I recently chatted with Julie Rose for an episode of her Top of Mind show on BYU radio (Channel 143 on your SiriusXM dial.) Here are the show notes: Can America guarantee free expression of religion in public as an […]
Christian America
On Stephen Wolfe’s use of my book “Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?”
On at least two occasions that I know about, Stephen Wolfe, the author of The Case for Christian Nationalism, has tweeted passages from my book to advance his vision of a Christian state. You can learn more about that vision […]
Are Christian values American values?
Short answer: No. Short nuanced answer: Sometimes Christian values can overlap with American values. Was America founded as a Christian nation?: No Was Christianity important to the founding generation and did the founders believe that Christianity was good for the […]
“Christian nation idea fuels US conservative causes, but historians say it misreads founders’ intent”
Happy to help Associated Press religion reporter Peter Smith with this piece. A taste: Those arguing for a Christian America are generally not historians and not really talking about history — they’re talking politics, said John Fea, author of the […]
Is bad history protected under the free speech clause of the First Amendment?
I mentioned this story in today’s Evangelical Roundup, but I thought it deserved its own post. In case you missed it, David Barton, the political activist who uses the American past to promote his Christian Right agenda, is suing the […]
If David Barton’s work has been widely discredited, why has he remained so popular and influential?
Journalist Jon Ward, the author of Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Failed a Generation, recently asked me the question in the title of this post as part of a story he is writing on David Barton for Yahoo News. […]
Jack Hibbs is still talking about American history. And it’s getting worse.
Last week I called your attention to megachurch pastor Jack Hibbs’s atrocious handling of the history of the Continental Army at Valley Forge. Now he is back with more. Watch: OK, let’s break it down: 1:10ff: Hibbs says, with no […]
Jack Hibbs: “If we were writing the Bible today, George Washington would be included”
In this video, podcast the pastor of the Calvary Church-Chino Hill (CA) reveals just how the Christian Right manipulates the past to promote its political agenda. I can’t tell whether these pastors are just ignorant or they are deliberately lying. […]
Hey Josh Hawley, about that Patrick Henry quote…
In case you missed it, on July 4th Josh Hawley, the conservative populist U.S. senator from Missouri, tweeted some words on Twitter that he claimed belonged to Virginia revolutionary Patrick Henry: The problem with Hawley’s tweet is that Patrick Henry […]
“The Bartons are surrounded by tools but that fact doesn’t make them historians anymore than my tool collection makes me a mechanic.”Â
Warren Throckmorton on David Barton, Tim Barton, and Wallbuilders: I have tools and gadgets and parts that I don’t know how to use. Some of those tools are left over from my dad and some seem to have just appeared […]
Alveda King on those who say America is not a Christian nation: “What malarkey!”
Avelda King is Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece, outspoken leader of the Christian Right, and Trump court evangelical. Watch her speech at Ralph Reed’s “Road to Majority 2023” conference today: A few comments: King believes she is an officer in […]
Paul Matzko completes his critical review of Stephen Wolfe’s book on Christian nationalism
We wrote about Matzko’s review of Wolfe yesterday. Get up to speed here. But there’s more! Matzko turned to Twitter to finish the review: Nice work, Paul!
Stephen Wolfe’s book on Christian nationalism “is worth a read only in the same sense that rubbernecking at a car crash counts as sightseeing”
Recently the Christian nationalist historian Stephen Wolfe tweeted several passages from my book Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?: A Historical Introduction. Here is the tweet: Here is the entire tweet: I don’t have the time or inclination to […]
Donald Trump and Robert Jeffress are back together again in Waco.
Robert Jeffress, the Trump court evangelical who says he is not yet ready to endorse a candidate for president in 2024, sure looked like he was back in the tank for Trump today in Waco. I cannot seem to embed […]
Was America founded as a Christian nation? Historian Allen Guelzo weighs-in
Here is the prize-winning historian at John Piper’s Desiring God website: John Randolph of Roanoke (1773–1833) had no confidence that America was, or ever had been, a Christian republic. Six months after the close of the War of 1812 — […]
How do evangelicals understand “Christian nationalism?”
Daniel Silliman has some nice reporting on this at Christianity Today. A taste: Caleb Campbell didn’t know he needed the term Christian nationalism. He’d heard it, here and there, but it hadn’t really registered. It was at the edge of his […]
Should America be a Christian nation?
45% of Americans say the United States should be a Christian nation, according to a new study from Pew Research. An even higher number–60%–believe that the founding fathers “originally intended” for the United States to be a Christian nation. And […]
In a sermon on “defending truth,” Tim Barton makes multiple false claims
The son of Wallbuilders founder David Barton recently gave a rambling “history” sermon at Christian Missions Church in Jacksboro, Texas. This is what can happen when the past is only useful as a form of activism. Here is Barton: Let’s […]
David Barton manipulates the past for political ends. The latest.
At a recent Family Research Council event, David Barton, the GOP political activist who uses the past to promote his politics, confused an early 19th-century Sunday School for a “public school.” For some, this might be an honest mistake. But […]
The Author’s Corner with Brendan J. J. Payne
Brendan J. J. Payne is Assistant Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History at North Greenville University. This interview is based on his new book, Gin, Jesus, and Jim Crow: Prohibition and the Transformation of Racial and […]