Baptist leaders are remembering Jimmy Carter as an example of faithfulness, compassion and justice and advocate for religious liberty.

Carter, an outsider even as he sat in the Oval Office as the 39th U.S. president, is being honored with the pageantry of a funeral at Washington National Cathedral.

I can tell you without any equivocation that the number one abuse of human rights on Earth, strangely not addressed quite often, is the abuse of women and girls,” the former President said.

Carter was widely known as a man of faith, with his post-presidency defined by images of the Baptist Sunday School teacher building homes for low-income people.

Chuck Leavell, keyboardist for the pioneering Southern rock band, said its members saw their fellow Georgian as an honest, inspiring figure.

As the world pays homage to former President Jimmy Carter, some people overlook a primary source of inspiration for his politics: his distinctive brand of White evangelical Christianity, which remains hidden from most Americans.

Carter was one of the most explicitly religious presidents, but his rise in politics came during a transformative era in American Christianity.

Jimmy Carter, a progressive Baptist, balanced faith with politics, advocating for church-state separation while evolving on social issues, shaping evangelical roles in U.S. public life.

As tributes pour in from all corners for former President Jimmy Carter, who passed away ... but it's easy to forget also." Carter was a long-serving member of the Southern Baptist Convention until 2009, when he sent a resignation letter to the convention.

Lesser known, and particularly relevant for American politics today, is our 39th president’s commitment to the Baptist value of religious liberty. The United States’ most religious president in recent memory was also the most committed to the separation of church and state.

That doesn’t mean those others didn’t have good intentions, but for Jimmy Carter ... your religion.” Carter grew up as the son of a deacon in the Southern Baptist Convention, a conservative ...