Jimmy Carter: Jesus never said a word about homosexuality

Jimmy Carter Library

The Huffington Post's Senior Religion Editor Paul Brandeis Raushenbush interviewed former President Jimmy Carter by phone about the more difficult questions presented in the Bible on the occasion of the publica­tion of Carter's new book, NIV Lessons from Life Bible: Personal Reflections with Jimmy Carter.

A lot of people point to the Bible for reasons why gay people should not be in the church, or accepted in any way.
Homosexuality was well known in the ancient world, well before Christ was born and Jesus never said a word about homosexuality. In all of his teachings about multiple things -– he never said that gay people should be condemned. I personally think it is very fine for gay people to be married in civil ceremonies.
     I draw the line, maybe arbitrarily, in requiring by law that churches must marry people. I’m a Baptist, and I believe that each congregation is autonomous and can govern its own affairs. So if a local Baptist church wants to accept gay members on an equal basis, which my church does by the way, then that is fine. If a church decides not to, then government laws shouldn’t require them to.