We are currently undoing a mess in Iran – a mess that started during, and in no small part was created by, the Carter Administration. Back in 2016, John Bolton wrote a piece for AEI examining just how bad it was. Bolton was putting Obama and the JCPOA in the same basket as the Carter policy. Here’s the money quote, “Iran thus posed one of the first clear tests of an American administration’s devotion to abstract principles over concrete US military and political interests.” Putting that sentence in a broader context creates some very interesting reflections.
Let’s start by setting that broader context. Jimmy Carter was the most outspoken Evangelical president we have ever enjoyed. In my personal first presidential vote, I was “suckered” (Bolton’s word for Carter and the Ayatollah) into voting for Carter by an interview he did with Playboy magazine in which he discussed quite openly his faith and the role it played in his personal conduct. They were words that brought joy to my heart as I looked at the world around me and saw so much godlessness. I thought that Carter just might be the man to lead the nation to its true Christian potential.
Now, here we are, decades and countless deaths later, and the man whose personal conduct is the least publicly Christian that I think we have ever experienced in the White House is undoing that obviously Christian man’s dark mistake. While I have supported both Trump administrations once they reached the general election and office – having developed a rather intense party loyalty after the disaster of my Carter vote – I have never been able to bring myself to vote for Trump in a primary. His crassness, his public and ugly treatment of women and so much more paints a distinctly unChristian picture. And yet he is the one undoing the great evil that flowed from our most overtly Christian president.
One would have to be a fool not to question a great deal about the role of faith in politics and governance given this context. It is, of course, easy enough to note that “God works in mysterious ways,” a phrase from a Cowper hymn of the 1700’s. It is simple to recall stories where God acted through the most unusual of instruments – Balaam’s ass and John the Baptist spring instantly to mind. But there is more here than simply providence.
As quoted, Bolton notes that in this instance, when ideology outweighed practical reason, disaster resulted. Most Christians know this in other realms, but for some reason the temptation to ignore it in politics is difficult to overcome. For example, most Christian believe that the Holy Spirit can intervene and levitate a car across a deep chasm, but they are going to take the well-built bridge every time. They don’t take the time to verify that the engineer and construction crew were theologically correct.
God is a pragmatist. Old Testament law can be rather graphic in its confirmation of this fact. God is not an ideologue nor a theologian – He is just what His name implies – God – creator, sustainer and ruler of the universe. And He created that universe to be good and is working very hard to make it good again. That is about as pragmatic as a job can get. When we seek ideological purity above the pragmatic work that God has set before us, we will make a mistake. Count on it.
