This Week’s Patheos Column: Should Christians Trust David Barton?

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I wish that every single young person in America would be able to be under his tutelage and understand something about who we really are as a nation. I almost wish that there would be a simultaneous telecast and all Americans would be forced, at gunpoint no less, to listen to every David Barton message. And I think our country would be better for it. I wish it would happen. ~ Mike Huckabee

In case you missed it, the mainstream media has discovered David Barton. Last week The New York Times ran a front-page feature article on Barton’s influence in the Republican Party and Jon Stewart had him as a guest on The Daily Show. By the time the 2012 primary season rolls around, Barton will be a household name.

But who is he? David Barton is the former vice-chairman of the Texas Republican Party and the president of Wallbuilders, an organization founded to present “America’s forgotten history and heroes with an emphasis on our moral, religious, and constitutional heritage.” During his appearance on The Daily Show, Barton claimed to advise dozens of members of Congress—both Democrats and Republicans—on matters related to the so-called Christian roots of America. If you are a congressperson and need a nice historical quote to help you convince your fellow lawmakers to support your proposed piece of legislation, Barton is your man.

Read the rest here.

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In a sermon on “defending truth,” Tim Barton makes multiple false claims David Barton’s son talks slavery and Black history with sportswriter Jason Whitlock. It is a train wreck. David Barton spreads blatant falsehoods about the AP US History course, state history standards, and a bunch of other stuff. Anyone who wants to believe that Independence Day is a Christian holiday should read Frederick Douglass’s “What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?” David Barton speaks at First Baptist-Dallas.

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Comments

  1. Tom Van Dyke says

    The generalness of the criticisms makes the piece come off just as a personal attack, since his thesis is nowhere engaged. And niggles like his trove of docs in Texas just sound petty.

    Sorry, Jon, but you cats are going to have to come up with another way to skin this one.

    And sorry, but Barton's most vociferous critics plainly come from the left. They may laugh at his contention that our society's screaming pathologies [esp unwed motherhood] are a result of losing God, but that scoffing only works among fellow gentlepersons of the left.

    Thus, although his critics protest he's improperly mixing politics and history, their own partisanship is pretty transparent.

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