Each of the following ten quotes is by either Christine O’Donnell (candidate for the Delaware Senate seat) or Jimmy Carter (39th President of the United States). Can you guess which quote is by which politician?
Write down your guesses (no peeking!), and then check out the answers on page 2.
The Christine O’Donnell/Jimmy Carter Quiz
Who said each of the following quotes: Christine O’Donnell, or Jimmy Carter?
1. “To my amazement, I was besieged with questions about my sex life. At first I thought this was just a passing joke, but I was wrong. It became the dominant news story of my candidacy, and my popularity dropped precipitously. Any attempt to explain the Christian theology behind my answer only served to keep the issue alive.”
2. “I have an absolute, total commitment as a human being, as an American, as a religious person to Israel … Israel is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.”
3. “Feeling a bit presumptuous, I wrote to [an evolutionary scientist] diasagreeing with this premise and asserting that there were factors other than pure happenstance that influenced the course of evolution.”
4. “Because I’m just human and I’m tempted and Christ set some almost impossible standards for us. The Bible says, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery.’ Christ said, ‘I tell you that anyone who looks on a woman with lust has in his heart already committed adultery.’ I’ve looked on a lot of women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times…. This is something that God recognizes, that I will do and have done, and God forgives me for it. But that doesn’t mean that I condemn someone who not only looks on a woman with lust but who leaves his wife and shacks up with somebody out of wedlock. Christ says, don’t consider yourself better than someone else because one guy screws a whole bunch of women while the other guy is loyal to his wife. The guy who’s loyal to his wife ought not to be condescending or proud because of the relative degree of sinfulness.”
5. “This set of principles, rooted in my Christian faith, has both shaped me and been shaped by my personal experiences, and it remains to this day a central element of my identity.”
6. (Quote from someone commenting about the candidate running for office) “It is not presumptuous to say, as there is enough evidence already, that a vast number of [O’Donnell or Carter] supporters consist of aggressive evangelicals whose main goal is to ‘Christianize’ our country; that is to say, to convert Americans to a particular brand of religious obscurantism. Needless to say, most, or many [O’Donnell/Carter]-fundamentalists despise complete intellectual and religious liberty.”
7. “Being born again is a new life, not of perfection but of striving, stretching, and searching — a life of intimacy with God through the Holy Spirit.”
8. “But if we aspire to grow as human beings, we should struggle to close the gap by making our inner selves truer reflections of our own highest values, which, for me, grow from my Christian faith.”
9. “…There are basic principles that, for me, have never changed. For a Christian, the life and teachings of Jesus offer a sound moral foundation that includes all the most basic elements that should guide us.”
10. “Yes, I have my personal beliefs, and these questions come from statements I made over fifteen years ago. I was in my twenties, and very excited and passionate about my new-found faith. But I assure you my faith has matured, and when I go to Washington, D.C., it’ll be the Constitution on which I base all of my decisions, not my personal beliefs.”
ANSWERS
1: Jimmy Carter (Source: Living Faith, page 128-9)
2: Jimmy Carter (Source: Interview with the B’nai Brith, 1976)
3: Jimmy Carter (Source: Living Faith, page 30)
4: Jimmy Carter (Source: Playboy interview, November, 1976)
5: Jimmy Carter (Source: Living Faith, page 46)
6: Jimmy Carter (Source: Carl Shapiro, cited by Robert Christgau, 1976)
7: Jimmy Carter (Source: Living Faith, page 20)
8: Jimmy Carter (Source: Living Faith, page 48)
9: Jimmy Carter (Source: Living Faith, page 14)
10: Christine O’Donnell (Source: Jewish Federation candidate forum, Sept. 16, 2010)
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