Comments on: A Year Ago Thomas Nelson Lost Confidence in The Jefferson Lies

By: Zoe Brain

Zoe Brain — Thu, 08 Aug 2013 14:12:10 +0000

For evangelicals to truly defend religious liberty and retake some moral high ground, there must be a truce in the war between culture warriors and evangelical scholars.

Not gonna happen, Warren. The objectives of the two are too different. One knows the Truth, so manufactures “facts” to match, the other uses facts as a guide to lead them closer to the truth.
One’s interested in winning at all costs, the other in having any of their own erroneous opinions corrected.
I might add that the Left has this problem too. Also that this situation is not new.

“Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but — more frequently than not — struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God.”

— Martin Luther.
Reason can never be relied on to support your views; it only supports what’s true.

By: Zoe Brain

Zoe Brain — Thu, 08 Aug 2013 10:12:10 +0000

For evangelicals to truly defend religious liberty and retake some moral high ground, there must be a truce in the war between culture warriors and evangelical scholars.

“Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but — more frequently than not — struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God.”

— Martin Luther.
Reason can never be relied on to support your views; it only supports what’s true.

By: Tom Van Dyke

Tom Van Dyke — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 21:54:58 +0000

And in a bit of bad luck, Barton ran afoul of several left-wing activist ministers in Cincinnati, who were angry at his attempt to soft-pedal Jefferson’s slaveowning.
http://www.abpnews.com/culture/media-and-arts/item/7687-pastors-call-for-thomas-nelson-boycott#.UgAappJDRxk
They threatened religious book publisher Thomas Nelson with a boycott of ALL its books. Oy.
Fortunately, Barton’s numerous anti-Religious Right critics of his “Christian America” thesis were available to supply the rope to hang him with, and supply Thomas Nelson with the necessary scholarly cover to escape the Barton debacle without being accused of “censoring” him.
A group of Cincinnati pastors and church leaders is boycotting Thomas Nelson Publishers over David Barton’s book The Jefferson Lies, saying it glosses over the third president’s racism and justifies his ownership of slaves.
Black and white pastors announced their boycott Aug. 1 in a press conference at Cincinnati’s New Jerusalem Baptist Church. Unlike most of the critics of Barton, an evangelical minister and author frequently accused of historical revisionism by the left, the Cincinnati ministers all serve in evangelical churches.

Warren Throckmorton, a psychology professor at Grove City College and frequent Barton critic, said the controversial author can no longer complain that his critics are all liberals and secularists, because all the Cincinnati ministers are evangelicals.

Well, of course the Cincinnati ministers might be “evangelicals,” but a quick google shows them as solid left-wing activists, more widely known for their politics than their preaching.
The irony is that Barton was hanged by the slaveowning issue, which isn’t even very relevant to the “Christian America” thesis that garnered him 99% of his critics up to that point. After evading their slings and arrows all these years, he tripped up on a molehill.

By: Tom Van Dyke

Tom Van Dyke — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 17:54:58 +0000

Warren Throckmorton, a psychology professor at Grove City College and frequent Barton critic, said the controversial author can no longer complain that his critics are all liberals and secularists, because all the Cincinnati ministers are evangelicals.