David Barton has been caught yet again lying to his ignorant followers, telling them that many provisions found in the Constitution are “direct quotes” from the Bible. He did it at the ProFamily Legislators Conference, put on by his Wallbuilders organization.
Deranged lunatic and former general Jerry Boykin appeared at an event put on by David Barton’s Wallbuilders organization and spun a web of crazy involving Sharia law, the Muslim Brotherhood and the communist manifesto that is simply breathtaking. Behold:
In the wake of the stunning victories for marriage equality in all four states where it was on the ballot a few weeks ago, David Barton is trying to paint a smiley face on the whole thing. He dismisses those victories as purely “rhetorical” and, as usual, distorts the truth in the process:
The city of Santa Monica decided not to allow any holiday displays in a public park this year after being forced to allow non-Christian groups to put up their own displays next to a nativity scene that had been up for decades. And now the Christians are going to court claiming this violates their freedom of speech.
Glenn Beck, more than any other wingnut commentator, squarely put the results of the election on the shoulders of God. Romney was going to win because God was in charge and he wanted Romney to win. Indeed, he claimed, God was actually giving Romney advice on how to “win” the third debate (which he didn’t, by any measure) and he had blessed Romney as he did George Washington. Here’s yet another clip of Beck saying that God was going to make sure Romney won on Tuesday:
I think it’s crystal clear that David Barton simply does not care whether any claim he makes is true as long as that claim supports his agenda. On his radio show last week, he just flat out lied about the Obama administration’s position on blasphemy laws and the United Nations.
David Barton has made a habit of making the most absurd and strained connections between Bible verses and the Constitution, but he’s not alone. In his Founder’s Bible, he includes an article by Paul Jehle, Executive Director of the Plymouth Rock Foundation, who says that the famous phrase “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” came from the Bible too. And you’re gonna love his argument:
David Barton must have some kind of secret decoder ring. How else to explain how he derives the most absurd ideas from various Bible verses, which he claims support his right wing political and economic positions? On a television show recently, he bizarrely declared that only companies that are government-regulated had to be bailed out in 2008 and 2009:
Glenn Beck and David Barton waxed eloquent on Beck’s show recently about the absurd claim that Lincoln’s declaration of a day of prayer won the civil war, and then Beck declared, and Barton agreed, that Mitt Romney is the next Abraham Lincoln because he’ll listen to God. You can’t make this shit up.
David Barton thinks the Bible says something about absolutely every issue, so much so that he’s willing to take staggering leaps of logic to draw connections that just aren’t there. And on his radio show recently he predicted that science would discover that salt is good for you because the Bible says it is:
Wow. Just when you think disgraced and dishonest former Navy chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt has hit rock bottom, he grabs a shovel and starts to tunnel. If you give him money, he’ll send you a little booklet he wrote about how he used his “spiritual discernment” to determine that President Obama is controlled by 50 demons.
Dispatches From the Culture Wars
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