Jimmy Carter, bastion of good sense and charity, demonstrates his insight into and compassion for those who disagree with his religious opinions

Jimmy Carter gives an interview to Spiegel that is full of the humility and charity that we've come to expect from the man. Such as this, for example:

The fundamentalists believe they have a unique relationship with God, and that they and their ideas are God's ideas and God's premises on the particular issue. Therefore, by definition since they are speaking for God anyone who disagrees with them is inherently wrong. And the next step is: Those who disagree with them are inherently inferior, and in extreme cases -- as is the case with some fundamentalists around the world -- it makes your opponents sub-humans, so that their lives are not significant. Another thing is that a fundamentalist can't bring himself or herself to negotiate with people who disagree with them because the negotiating process itself is an indication of implied equality. And so [the Bush] administration, for instance, has a policy of just refusing to talk to someone who is in strong disagreement with them -- which is also a radical departure from past history. So these are the kinds of things that cause me concern. And, of course, fundamentalists don't believe they can make mistakes, so when we permit the torture of prisoners in Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib, it's just impossible for a fundamentalist to admit that a mistake was made.

They should be more like Mr. Carter, a man who is well known for his ability to admit to his own screwups...

Actually, what's hilarious is listening to Carter complain about how, "There's no doubt that this administration has made a radical and unpressured departure from the basic policies of all previous administrations including those of both Republican and Democratic presidents." The reason this is hilarious is simply that up until Carter there was an ironclad tradition that former Presidents did not openly criticize incumbents, a tradition from which Carter has made a radical and unpressured departure.

I don't know that fundamentalists really consider themselves morally superior to everybody else, but it's impossible to read that interview without understanding how very morally superior to fundamentalists Carter considers himself to be.