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May 2nd, 2012
11:19 AM ET
Who is David Barton, #1 trending topic on Google?
By Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor A longtime star on the conservative Christian circuit, controversial evangelical historian David Barton is today the No. 1 trending topic on Google. The online surge comes on the heels of Barton’s appearance on The Daily Show on Tuesday night. Barton argues that religion – and Christianity in particular – played a huge role in the founding and history of the United States, and that that role has been largely scrubbed from the history books by modern secular elites. The Texas-based Barton runs a group called WallBuilders, which is "dedicated to presenting America's forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on the moral, religious, and constitutional foundation on which America was built – a foundation which, in recent years, has been seriously attacked and undermined," according to its website. In his new book, “The Jefferson Lies: Exposing the Myths You've Always Believed About Thomas Jefferson,” Barton attempts to dispel the popular notion that Thomas Jefferson was a secular politician who pioneered the idea of strict church-state separation. Barton wears a variety of hats in Republican and conservative circles. He’s a former top official in the Texas GOP and a sometimes consultant with the Republican National Committee; a behind-the-scenes political operative who advises presidential candidates and coordinates trips to Israel for the likes of Glenn Beck; and a prolific author, speaker and Washington tour guide on the evangelical circuit. Barton and his work are featured prominently in former "Growing Pains" star Kirk Cameron’s new movie “Monumental,” about the role of religion in American history. Barton's work has drawn many critics, including Warren Throckmorton, an associate professor of psychology at Grove City College who has fact-checked some of Barton's work. “That’s just not what happened,” Throckmorton frequently says of Barton's version of historical events. Do you have an opinion of David Barton? Ever read his work or see him speak? Share your views and stories in comments. |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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It would be refreshing if religious conservatives were more concerned with doing good works, instead of cramming their ideology down peoples throats. Why is it so important to them that everyone else in world believes EXACTLY like they do? I say, practice your religion using honestly, compassion, and good faith instead of political pressure. In other words, practice what you so loudly preach.
Why should I accept your values of honesty and compassion? Are you religious? Are you cramming those down my throat? Are you trying to make others believe as you do?
@Peick – classic Liberal line "cramming down my throat.." haha. Christians get your garbage "crammed down our throat" every time we turn around. Get over it.
Religion is man's attempt to reconcile with God and is a pathway to hell. A personal relationship with Christ is what is important.
@cbinal
Exactly what is being "crammed down your throat"?
Barton doesn't just argue that Christianity played a star role in our founding (despite the fact that the principles our nation were founded on can most easily find their roots in the secular Enlightenment), but he argues that we ARE a Christian nation.
But the consensus at the time was largely Christian. Go to Washington DC, visit the Jefferson Memorial (yes, the "deist" Jefferson) and read the quotes engraved in stone for future generations. Mr. Jefferson acknowledged the Christian viewpoint quite openly.
Read Much?
@peick,
Jefferson respected the morality of the NT – but he rather seemed to despise the hocus-pocus it also contained. Jefferson purposefully cherry picked the NT to remove the parts he saw as 'dunghill'. So, yes, he liked some of the Christian viewpoint, but it is important to understand his entire view.
="And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerve in the brain of Jupiter. But may we hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this most venerated reformer of human errors."
Mike,,,,,,,,,,,, , "secular Enlightenment"?
From just exactly what depths of lighted issuances made you say such an oximoronic statute of fabricated amaligums' proper?
@Dreamer
The word enlighten means:
to give intellectual OR spiritual knowledge; instruct; impart knowledge to.
from dictionary.com
and enlightenment is the act of being enlightened.
Maybe you should know the definition of a word before you criticize someones use of it.
Sorry enlightenment is the act of enlightening.
@ dreamer,
Is there some special grammatical reason for the bizarre usage of commas?
I can't wait to watch this interview when I get home from work. I bet Jon Stewart worked him over.
I have followed David Barton for many years. As a christian I have been troubled by the re-writing of American history to suit a political agenda that seemed to start with Dr. Jerry Falwell back in the early 80's. Truth is truth and no ideological twisting to emphasise a political sprectrum changes that. I am thankful to live in a free country where I can worship as I see fit, but I don't need a bunch of wingnuts (right or left) trying to force me into thinking my politics and faith are one and the same! Jesus is Lord and He will be long after the United States of America is but a distant memory.
As an atheist, I wished more Christians were like you.
Agree with your last statement, sir. But if you live in America, remember that we use the letter z in many words like emphasize.
As an atheist, I feel more comfortable when Christians seem like atheists.
The Bible says a "A fool in his heart says 'There is no God'"'. I am a little worried about that. What does 'weeping and ghashing of teeth' mean? Will I be doing that for all of eternity? What does utter darkness mean? Will I be alone for all eternity or will I be able to see others who rejected Christ in hell?
Everyone must realize who his audience is. They are people who believe that the Earth is only 6000 years old, snakes talk, man was made from dirt and a woman made from his removed rib later on, that a man rose from the dead and flew into the sky, etc., etc. Most these people even read their bible that they so revere but get all their info from their pastor.
I am praying for you right now JT. I hope you dont mind.
That's not true.
Oh, um...."haytuh." Did I do that right?
I realize that if the earth were really billions of years old that there should be at least 150 millions of years worth of dinosaur bones but they still must be looking for them. Also, why haven't the seas turned to total salt by now? Also, why does a carbon dated dog that died 10 years ago show up in a test to be over 150,000 years old? I cannot answer these questions but I feel more content being able to sin at will.
Saw some of your comments and wow I very rarely see someone of your perspective that honest about their thoughts on Jesus, God and eternity. I'm kind of blown away honestly. At the end of the day I think the Bible is trustworthy man and that the boundaries God lays out in it are for our safety and benefit... like the parent who yells at their child not to run out into the streets.
Barton is on the front lines exposing the socialist left and their rewriting of American history. The leftists tell a lie often enough..........
Or not...
And since you clearly don't check the facts, you will never know just how wrong you are, and how wrong he is.
So when actual historians – who are not noted for being "liberal" – call Barton a liar and a quack, they are lying?
Every time I read about one of these ultra right-wing religious extremists, I am reminded of several books that I read in high school and college. "1984" comes to mind.. and "Animal Farm". If you haven't read them, I suggest that you do. The people in authority speak in doublespeak and re-write history to suit their authoritarian policies. That's what people like this man and the likes of Rick Santorum remind me of. Mind control, absolute dictatiorship, and lasws set based on their revisionist history. Scary stuff. I'm a Christian, but of the mainstream type... not one of these zealots. These people are frightening. They talk like programmed robots. Like the wives in The Stepford Wives.
Sashnash: Do you have any idea what our current government is up to? THAT is scary...
That picture is so typical of these people. Ignorance and bigotry with a smile.
Used car salesmen, politicians asking for your vote, fundamentalists of any stripe... They all share that same fake smile.
Barton has it down pat.
Calling this man a historian is an insult to the profession.
He must be a "His Story And".. he believes His Story And nothing else, regardless of the facts.
He is most certainly NOT a historian.
Exactly!
If a professor at the super-conservative and super-religious Grove City College even says that this guy's claims are exaggerated, they they are. The opposite is true – Right-wing Christians have long reconstructed history of the United States in their favor; now, with new manuscripts from the founding figures, we know that they weren't Christians, but deists.
P.S. I believe most anything I hear come from a secularist's mouth. I am also proudly a child of Satan and am planning on spending all of eternity in hell with him.
Harvard used to be super conservative and super religious too, but one of the most Liberal now. I don't put any weight behind what a Psychology Prof has to say about History either. Do they not have a History Professor there? I have checked alot of what Barton has said over the years and found what I saw to be true, the rewriting was done by Liberals within the last Century. Go back and check the real writings and historians.
More lies from the ultra-conservative religious right. Pathetic.
Nor is it surprising.
When someone has an invisible friend and bases their entire world view around their invisible friend, don't be shocked if they have a tenuous grasp of real world event and historical events.
Very true. When your world depends on make believe, you can make up whatever history suits you!
I was walking down along the street and I heard this voice saying, "Good evening, Mr. Dowd." Well, I turned around and here was this big six-foot rabbit leaning up against a lamp-post. Well, I thought nothing of that because when you've lived in a town as long as I've lived in this one, you get used to the fact that everybody knows your name...I said, "You have the advantage on me. You know my name and I don't know yours." And, and right back at me he said, "What name do you like?" Well, I didn't even have to think twice about that. Harvey's always been my favorite name. So I said to him, I said, "Harvey." And, uh, this is the interesting thing about the whole thing: He said, "What a coincidence. My name happens to be Harvey."
Of course, whatever YOU believe must be correct. Suppose there is no God, but only the forces of good and evil–these we see every day. Your hatefulness of others puts you solidly in the evil camp. Well done. Maybe try to live and let live–I seriously doubt that you have been wronged by any religious person, but please feel fre to tell us about it if I'm wrong.
All I have to say about this is....SO WHAT? Who cares if Barton is right or wrong? Let's pretend for a second that every founding father was super duper christian and really REALLY wanted every part of american law and life to reflect christian values. Does that mean all these centuries later that WE need to live that way? Hell no! So, everyone just simmer down and ignore this blowhard.
The truth is of the greatest merit.
These folks are the reason whole swathes of America believe that humanity is only 6000 years old, that Darwin was wrong, and that the end of the world is not only inevitable but somehow desirable.
We have an obligation to refute disinformation, and a simple look at a graduating class form a High School in Tennessee shows us the consequence of inaction. We are already the only first world nation with third world educational standards, and this type of nonsense is why.
I completely agree, it's irrelevant.
I will add that the issue is not the message, it's the messengers: If CNN, etc. would stop promoting these people by writing about their whacked-out values, they wouldn't be "trending worldwide on Twitter." Yes, CNN, I am blaming you for the dumbing of America.
Having traced my genealogy back to Adam & Eve which actually is about 6000 years, maybe some need to rethink their position.
@HM – whomever you paid to trace your geneology has duped you. I guess a sucker IS born every minute.
I am also a child of Satan and will spend all of eternity in hell with him. At that point I MAY admit I was wrong but I will still consider myself Satan's twin.
You're a fool, who has no idea where the name Lucifer originated, nor how it has been perverted by christians into the name of your non-existent devil. Even more ironic, jesus called himself lucifer ....enjoy that.
http://www.echoofeden.com/bias/lucifer/
You also have poor reading comprehension retard, since I don't actually call myself Lucifer.
Attempting to rewrite history (even if it has already been rewritten, as is his declaration) smells much like the beginnings of autarchy. The world still has the stink of kings and dictators. Much like rotten fish, its a difficult smell to eradicate.
There is nothing I can't handle with the power of Vinegar!!
Individuals like this in some ways make me envy the Europeans.
They have realized that Nazi propaganda shall be around for centuries, so they have criminalized disinformational speech.
For example, trying to edit the Holocaust out of history is actually a criminal offense.
This man’s lies damage the fabric of our society and should also have criminal sanctions. We have about thirty percent of the youth in this country systemically being taught lies. These lies hurt as all by refuting science and history as being "speculative and subjective".
They are neither. While one should have the freedom to interpret fact as ones sees fit, that should NOT to a license to disseminate blatant falsehoods.
The future of western society may eventually require that we hold this, and the other charlatans of his ilk criminally accountable.
You speak with good words! Mog-ur like you! Here are thank you words!
Stifling free speech?
That's pathetic. Perhaps you should move to Europe where their values are more in line with your own.
John you’re a simpleton.
Lies are not and never have been free speech.
Accountability for speaking falsehoods has ALWAYS been a part of American law, and always shall be.
Liars do NOT get free run of our society because you are too illiterate to understand basic law.
Attack John for expressing himself, smart.
DinI
Who attacked who?
You are quite the dip stick ain't ya?
Let me guess, momma dropped a bible on your head?
This is a simple attempt to try and confuse Jefferson's stand on the separation of church and state. Nothing more. Jefferson wanted there to be a huge wall between them for very valid reasons. Barton and his kind represent those reasons as they and the rest of the American Evangelical Taliban try to infect government with their religious beliefs (misconceptions mostly, speaking as an old-school Catholic), telling the rest of us how to live. Keep government out of religion and religion out of government. Let's get some moderates back in the G.O.P.!!
Nicely put. I'll second that.
David Barton is just one of the cogs in the wheel of the triumvirate that includes the religious right, the private sector and the GOP. The Republican Party has long been affiliated with private sector interests. They merely co-opted the religious right as a means to significantly widen their base. Since the teachings of Jesus Christ are at odds with the interests of the GOP and the private sector, they make for very strange bedfellows, but hot button issues like abortion are the glue that hold them together. The religious right's stance against abortion helps perpetuate Christian denominations and it brings fresh recruits to the GOP as those extra births help grow their numbers and the abortion issue keeps them tethered to the GOP, which is mostly acting contrary to Christian teachings.
Please consider reading Faircloth's book 'Attack of the Theocrats'.
Yes, please read this book. It is excellent!
Yes, and Chris Mooney's The Republican Brain.
There is the clear and unambiguous legal declaration that the Const.itution is the Supreme Law of the Land.
That is as clear as anyone could wish.
The power to protect religious freedom is based, in part, upon the supreme authority of the Const.itution over every religion that it protects and also, upon keeping separate from the protective power and authority any directives from any religion.
Otherwise we have religious anarchy, with each believer thinking their individual interpretation of their fake rules to be stronger than anything else.
They would become a law unto themselves, holding themselves above the religions of others, and above any secular law.
Murder would be the least that would happen without a Supreme Law, written as clearly as possible, to protect the well-being of ever citizen regardless of belief in this world filled with thousands of religious cults.
To this end, then, the framers wrote a social contract amongst the original Colonies that were basically tiny theocracies at the time, to provide for the Common Defense, Promote the General Welfare, and all the rest of that stuff.
The Const.itution is a contract. A social contract between the States that we would all stay together and be a country.
To do this, the theocracies had to give up their psychotic and despotic regimes, make common cause with every other religious believer as fellow Americans and not a bunch of religious fribblepates gibbering behind state lines in cult-enslaved communities.
We are a nation of all kinds of people. No religion gets Supreme Power here. That's the rule here and you'd better damme well follow that rule or become a religious anarchist. Anarchists don't want law or government. A religious anarchist wants a theocracy but doesn't have one and wants to steal OURS for themselves!
THIS is why I want to just beat the crap out of some people, but refrain because I, at least, know how to respect the law because it protects me as well.
In a theocracy, as most of the Colonies were, I would not be protected from any religious bullcrap made-up rule interpreted whatever way someone wanted at the moment just to be total pircks to me because they don't like my looks.
A well-crafted and reasonable law, written to ensure the equal rights and protections afforded to all, is not something that any religion has ever managed to do in thousands of years of recorded history.
But WE have the Const.itution! WE the people have this thing!
I think you refrain becuase you would get your ass kicked.
After reading your rant against many things, one thing sticks out 'their fake rules'. It makes me wonder how you are able to discern which rules are fake and which are real. I'm guessing you are the sole arbitrator, royally declaring religious rules fake and presumably elevating government rules as real. The question which begs to be asked then becomes, if religious rules are indeed fake, are the government rules derived from them (for instance, don't murder people) also fake? If not then your argument begins to collapse and you are doing nothing but cherry picking what you like and discarding what you don't like.
"if religious rules are indeed fake, are the government rules derived from them (for instance, don't murder people) also fake."
I'm pretty sure the rule "don't murder people" came from a bunch of people getting together and saying "You know what, I really would hate to be murdered or see someone close to me murdered. Can we make a rule against that?" And this reasoning applies to ten commandments #4-10. Government rules are derived from people. Religious rules are also derived from people, but attributed to somebody's god as a means of arguing for those rules - I believe this is what makes them fake according to Learn to Patriot.
Mog-ur like Patriot!
And flings poo at tiny trolls that sound scared! Ha ha ha ha ha!
The Ten Commandments:
1: Have no other gods – NOT A LAW
2: Make no graven image – NOT A LAW
3: Don’t take the name in vain – NOT A LAW
4: Honor the Sabbath – NOT A LAW
5: Honor thy father and mother – NOT A LAW
6: Thou shalt not kill – NOT UNIQUE TO CHRISTIANITY (long pre-dated it)
7: Thou shalt not commit adultery – huge number of Christians commit adultery by LEGALLY remarrying
8: Thou shalt not steal – NOT UNIQUE TO CHRISTIANITY
9: Thou shalt not bear false witness – NOT UNIQUE TO CHRISTIANITY
10: Thou shalt not covet – NOT A LAW
LOL @ comment thread essays...
life anyone?
I guess he thinks that the following Jefferson quotes were forgeries, then?
"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity."
"Question with boldness even the existence of a god"
"I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent."
"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State."
"The whole history of these books [the Gospels] is so defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute enquiry into it: and such tricks have been played with their text, and with the texts of other books relating to them, that we have a right, from that cause, to entertain much doubt what parts of them are genuine. In the New Testament there is internal evidence that parts of it have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds. It is as easy to separate those parts, as to pick out diamonds from dunghills."
"Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law."
"Priests...dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight and scowl on the fatal harbinger announcing the subversions of the duperies on which they live."
"Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him [Jesus] by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being."
And my personal favorite: "And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerve in the brain of Jupiter. But may we hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this most venerated reformer of human errors."
Well done. Nothing more need be said.
That you would think, would put Barton in his place, but like any Christian, they have a way of squaring the circle. Sometimes I think their minds don't quite work right.
Well done, though proof-texting doesn't work with republicangelicals. As Chris Mooney says, presenting reasonable arguments has little or no effect on believing brains. Yet, I think we have to keep speaking common sense. All praise to Tom Paine.
I do thank you for posting Mr. Jefferson's very intelligent quotes. Too bad the stupid republicans/christians won't ever abide by the founding fathers' ideals.
Very nice compilation.