Jimmy Carter was elected 39th President of the United States today in 1976. Carter (above right, standing next to Gerald Ford, the 38th President) was a born again peanut farmer from the town of Plains, Georgia, and led a weekly Sunday school class at his church. The evangelical backing he gained as the ‘born again’ candidate, even though he was a Democrat, played a significant part in his success, although an interview he gave to Playboy magazine lost him the support of the religious right.
‘I’ve looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something that God recognizes I will do – and I have done it – and God forgives me for it.’ Jimmy Carter, interview in Playboy, September 1976
It is All Soul’s Day, a day to pray for the faithful departed in Purgatory. It arose from the Cluny Revival in the 10th century, when the reformed abbey of Cluny was so besieged by requests for prayer they set aside a day for it. Legend said that the decision was inspired by a pilgrim who came across a hole in the ground through which he could distinctly hear the wails of purgatorial torment.
Early this morning in 1975, Pier Paolo Pasolini, director of the landmark film, The Gospel According to St. Matthew, the 1960s biblical drama, was murdered on the beach at Ostia, near Rome. He was beaten and run down with his own car, and although a 17 year-old boy confessed to his murder, it is now thought he was killed by a gang of fascists with hidden connections to the Italian state. His murder remains unsolved.
The Balfour Declaration, expressing British support for ‘a national home for the Jewish people’ in Palestine, was published today in 1917. The declaration was contained in a letter signed by Arthur Balfour, Britain’s Foreign Secretary, and contained just 67 words, but had tragic consequences in helping to produce the bloody and intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was produced by the British government in detailed discussion with Jewish groups, but with no consultation with the Arab population of Palestine, who were driven from their towns and villages when the implications of the declaration became reality.
‘His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.’ The Balfour Declaration, 1917
It is the Feast Day of St Aelhaiarn, a Welsh saint from the 7th century, whose name means ‘Iron Eyebrow’. Aelhaiarn was the servant of another holy man, St Byno, who prayed every night kneeling in the river. One night, Aelhaiarn followed his master to watch this marvel, but Byno, not recognising him in the dark, cursed him, and he was immediately torn to bits by wild beasts. When Byno realized who it was, he repented and rebuilt his servant, but couldn’t find his eyebrow, and so replaced it with the iron tip of his pikestaff. True story.