Jimmy Carter, an ex-president who keeps busy at good works and unofficial diplomacy, says chroniclers of events don't adequately recognize the influence of the religious factor.
He says that factor was essential in a major international breakthrough of his administration - the Camp David accords - and figured in other foreign affairs.It also produced a crisis of his presidency, the Islamic upheaval and seizure in Iran of U.S. Embassy hostages, whose release was secured only in his last hours in office.
He says even atheist leaders he dealt with in communist countries regularly drew him aside to talk privately about religion. He said the durability of that element also had an influence in recent transformations in Eastern Europe.
Carter, whose service projects and global mediations since leaving office have added to his stature, made his comments in an interview with James M. Wall, editor of the ecumenical weekly, Christian Century.
Wall, a longtime friend and formerly Carter's Illinois campaign manager, said Carter's faith "is what drives all his life." Unlike most former presidents who "withdraw to write their memoirs, this man is out there working. He has a compulsion to serve."
Carter's labors have included peace-seeking missions, monitoring elections, health projects in Africa and renovating houses for the poor in this country.
Interviewed at the Carter Center in Atlanta, he said he has "developed a broader perspective" about religion, is more open to the faiths of others and recognizes a "lot of commonality" among different historic religions.
"Almost all of them call for justice, peace, service, equality, some humility," he said. "And the finer aspects of our faith (Christianity) are expressed in those terms."
In dealing with communist leaders as president, he said "these guys who profess to be atheists were fascinated" with religion. He recounted episodes in which Poland's former communist leader Edward Gierek, China's Deng Xiaoping and others brought up the subject.
Carter said his center has just finished a poll in the Soviet Union, finding that "the pre-eminent institution now trusted by the people is the church. These are the Soviet citizens."
It was "a definitive public opinion poll, the first time it has ever been done - 2,485 interviews, an hour and a half each," he said.
Carter said experiences in communist areas indicated "the depth of the people's commitment to religion" and its "penetrating influence."
He said he doubts the Camp David accords between Egypt and Israel, laying out a framework for Middle East peace, could have been achieved without the shared religious element involved.
The first order of business at the Camp David meeting was a common prayer, Carter said, adding that he drafted it with approval by Egypt's late President Sadat and Israel's former Prime Minister Begin.
At the request of Sadat and Begin, a place of worship was set aside in a small chapel, Carter said. "We converted that chapel to accommodate the Moslems on Friday, the Jews on Saturday and Christians on Sunday . . . .
"There was a very strong religious atmosphere at Camp David."