Did you know that President Jimmy Carter used to be a Jehovah's Witness? (page 2)

Saintbertholdt

Hi JWdaughter,

"A lot of religiously based writing tends to ignore facts in favor of writing uplifting and encouraging things to promote their faith-based interests."

There is one western religious news organization which I actually respect very much:

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

I say this as an atheist. They just do good reporting.

Good catch. When this article was sent to us by, of all people, a JW, the information sure was a surprise. Without looking in the Comments section, we decided in the interests of truth, the best thing to do was post it on JWN and see what fallout would be. Well, as has been the case in the past, JWN posters came through again and another misconception was cleared up and I didn't have to do a lick of research to right the wrong information. Thanks everyone involved.

Barbara

blondie

Technically in 2 ways, Eisenhower was not a jw, his father and mother were Bible Students, and he attended the home meetings when he was young. But he ;never was baptized or identified himself as a jw. I understand his father stopped associating and it was only his mother than continued on past 1931. I have cousins who went to the meetings and in the field ministry as directed/forced to by their parents...at 18 they were still unbaptized and have never lived a life where they identified themselves as jws. I think it takes more than being made to participate to make one a jw.

Juan Viejo2

According to several sources, however, Eisenhower did take the oath of office as President on a Bible given to him by his mother that was printed by the Watchtower Society.

JV

John Aquila

The writers from Christian Post should learn how to read a NY Times article.

The writer was probably a former Watchtower magazine writer.

Saintbertholdt

Hi Blondie,

"...and he attended the home meetings when he was young. But he ;never was baptized or identified himself as a jw."

That certainly is true. As you probably know he left home for West Point when he was 20. He actually hid his Bible Student background and many biographers only refer to the River Brethren connection. While growing up his parents held weekly Bible student meetings at their home and even had a big chart in the living room with a Pyramid with Russell's timeline. The reason why Eisenhower never wanted to acknowledge his Bible Student background was obvious: The pacifism of the Jehovah's Witnesses, which would have caused him problems in his military and political career. Interestingly enough he was not a member of any church until he was 60 years old when he finally joined the Presbyterian church.

steve2

I'd have been more worried if Eisenhower had had an affiliation with Rutherford's "variant" of the Bible Students, the JWs!

As it was, Eisenhower's parents were adherents of Russell's relatively innocuous creation - which was a far cry from Rutherford's and an even farther cry from today's JWs.

Saintbertholdt

Hi Juan Viejo,

Eisenhower did take the oath of office as President on a Bible given to him by his mother that was printed by the Watchtower Society.

Yes, an American Standard Version which the Watchtower used at that time.

From the Watchtower of 1 June 1957 article: Conspiracy Against Jehovah’s Name?

However, in telling of President Eisenhower’s taking his oath of office and having his Bible turned to or opened at Psalm 33:12, the press did not quote that text the way it reads in that American Standard Version Bible: “Blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah, the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.” No, but the press quoted it as it reads in the King James Version: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.”

AndersonsInfo

According to the article,"Why President Eisenhower Hid His Jehovah's Witness Upbringing," found at the link below, Dwight's father, David, discontinued his association with the Bible Students in 1915, but he didn't interfere with his wife's association.

For those who are interested, there's an abundance of fascinating material about the Eisenhower's religious background in the article.

http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/eisenhower_witness_background.htm

Simon

He seems like a nice guy. He was unfortunate to be president when events overtook him and created an unwinnable situation. I can think of more recent presidents who were gifted far better circumstances who managed to do far worse (cough, Bush, cough). Some presidents seem to want to do more for society after leaving office (Carter) vs those who just want to relax and play golf.

I never know about his JW background but had heard about Eisenhower's.

Both experiences are probably very very different to modern day JW-ism though,

Did you know that President Jimmy Carter used to be a Jehovah's Witness?

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