

A wealth of information

I enjoyed every word of knowledge and openness shared by President Carter. Would love to see a continuation of his story up to today. It was amazing.

Insightful & Balanced

Loved this book. It really was just as true in 2025 as when it was written. It shows how things are now and why.

Mostly good with some bias

I have great respect for President Carter and his commitment to integrating faith and public service. I enjoyed hearing about the experiences that shaped his character. This book makes some good points about social justice as a moral value that despite its strong roots in Christian theology has been undervalued (ignored?) by many politically active fundamentalist Christian leaders. As someone who, like Mr. Carter, grew up in a Southern Baptist church, I was especially interested in his descriptions of the movement of the SBC away from traditionally held Baptist beliefs.

Unfortunately, Mr. Carter's treatment of the Iraq war, torture allegations, and defense spending amount to a partisan attack on the Bush administration. If you dislike Bush you will probably be cheering along with these passages, but I found the lack of balance and constructive criticism on these and other issues disheartening. For more practical insight into foreign policy in the Middle East I would recommend reading Thomas Friedman; for a more balaced look at torture allegations, read Inside the Wire by Eric Saar. I was also disappointed by his treatment of economics in relation to moral values. For example, he criticises the low minimum wage in the US compared to European countries, but fails to mention Europe's high unemployment rate and relative economic inflexibility.

Mr. Carter's left-leaning foreign and domestic policy positions are no doubt deeply rooted in his understanding of Christianity and I agree with some of them in principle, but ultimately he proves his point that it is perilous to mix church and state. Unfortunately we live in a fallen world and positions that are morally justifiable for individual Christians do not always translate well into national policies that preserve and protect the prosperity of a pluralistic free society.