Abuse of women 'most serious worldwide challenge' - Carter --- False interpretation of religious texts partly to blame for intolerance, says former US president --- Jimmy Carter doesn’t sugar-coat it – the number of females either aborted or strangled at birth in countries where the subjugation of women is at its most horrific is estimated to amount to four times the number of lives lost in the second World War. -- A champion of peace and equality during his presidency and after, the former US leader and 2002 Nobel Peace laureate offers this shocking statistic first to make his point on the violence against women. Mr Carter, who turns 90 this year, has tackled the subject of inequality and violence towards females in a new book, his 26th to be published since leaving the White House in 1981. -- Mr Carter states boldly in A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence and Power that the “most serious and unaddressed worldwide challenge is the deprivation and abuse of women and girls”. -- He blames a “false interpretation of carefully selected religious texts and a growing tolerance of violence and warfare, unfortunately following the example set during my lifetime by the United States”. - More, at: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/us/abuse-of-women-most-serious-worldwide-challenge-carter-1.1752191