Transcripts For CSPAN2 Book Discussion On A Call To Action 20140420

How could god let this happen . Does god hate women . How would you answer that question . The abuse of women that you refer was in the past tense but its still going on around the world and in the United States as well. And i would say that god does not hate women. I happened to be a christian, and it would be a fruitless search to look for the scriptures and find one single instance where jesus did not treat women either equal or superior to men. And, unfortunately, though, in the entire concept of the bible, 36,000 or so versus, if you are a male and you want to consider yourself superior in the eyes of god, you could find a verse here or there that might confirm your police. But when i have a problem of that kind, i teach bible study every sunday at my local church, about half the time from the hebrew text and have from the new testament but when i get in a quandary about some comparisons that can be difficult, i turned to the words and i see jesus christ to be please with almost everybody im sure that women are exactly equal or even sometimes maybe superior to men. Jesus had 12 disciples. They were all men, and there were no women at the last supper. How would you explain that . You have to remember that jesus also referred to women in a way that nobody had ever done before. Pso said not only with women in public, which had never been done before but he also went into where the despised any recognizable living with a man and in just a few minutes he convinced her he was the son of god and she was the first witness, to go tell the people i have witnessed the long awaited messiah. We know that his mother, mary, is exalted now in many, i think all christian faiths, just because she bore the sun that looked upon women as equal. Mr. President , one of the charming parts of the book is your description of the chivalry of the georgia, the rural georgia that you grew up in. I think it would be interesting for people if you describe that a bit, and you sai say in the bk that you and your wife, roslyn, were virgins when you married, and that Old Fashioned george. And im wondering if you were growing up today, young men and women in 2014, would you still want that to be true . Would you still want to be married as husband and wife as virgin . We argued over who got to ask that question. [laughter] i should have known. It would be some competition. That was a difficult part of the book for me to write, and i really, my wife is my best editor. I did not let her see that part before it was published last night that was too. Wawhen i was a child and growing up, even a young man, it was not promiscuity that was permissive done an argument as it is done now. We are deeply religious. Planes have grown tremendous the. We have 700 people in planes and would have [laughter] and we have 11 churches was still every religious community. But its changed now. I would advise young people if they can to refrain from sexual intimacy until they get married, but i dont criticize my 12 grandchildren or might 11 greatgrandchildren if they decide to do otherwise. And sometimes, affect every year we go on a christmas vacation it is time for my grandsons for instance, have had a very intimate girlfriend was not yet married and legal education, we look the other way when they sleep in the same room and the same bed. You dont cast them out . Ive learned that times change, that we cant have the same morays and promised that we have been. One of the things that happened was i grew up in a segregated community. We were the only white family. We have 55 africanamerican families living around us, that i respect of the black as much as i did the white women. I saw then that it was an intense and legal this commission against black people, and even the white folks who disagreed with it theoretically didnt do much about it because if the white people enjoyed advantages a better job and better pay and better educational system and to serve on juries and make all the selections on voting day. And now we have the same thing on a much greater basis, that is our world, where people know that women are being abused and quite often we dont want to do much about it because it would disturb the way that we occupy the privileged position. Isnt this about power basically . This whole idea of men want to have power over women . And part of it seems to me to be about sexual fear. Men fearing women in some way, that they might and masculine them and that they are afraid of womens sexuality. How do you change that . Thats so much a part of thousands of years of culture long before the bible. The only way i know to change is to use what influence you have as an individual to bring about an awareness of the problem. One way is to be president of the United States and write a book about the subject last night im sure about the subject. [laughter] there are about 20 different forms about discrimination or abuse of women, and ive got a solution in the last chapter for what we ought to do. I would say a lot of the problem, i may do a lot with religion, because there is an interpretation in the bible of superiority for men. Within major denominations like the Catholic Church for instance, over the period of the last 17 centuries or so since the third century it has been ordained by the men leaders of the Catholic Church that women should not be deacons or not decrease. I britain pope francis about this and i got a response i was able to go in the book, and he promised me, not because it was odd, that he thought it should be a greater role for women in the future in the Catholic Church. I was a very devout member of the Southern Baptist convention or 70 years of my life to the Southern Baptist in 1970 excuse me, in the year 2000 decided women should be subservient to men officially and that no one could serve as a priest or a deacon or a chaplain. And they took it to extremes even for them i think because they ordained it in the seminary at the higher level that women couldnt teach in a classroom at the boy was a student. You can find individual verses in the bible that many confirm those bullies. Did you write the popes snail mail . I did. I typed the letter myself and i mailed it to him to the representatives he had in washington that represent the vatican. The snail mail question reflects about president carters book tour, which is he suspects the nsa is looking at his email exodus is a good time to ask you, why would they do that . Do you think they think you are dangerous or youre talking to dangerous people, or they just collect everybody . If you set any today, they have recorded a. If you made a telephone call today, they have recorded it. But that you made a call, it originally with you, and know how long the call lasted. They record the entire thing. They to go back and listen to your words, they say, but if they want to later on they can go back and listen to the exact words that you spoke. I do think that needs to be corrected, and help president obama will do. I would like to see him do by executive order which i think he could, i think to be a delay and maybe an egg situation its a corrective action by the congress. But anyway thats what i have for a long good while known. I face the same question rise in the white house in 1978 when we passed the socalled fisa act. That prevented any Intelligence Agency of the United States from into think with one single telephone call of one q. Mutation of an american citizen unless an objective jury said this was a threat to our security. That prevailed pretty much until 9 11 and then they begin to liberalize this, and laws were passed by the u. S. Congress, most of which were not even read by anybody who didnt should in the intelligence committees, and the rest of the congress didnt know what was there. When it passed the law that still had some restrictions in it, theres no doubt in my mind that nsa went much further than the law permitted, and now i think we are making some said ask you the question i think a lot of people wonder, if he were president today and it was within your power as president to issue a pardon to edward snowden, whose revelations these activities will lead all of us to know what the nsa has been collecting about us and about people, would you do that . Would you offer a pardon to snowden . No. Because you cant pardon someone who hasnt been tried and convicted. And so i think that edward snowden, if i were president , i would tell them what to do but if he decided to go back to the United States and face the actual violations of law that the perpetrator and were found guilty by 12 person jury, and then he was sentenced to death, i would certainly consider a pardon, yes. But i cant say what it would be because i dont have the information that president obama has about what damage has been done to our security apparatus. I just read the Washington Post and a couple other minor [laughter] i think its an understatement to say that you do not shy away from controver controversy. Theres already been a dust up since your book is come up. Youve been doing these interviews from the catholics and the Southern Baptists who say that youre criticizing them unfairly, or treating women badly. Jewish readers are saying that when you said that your lack of relationship with the president was probably due to your views on israel and palestine, and then others on the internet are saying that you were soft on islam in your book. Im sure this is something that you expected, but are there any countries or any faiths that you think are worse than others in their operation of womens . There certainly are, yes. For instance, in some areas of africa, saving egypt for example, 90 of the women in egypt are living now have had their genitals mutilated. Some of them, the cutters were using a razor blade. I met with a number of cutters by the way who have abandoned their profession. And their mother and father and particularly younger brothers who are juveniles, murdered their sisters or daughters because she was sexually abused, or if she violates the order about whom to marry or does Something Like that, then shes killed. Thats not part of religious beliefs. You can find that quote in the Old Testament where it is mandated that if a man marries a girl and finds out shes not a virgin on her wedding night, he can take her back to her fathers front door, and she may be stoned. Jesus forgave the woman who had permitted adultery. But this is something thats been done. But the worst crime that goes on on a global basis that i discover, that i cover in the book is the murder of little girl babies by their parents. And this is done after theyre born when they see that shes a girl, and lately with the advent of sonograms, they can detect the sex of a fetus before its born, and they abort the baby selectively. And there were anywhere from 3060 Million People killed in the Second World War and 160 million women right now and girls are missing from the face of the earth because theyve been murdered by their own parents. This is the most, this is the worst case of womens abuse that i can think of, because the girls have actually been killed. And you point out just now that, actually, those dont have much to do with religion. Right. What im interested in is knowing about religion and different faiths. Is there a faith, particular faith, that oppresses women more than another . The last time i was in myanmar which used to be burma, and ive been there before, i always make a practice of meeting with the religious leaders. And the eastern part of myanmar is next to china, and a majority of people there are christians. And in the northwestern corner near bangladesh, a lot of them are muslims, but most of them were buddhist. And i meet with the leaders so that i can try and discourage the abuse by the men. And the leaders will all tell me that they treat women equally. And then they pause for a few minutes and say, but differently. And the differently means that a woman is not legally abused pause shes a woman, but pause shes a woman, but shes not given equal opportunity to serve god in the own perspective of god. So i think that that kind of abuse takes place all over the world by selected excerpts from whatever religious text you use to present yourself with the worshiped figure, god this our case. Mr. President , ive been traveling as a journalist in the middle east yes. Since 1980 and keep going back. But one of memories that i have thats strong is from 1981 after the assassination of anwar sadat with whom you worked so courageously and effectively on the camp david agreement. And an egyptian said to me after sadat had been killed that it was shameful that anwar sadat let his wife dance with jerusalemmy carter jimmy carter. It brought dishonor on miss rims muslims. A remarkable comment. But what it leads me to ask you is, when we hear things like that that are so outside our cultural experience, how should we deal with them . Did it ever occur to you when you asked mrs. Sadat to dance at the white house that you might be giving deep offense to husband limbs back home muslims back home . Should you wore ily about that . Worry about that . How do we deal with cultures where we may be giving offense much greater than we realize by our actions . If that person had asked he that, i would have said, well, anwar danced with my wife first. [laughter] [applause] but one of the things that i mention in the book was the centers had programs all over the world, and we have found out through my discomfiture sometimes that when i, as a well meaning westerner, go into a local African Community and start criticizing the people about the basic civil human rights of their daughters not to be circumcised, i find that its counterproductive. Its much better more me to stay quiet and to let maybe our staff and so forth work with women in those communities and let the women decide on their own that they shouldnt circumcise their daughter cans. But for an outsider, particularly a westerner whos a christian, to go into a us muslim rural area and start telling people you should change your policies, its worse than not doing anything. And i think the best thing for us americans to do is to look at our own country. Because here in this great country we permit, commit a lot of the crimes against women that i describe in this book. Ill just give you two examples very quickly if we have time, and that is two of the most revered institutions in america, the Great University system and the military. I teach at Emory University, and if you go to any university in this country, including the deeply religious universities, they have horrendous abuse of women on the campuses. Sexual abuse on the campuses is horrendous. And its not ever reported unless the women overcome the objection of the president of university and the deans who discourage any legalization of a rape. And a few boys on the campus that are inclined toward rape when they get to be a university student, they know they can do it and get away with it. Only 4 of the sexual assaults on the campuses are even reported, and very few of those ever result in punishment of the rapist. The same thing happens in our military. The statistics that were involved in 2012, 26,000 sexual abuses in the military, about 300 resulted in punishment of the rapist. Thats about 1 . So, you know, we dont even want to address that, and the congress, you know, recently tried to remove the control of Commanding Officers from deciding which one of those cases should be tried and failed. The Commanding Officers still have control. And the same thing applies on University Campuses where president s of the universities, no matter how enlightened they are, they dont want to bring discredit on their university, they dont want to allege or let the world know that under their leadership, sexual abuse still takes place. So we need to correct our own problems here at home before we look overseas. Does that mean that when were talking about our Foreign Policy and were dealing with a country like saudi arabia which does ores women they do. Women are not allowed to driver, they have to be covered up they cant vote. And they cant vote. Do we just overlook that . I mean, you were in the forefront of the Human Rights Movement early on and, obviously, this is a human rights issue throughout the world. So how do we deal with our allies who are, in fact, oppressing women . Is there a line that we draw where we say this is not acceptable . Well, in some cases i think the passage of a law through the United Nations Security Council can have teeth in it and really result in direct action being taken. And Angelina Jolie and the foreign minister of Great Britain are working as partners now to try to resolve the problem of rape this war zones. In war zones. And theyre being very effective because the foreign minister goes to meetings of the United Nations Security Council, and they get laws passed, you impose punishment on people where the crime is committed. The United States passed a law a few years ago referring to the International Violence against women act, avaw, and we didnt go all the way, but we did pass enough to require state department to assess every year the degree of slavery that exists still in the world. And slavery is much more prevalent now that it ever was during the 19th century. It amounts to about 32 billion a year. And the last report i read from the state department, which is the last one they issued, by the way, they estimate that 800,000 persons are sold acrosser and National Borders across interNational Borders every year into slavery. And 80 of those are girls being sold into sexual servitude. In the United States, they estimated this is the state department that 100,000 girls are sold into slavery in this country. And in atlanta, by the way, its the number one trade post for this sexual slavery. We have over 200 girls sold every month in atlanta because we have the greatest airport, Busiest Airport on earth, and we get our passengers more from the Southern Hemisphere than, say, new york or washington would or chicago. And you can buy a girl in the south for about 1,000, a pimp can or a brothel owner, whereas if you get a girl from europe or eastern europe, she costs between 2 8,000. So most of the servitude in this country that relates to women is for the sexual trade. And we dont do anything in this country about prostitution. And a lot of people assume, well, all the prostitutes want to be prostitutes. They dont. Theyre put this there, and then theyre enclaved until later enslaved until later. In fact, theres not a house of prostitution or a brothel or a whorehouse in america that the officials in that city dont know about it being operated. And the local Police Obviously know it, because they walk back and forth across the street. So the police are either bribed or they look the other way, or theyre given free sexual privileges. And i know the prosecution is the old prostitution is the oldest sin and that sort of thing. Sweden, for instance, as i mention in my book quite extends lively, sweden has tried an experiment thats worked for about eight years, and other countries in europe are emulating sweden. What they do is they make a crime to be a brothel owner or to be a pimp or to be a male customer of a female ross constitute. They prostitute. They dont punish the prostitutes. And this, in our country we cojust the opposite. There are 50 times the amount of prostitutes arrested in america other than brothels or pimps. And the swedish model has really worked. So we just dont look to change the present situation. And i hope that this book and other things will help to correct those problems. Mr. President , i want to ask you about a problem youve been working on literally since the day you became president which is the Israeli Palestinian problem. Yes. Its one thats controversial, its brought great controversy to you. Your recent book, palestine peace, not apartheid, upset people not least because of the title. Whether i heard about it. [laughter] i bet you did. As you know, administration is making that push for peace again. Id have to say most of the pushing has been done by secretary of state john kerry. Right. And president obama has been relatively uninvolved. I noticed that. And so, well, i want to ask you to speak out about that. You were personally intensely involved in every minute of that peacemaking. And id like to ask you what, i take it youre dissatisfied with president obamas lack of personal involvement. What should he do . And we really are on the edge now. This really is a make or break moment. What should he do to try to bring this dream you had back in the 1970s closer to being reality . Well, i have fairly easy access to the secretary of state. John kerry has been a personal friend, and ive pretty well agreed with things before he became secretary of state. In fact, the morning of president obamas second inauguration, john kerry and his wife came to my hotel room, and we spent about two or three hours two hours as a matter of accuracy talking about international affairs. As you know, president obama had spent very little time except to make a beautiful speech if cairo. But then he had been pretty well quiet about it. And i was very happy when john kerry adopted that goal of his own to try to negotiate between the two. And i communicate with him on occasion. I met with him personally. I wont go into detail because its one of those things that i dont want to get involved with as a criticism of the president. But one of last things i said was that i hoped that when john kerry comes out with his socalled road map, that it will not deviate from longstanding International Law that was approved by israel in 1967 and by the United States and permeates the entire European Community on a unanimous basis. And all the arab countries have adopted it and that is, basically, that the 1967 borders would prevail, that there be two states, israel and palestine living next to each other, and that there could be some minor modifications of the border to accommodate the settlements close to jerusalem, and then the palestinians have their own state. Well, this is manager that i hope can be something that i hope can be done. And hi hope is that the United States will be very forceful in puertoing forward an accurate and fair road map and the United States will put his own personal force behind the road map when its promulgated. The palestinians have declared publicly i meet with them regularly that they dont sins on any insist on any sort of military capability, theyre perfectly willing for the entire palestinian state, that is the west bank and gaza, to be completely covered with peace forces from the United Nations or from the United States. And so forth. But thats what has to be done. And i think that the socalled right of return has to be modified. I cant imagine that it would be advantageous for anybody if a large number of palestinians moved back into israel itself. They might be compensated in some way in a reasonable fashion, but i think that we should let the palestinians that want to return to the west bank and gaza do so, to the new its too complicated to answer in a brief period of time, but i think thats what should be done. I hear you saying that unless president obama himself gets more involved, this will well, he doesnt have to be involved in the negotiation, but he has to make sure that once john kerry comes forward with what im sure will be a road map approved by president obama, that he lets the whole world know this is the United States position, and we will insist on its being honored. And before we leave this area, i want to ask i think if an israeli were sitting in our audience today, that person might reasonably ask why does president carter use words like apartheid that are going to fend and upset us offend and upset us and, israelis would say, are not accurate . We may have a lot of problems, but were not south africa under that government, were not going to so how would you answer that . Somebody said this is deliberately provocative and hurtful to us, why does president carter do that . David, youre probably the 5,000th person thats asked me that [laughter] including israelis when i go there ask jewishamericans. And i point out the name of my book, palestine peace, not apartheid. And hi point was and my point was and still is we need to have peace so that we will not have apartheid. And ive never said in any of my detailed writings or any of my public statements that israel is perp rating appar perpetrating apartheid. But if the pal palestinians aret given equal rights if we have a onestate situation, then you would have apartheid there because it is the jews who command one nation which which i dont want to see would have to relegate the palestinians to a secondary position legally in a joint nation. So a twostate solution with palestinians living here and israelis living there in peace is what i have advocated. But i have never this my life insinuated that apartheid exists in israel. Thanks. Given the fact that were talking about controversy oh, ive heard about it, go ahead. Well, you left the Southern Baptist convention yes. Because they would not allow women pastors, they wouldnt, as you pointed out earlier, they wouldnt allow women to teach if men were there. Women had to be submissive to their husbands. I want to know a little bit about your evolution, because you went to the naval acad pi, you married a beautiful academy, you married a beautiful young woman, you had a very traditional marriage. You became governor, she didnt. You became president , she didnt. She was wife, the mother, all of that. At what point did you sort of wake up one morning and say, oh, my wife may be as smart or smarter than i am . [laughter] women actually are equal, and what drove you to was there a moment when you realized that . What drove you to leave the Southern Baptists . Because that had to have been very difficult and painful for you to go against your own church and your own people. Well, let me say quickly, roast lend and i went to the i lived next door to her. I was 3 years old when she was born. And she was valedictorian of her High School Class at plains high school. I was not valedictorian. [laughter] so i knew from the very beginning, she was smarter than i was. [laughter] but i was a very active member of the Southern Baptist convention. My father was a deacon before me in the same church. I was baptized in the plains Baptist Church. And i began to Teach Sunday School classes when i was a mid shipman in the Naval Academy when i was 18 years old. Im 89, so ive been teaching for 71 times now. Ive been through the bible i dont know how many times and taught, and now we have a very small church in plains, and we have women deacons and women astors in our church. My wife is a deacon, by the way. So i came to the realization that i needed to change from the Southern Baptist convention to a more moderate Baptist Church without any real anguish on my part. And i tried for about 20 years from the time i left the white house until the Southern Baptist convention took this policy in the year 2000 to bring two disparate and some increasingly antagonistic groups about this together at the Carter Center. And i had two meetings at the Carter Center with the leaders of the Southern Baptist convention. And as a matter of fact, seven of the participants turned out to be president s of the Southern Baptist convention itself, the top person in the Southern Baptist convention. So i have a very happy life now as a more moderate baptist, and the church where i was batchtized is right down baptized is right down the street. And the plains Baptist Church and the baptists in my church are very harmonious. But was that, wasnt it painful for you in a way. Did the guys sort of turn against you and say, you know, youve let the side down . I dont think it hurt the Southern Baptist Convention Much when i was through. You know, i issued a press release and, as a matter of fact, to be technically accurate, individual human beings are not members of the Southern Baptist convention. A Church Congregation is a member of the Southern Baptist convention. And if you make a financial contribution, youre considered part of it still. So we never have made any division between our church and the Southern Baptist con to vex. We give convention. We give part of our offering to the mission tear program of the Southern Baptist convention, we give the other half to the more moderate group of baptists. When you talk to these men whether its catholics who dont allow women to be priests, say you talk to the pope, when you talk to brand muffy or grand mufti or a rabbi or the head of the Southern Baptists, how do they explain their insistence or keeping women down . I mean, is this, would you consider this christian . Yes. In the largest sense of word . Is it christian for them to do with what theyre doing . I disagree with them, but, you know, in my own tiny Little Church where we have 35 active members and hundreds of visitors that come every sunday to hear me teach, you know, the curiosity of a poll decision teaching the politician teaching the holy scripture draws curiosity. [laughter] who should do this or that in the church . We have some differences. I learned as a christian and jesus learned in dealing with his own disciples that you have difference of opinion. You dont turn against Somebody Just because they have a different belief from you. But i have, i have a Good Relationship with some of the islamic leaders. N. , i would say the preeminent leader of the sign think muslims sunni muslims has worked very closely with me on this very book. The grand imam of aliza, he was president of the university if cue owe that has 100,000 students. And he has just had, participated in a conference in alexandria at the Great Library there on this same subject because we have to organize it. And karen ryan, to whom i dedicated the book, was there and attended on our behalf and with whom we had a meeting last june on this same subject. He sent a delegation there with us. So i work very closely with the leader of the islamic faith to try to correct some of these problems, and as i said, i communicated with pope as well. And ive been very last week, as a matter of fact, because its a pertinent news story, the pope appointed, i believe, a committee of eight people to try to decrease the abuse of children by priests. And i think four of those members of his new committee were women, which i think was extraordinary. And one of the women appointed by him had been abused as a child by a priest. And i think in a convention. So im not saying that the pope did that because i said it, but the fact is that you can have different beliefs, you know, as devout christians or muslims or whatever your faith might be, buddhist and so forth and still worship the same god in the same degree of fervor. And i think the same degree of sincerity. People honestly believe that a certain verse in the bible prohibits women from being priests. Thats fine with me. I disagree, and i can express my disbelief and my difference, but i dont well, you can cherry pick the bible, you know. Well, anybody can. As i mentioned earlier on this program, 36,000 verses in the bible, and you can go back and find one that would prove that good favors the killing of every woman and child in a village, you know, in order for the jews to dominate in the holy land. You know, i dont believe thats not the image of good that i derive from the life of christ. Mr. President , i want to ask you one more question from up here on stage, and then were going to go to the audience. Okay. So id ask all of you to be thinking of your questions, and well have a microphone. Well ask you to line up, please. The microphone is over there. So, mr. President , i want to ask you finally about the presidency. You ran for a second term and were not successful. And i know that must be a us from extra for you when frustration for you when you look back. I can see youre a good historian. [laughter] yes, indeed. The incumbent president , president obama, ran for a second term and was successful in getting reelected, but youd have to say looking at the last year this has been a tough year for him. Hes just getting pounded 24 7 it sometimes seems. This latest period with the russia seizing the crimea as an example. I want to ask you reflecting on what it is to be president what thoughts you have about how president obama could be successful in his remaining less than three years now . Im sure youve thought a lot about what you would have done in a second term. Of you thought heres a man who has that second term, but it isnt going very well. I think wed all be fascinated to know what advice youd offer president obama this in this time. Well, im in the qualified to give him advice on modern day affairs. Ive been out of office now for 35 years or so. But, you know, just take, for instance, the issue that you just addressed in europe. I think just a couple of days ago. I think that the entry of putins forces into crimea was preordained. I dont think anything that the western world might have done, even the threat of military retaliation, would have deterred putin from doing this, because the russians i know them very well. They always have considered crimea to be part of their country. And i think a majority of the people in crimea felt that they were part of russia as well. So that was an inevitability. But i think that putin has to be stopped now. And there you come to a parallel between what i faced and what president obama faces now. On christmas week of 1979 when i was president , brezhnev ordered soviet troops into afghanistan. And i had to decide what to do about it. It was during the cold war. And i did a number of very strong things, strongest i could possibly think of. I withdrew my body my ambassador from moscow, i declared an em embargo againste soviet union, we began to arm secretly the Freedom Fighters in afghanistan and give them weapons they could use to deter or deflect the invasion, we used all russianmade weapons they got from egypt and saudi arabia and so forth in that respect, and i issued a statement that was called by some the Carter Doctrine to brezhnev directly, if you go any further than you have gone already, we will respond militarily. And we will not exclude any weapons at our disposal. And that was about as strong a warning as i could possibly give. And i meant what i said. And i think brezhnev knew that i meant what i said. They never went any further, and eventually, as you know, gorbachev withdrew them from afghanistan in somewhat of a defeat or disappointment or disgrace. So i think we have to be strong in taking a stand, make sure we are taking a stand on justifiable and enforceable grounds, and i believe that president obama has just as much fortitude and wisdom, maybe more so, than i had when i was president. So just to ask the obvious question, should president obama be saying to president putin this russia in russia if you move further i understand your argument about crimea, but be you move further across the border of ukraine, an independent nation, into moldova , the United States and its allies reserve the right to respond in whatever way they choose with use of military force, obviously, a possibility . Is huge we are going to take military action in Eastern Ukraine as you well know. I think what putin is going to do is to seduce the eastern ukrainians who are in the russian dominated area to look with favor on russia and try to convince them that they are better off dealing with rational than the western European Countries with favorable grants or loans and trade agreement and movement back to interNational Borders will do everything he can to convince them about persuasion and demonstration. Thats legitimate so they can have a competition peacefully between western europe and western countries in soviet the battle went if ukraine to us which way. I want to invite the audience to make their way. We are to have a line behind the microphone. Let me ask the first person in line. Let me just say we have relatively short time, so i want you to keep your questions brief, make sure they are questions. If people start making speeches, i am going to cut you off because we just dont have much time. These identify yourself. Go ahead. Thank you for being here and thank you for your model apostate take leadership and putting your influence in your power into making the world a better place in many areas. Thank you very much. My question is literally power. Renewable energy is empowering women of various parts of the country, various parts of the world in the country. For example there would angle and india exactly in the rural areas in particular where women are developing server technologies and completely reversing a picture of society and take in Economic Development level. How has the Carter Center elevated that, participated in that, and power that can facilitate it a greater use of that dynamic because they can really change the out economic structure in the two powermate in a nonviolent and way. In the book i have a whole chapter, maybe it a little bit too long on with this center is actually done and how we have related to them in the most sensitive and deprived areas of the world to utilize their ability. You might want to read the book to find out about that. We have dealt primarily with the health issues. This center last year treated over 36 Million People in the world, mostly in the developing world we found out when we go into the village, for instance, individual villages in africa mostly in the jungle or admit desert areas that the women are the key people in dealing with correction of a pelt problem. Theyre the ones responsible for the sanitation. They are the ones teaching Young Children to wash their face to prevent blindness. They are the ones trusted by their neighbors to spread the word to adjacent families that he learned how to 32,000 health workers. About 7000 have the equivalent of a registered nurse or physicians assistants in about 27,000 or lpn equivalents. Theyve never come out of ethiopia to be traded. We trade them all better in ethiopia and others one Trained Health worker for every 2500 people, all of whom are women. This would present a society that firmly but not trusty women to take a leadership role and energy and finance or commerce or education or health care. Thats the kind of thing we have done around which the world and we find parents, for instance that will kill a baby daughter because they want to have sons instead of daughters. We try to convince them, if you just invest a little bit of extra food and education and when your daughter gets crunchy can support you and your old age better perhaps than your sons could. Thats the best way i know to prevent this murder of baby girls and afflicts me and my conscious so much. Thats a nice to be done to convince the local people your daughters can be a great investment for you and i also can resolve problems that your son and then just cant do like health care. Yes, sir. And gary hall from the national cathedral. Mr. President , i came to hear you during the campaign in 1976 and you have been at that Campaign Appearance to give an extremely interesting analysis of the thought of reinhold deeper. What im interested in what you think today the appropriate role of the Faith Community is in Public Policy and public life. We are with a Faith Community that exercised a lot of leverage or serve as pressure groups, the taste defeat community have been appropriate and authentic role in the development of Public Policy in our public life . Certainly, yes. I point out a few things on which i disagree with the Southern Baptist convention. What i didnt mention was a mixture of religion and politics. I was taught by my father in the peace river bondary that this has a lot to at the Republican Party and i dont think the religious community as he described it should get involved in endorsing particular candidates or parties. It probably the one were talking about discussing today are the abuse of women and girls they are, for instance, the religious community should join in. For us its the u. S. Senate to ratify the convention on the end of discrimination against women. Provision passed by the u. N. Assembly thomas said the u. N. Secretary u. N. Security council. Most countries on earth have adopted this, which is kind of a declaration of human rights for women. The United States senate refuses to ratify. The balance against violence for women act. The International Version of that calls on the United States to be involved in enforcing the law. The economy says so far failed to pass it. So thats two examples whether the religious community can play a major role in trying to encourage the end of discrimination against women. As you know in this country, slavery is another major issue that hasnt been adequately addressed by the congress. I think again we can take a stand against the Human Trafficking are slavery, which is still pervasive in the United States itself and that can be sharply attenuated by action of the congress. A fourth thing i mentioned are quick as prostitution. We should adopt the swedish model of punishing customers of women in pants and brothel owners instead of punishing the women who are the slaves inside the United States of america. These are the kinds of things the religious community can help to resolve this abuse of women. Thank you. Yes, sir. And from the office at usaid. When i was a High School Student in atlanta and thinks he landed up in brazil with your wife around or 50 other georgians and im here 60 countries later thanks to you. Thank you for that. My question is building on what you just said in the various issues about the abuse of women, we seem to have a culture denigration that is a subculture throughout the world and it seems to me of the many theories that there is, one of the driving factors there is the expansive spread of. I am wondering if you could comment on not and what can be done to perhaps stanch dataflow, especially given the Constitutional Rights that are perhaps equal to religious freedoms in this country. Thats a question i dont think i know how to answer. I dont want to advocate censorship of which john on late night during an early night television. So i wouldnt advocate any direct action against that. I may take a parallel thing to answer your question. My wife is a World Champion one of the greatest improper mentally ill people as a threat to society. They have for four decades to remove the stigma for mentally ill people and to show we can live they are not to be feared in society. So she and i for instance had had to hollywood and met with people who come to georgia to make movies and we try to encourage them to avoid the denigration or stigmatization of people who have Mental Illness. We now have a Worldwide Program of training journalists on how to present Mental Illness of the most enlightened and fairway. So this is having a major beneficial impact. I think its more about education of maybe how much pornography results in a direct human abuse of women and girls and not any kind of censorship. I want to take tumor questions. The next two people in line will ask you to ask questions in succession or if they never go back to president carter. To try to give brief answers, too. President carter, undergraduate student. I want to thank you for shining light on the crisis on college campuses. I want you to say what you think needs to be done. I tried hard to work on my campus and found it to be one of the thorniest most difficult issues what do you think Civil Society organizations and the government do to address this . One more question will be done. Thank you, president carter. I was lucky enough to be part of an Organization Called the Olive Tree Initiative taste on your speech in 2007 and i was lucky enough to travel to the middle east and interactive learning about these conflicts. I want to ask and what do thing for young people, what is their role . What can be the road of young people in this conflict to work towards the peace process. He spoke briefly about the diplomatic process. Civil society organizations. The first question is this come at Emory University right that a professor for 32 years, the president there has adopted this issue on the campus and a very aggressive way. This pious affection of the education act was passed by the way when i was president with title ix and appear that title ix was originally designed to let women have an equal chance at sports. But now the act has been interpreted to provide protection for women from sexual abuse and the federal government has not the authority to withhold federal grants to a university, even for basic research or whatever if they dont take corrective action against the campus who now rape with impunity. Any university willing to do so at this this question can be effective. On the emory campus is initiated this new policy of encouragement of women to afford rape, now everybody is having to suffer from the university in america with the mr. Purdy rape on the campus in the federal government involved in taking initiative and faculty is the best approach. As her assume people are concerned in the middle east, when i wrote my book as mentioned earlier, not apartheid , i got the Nobel Peace Prize earlier and i saved some of the money and at brandeis, which is a heavily friendship towards israel, i hope to organize a group of students to go from brandeis every year to israel and they actually would take 14 or 15 and i would pay for the expenses and they would go and spend some time in israel and spent time of palestinians to learn both sides of the controversial issue. Weve done this at other colleges around the country where i put in a maximum of 25,000 to help the traveling expenses. I think thats had a beneficial effect. I would say if youre interested in doing something about the middle east peace process, get about 12 or 15 of their classmates and maybe a couple professions to go along if you bite and then go to the holy land and learn the people involved what is the problem and how it might be overcome in the west bank and gaza and also within itself. Mr. President , im going to wrap this up. This is obviously an incredibly complicated problem and religion is obviously a major issue here. If you had to name one thing that you out was the worst atrocity were the worst problem in the world, what would it be and what can be done about it in 25 words or less . What is your next move . Well, i wanted to be a public one for everybody that reads a book to say what can we do to help you to have an organization to predict when and . We can be partners in maker voices be more than her single voices. That is what i hope to do in the future. I would say that the most horrendous abuse is what i mentioned earlier. That is the murder of little girl babies or embryos because the parents want to have boys and their family of limited family size either retained by the government or they cant support a bigger family. That can be done by making sure that the people know their daughters can be productive in the future is taking care of the family and by educating women and they should be a crime for parents to murder their children. But quite often the government said that india and china have encouraged parents to insert may not discourage them from strangling their babies when theyre born. A movie came out last november called its a girl. Theres one woman and from an eon through without any shame says she strangled a daughters when they were born because she couldnt afford to feed them or put them through an educational process. That isnt horrendous statistic that has been proven. I think its the world we just know if there nurtured as well as boys could be equally productive, equally supportive, maybe even more so it helped to attenuate, certain to reduce legalized are encouraged or condoned assassination of baby girls. Mr. President , thank you. Thank you. [applause] a huge thank you to president carter on behalf of Washington Post live, which organizes all kinds of new words the discussion in washington all across the United States and now abroad. I want to thank you beauty can go to Washington Post live. Com. Very soon youll see highlights of this very discussion