David Barton made a video series called Foundations of Freedom, which the Trinity Broadcasting Network is now airing, and our old friend Michele Bachmann was interviewed for it. She gave us her thoughts, such as they are, about the 2009 hate crime law that was passed. Naturally, she and Barton declared it to be “tyranny” because they have no idea what that word means.
David Barton’s The Jefferson Lies, pulled from the shelves by Thomas Nelson Publishers, has been republished by Worldnetdaily Books (what a shocker), which doesn’t care about trivial things like accuracy. Barton, of course, has said that none of the criticisms of the old book were valid, but he made some minor changes in wording anyway. But here’s one lie that’s still in there:
I am very happy to announce that Liars For Jesus: The Religious Right’s Alternate Version of American History, Vol. 2 (Volume 2)
John Fea is a well-respected historian at Messiah College in Pennsylvania. He’s an evangelical Christian, but an honest one and he has strongly criticized people like David Barton for their shoddy and dishonest revisionism about America being a “Christian nation.” David Lane is political activist with no training in history at all and a blatant liar. When Lane tries to respond to Fea’s criticism, he falls flat on his face.
Bill Federer, as I’ve mentioned before, is sort of a poor man’s David Barton. He has a column published in places like the Worldnetdaily in which he stitches together quotes from famous men in history supporting Christianity, usually in defense of the notion that America is a Christian nation. But his latest column attempts to cite long-dead scientists to prove that the earth was created by God.
Glenn Beck has launched yet another initiative to save the country from…well, something. Like his previous announcements of this type, it will almost certainly be forgotten and quietly dropped after a few months of doing absolutely nothing. This time he wants you to “take action.” And by “take action,” he means say prayers that he has conveniently written for you.
Ever since Thomas Nelson Publishers pulled David Barton’s appropriately named The Jefferson Lies from bookstore shelves due to a huge number of false claims in it, Barton has repeatedly said that it would be republished by someone else. Now we know who, and it should come as no surprise whatsoever that the new publisher is the Worldnetdaily, which cares as little about the truth as Barton. WND says:
The state of Georgia is looking to be the most recent state to pass a version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which is a very bad idea for several reasons. But as with the same situations in Indiana, Michigan and other states last year, a lot of opponents of the bill are spreading scare stories that are absolutely ludicrous about what the bill will do.
Rep. Randy Forbes of Virginia is a hardcore Christian right ideologue. He heads up the Congressional Prayer Caucus (yes, there is such a thing; someone should start a Congressional Throw Salt Over Your Shoulder Caucus) and has offered many resolutions full of all kinds of fake history taken straight from David Barton. In a sermon at a church, he claimed a massive conspiracy to destroy faith in America.
Former congressional staffer Mike Lofgren has a long article on Bill Moyers’ website about what he calls anti-knowledge, which is very much like the term I have long used, virulent ignorance. A person displays this, is infested with it, when they not only don’t understand an issue, but have swallowed a whole bunch of platitudinous falsehoods about it that give them the illusion that they understand it.
Bill Federer, a sort of David Barton light, has a Worldnetdaily column in which he cherry picks quotes from famous people throughout history to show that everyone was a Christian since the beginning of time, other than those who are clearly evil. In his Saturday column, he told his readers that Martin Luther had warned against the dangers of Muslims while he was alive, apparently providing some support for animus toward Muslims today.
It’s a day that ends in Y, so let’s play the endlessly fun game What Is David Barton Lying About Today? If you had the Iran deal in the office pool, you may now collect your winnings. Hes telling the same lie that Donald Trump told a few weeks ago, that the deal requires us to go to war to protect Iran if it’s ever attacked — which of course, Barton says, means we’ll have to go to war against Israel.
Dispatches From the Culture Wars
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