My parents raised me in Christian Faith my youth closely intertwined with the First Baptist Church of Knoxville TN. From Sunday morning Sunday school and services, to Sunday night meals and prayer meeting, add Wednesday afternoon choir practice, Royal Ambassadors, and Wednesday night meals and prayer meeting. Social life revolved around church activity. I dated girls from church not my high-school, played on the church basketball team, went to church retreats and camps and my teen year parties were with my friends from the church I attended from birth thru my 26th year. My brothers and I were Christians, Eagle Scouts, and sons of the Democrat who held Knox County's chief executive position for over 26 years in an area so Republican no Democrat has ever held the seat in Congress.
Johnathan Merritt editor of Faith and Culture for THE RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE lists President James Earl Carter first among "Presidents who were the most religious".
Jimmy Carter: Famous for being a baptist Sunday School teacher (even after his term), Jimmy Carter is recognized as the first “born again” president. Prior to serving, Carter took a missionary journey in which he knocked on strangers doors and said, “I’m Jimmy Carter, a peanut farmer. Do you accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior?” He read his Bible and prayed daily throughout his time in office, yet Carter was ultimately rejected by the emerging evangelical right.
Mountain Sound Inc formed in Knoxville with Charlie Daniels and The Marshall Tucker Bands as our tour sound and lighting clients. The MTB was composed of ex-Marines from South Carolina and Charlie Daniels is a vocal right wing blogger. These bands became prominent fundraisers for Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign and Mountain Sound was a part of that effort
When Carter won the election in November he announced that he would pardon all draft resistors who did not desert or become a citizen of another country. That decision would not have helped my friend Jesse Winchester who had become a Canadian by 1973. I went to Washington and met with Charles Kirbo and Hamilton Jordan's people making the case that becoming a Canadian citizen was the honorable thing to do and that Jesse should be treated like any other Canadian citizen. That January I waited in the receiving line at the National Guard Armory where we were doing the sound and light production for Marshall Tucker and Charlie Daniels at the Inaugural Ball with one of Jesse's albums under my arm. Carter saw the album and told me not to worry. The next day he pardoned all draft resistors except those who had deserted making Jesse eligible to perform in the USA. A Christian act of forgiveness so typical of Jimmy Carter
 |
| CLICK TO ENLARGE BURLINGTON FREE PRESS |
Toy Caldwell, Carter, George McCorkle
CONTINUE BELOW
