Year: 2013

The Institute on the Constitution did not succeed in getting their course on the Constitution in the Springboro (OH) school district but they may have found a way into a public school in Florida. According to posts on the IOTC Facebook page, director of IOTC and League of the South board member Michael Peroutka spoke to the American Club at Spanish River High School in Boca Raton, FL. Watch:

According to the young man in the video, the club wants to work more with IOTC. Here is a bit more about the IOTC plans at Spanish River. I suspect there will be some folks in the area who will not be excited about the prospects of IOTC in the high school.
For more on IOTC click here.
Spanish River Community High School was in the news back in February when the school principal stopped a presentation by Bradlee Dean, founder of You Can Run But You Can’t Hide. The same club — the American Club — was involved in that Dean was invited by the students in that club to speak at the school. According to World Net Daily, Dean was eventually allowed to give his speech after a letter from Liberty Counsel claiming discrimination was delivered to the school. Jake MacAulay used to work for You Can Run but now works for Michael Peroutka.

For the last two weeks David Barton has been on the Andrew Wommack Show talking about Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims. There have been so many things worthy of a post but I just don’t have time.

On the last broadcast dated 11/29 but online now, Barton continues his attacks on Christian colleges and their professors.  Watch:

I asked the Barna Group and the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities about Barton’s claim that half of students at Christian colleges leave Christianity. Both organizations denied knowing about any such research.

I did find this study summary which found that only 7% of Christian college students renounce their faith but that is all I can find. Steven Henderson’s study involved nearly 16,000 students and found that CCCU students, in particular, showed gains in religious commitment during their time at Christian college.

I wonder if anyone will ever hold him accountable on these claims. Mr. Barton, if you have a source, could you please enlighten us? If we know the source, we can stop assuming you are making it up and then we can evaluate how credible or accurate it is.

On November 19, Larry Klayman’s Reclaim America Now engaged in a “second American revolution” protest. The goal of the protest was to force Obama, Reid and Boehner out of office. Obviously, they didn’t succeed.
Lots of tea party people attended the rally and the organizers and speakers wrapped themselves up in the founders, even employing an actor to portray George Washington (see the picture below). Also in that picture is the likeness of Thomas Jefferson on a poster with the motto:

When the government fears the people, there is liberty.

While Jefferson’s name is not on the poster, it seems clear that they believe Jefferson was responsible for the quote.
However, according to the Monticello Foundation, this is a quote often falsely attributed to Jefferson. The good folks at Monticello tell us:

We have not found any evidence that Thomas Jefferson said or wrote, “When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny,” or any of its listed variations.

Rather, the quote appears to come from John Basil Barnhill, in a published 1914 debate with socialist Henry Tichenor. On page 34, Barnhill says

Where the people fear the government you have tyranny. Where the government fears the people you have liberty.

Barnhill does not attribute the quote to anyone and the Monticello researchers were unable to find it in any of Jefferson’s writings.
I don’t know, of course, if the false attribution is purposeful or due to ignorance. In either case, the organizers have misled their followers in order to whip up revolutionary sentiment. I hope Klayman’s rhetoric of revolution and false attribution of the founders doesn’t tip somebody over the edge.
 
 

On his Wallbuilders Facebook page, David Barton released a statement today regarding the furor over the program with Kenneth Copeland on Veteran’s Day. Here is the statement in full:

David Barton and WallBuilders have a long unwavering and proven record of unequivocal support for those in the Armed Forces, including their families, as well as military personnel and veterans suffering from PTSD. David not only has several children and family members serving in the military but we also regularly highlight numerous military heroes on our daily radio program and send out blasts in support of the military. Additionally, we actively raise money for groups who work to help heal our warriors, including those suffering from PTSD. Yet despite this unflagging support, Right Wing Watch, Huffington Post, and others from the liberal secularist left recently circulated a short clip, taken out of context from a long interview David did on a Veteran’s Day program stressing the importance of spiritual components in the treatment of PTSD. As a result of the inaccurate “reporting” of these so-called “news” outlets, many who saw those reports voiced concern to us over what they had been wrongly told. It is lamentable that while we support multiple approaches for PTSD treatments, the critics are so hostile to religion that they flatly dismiss possible spiritual solutions. Rest assured that we will continue our demonstrated record of support for using all available resources to assist those suffering from PTSD. And we will continue to work closely, as we have been, with top military and medical officials who on a daily basis treat these men and women who make so many sacrifices to preserve and protect the freedoms for the rest of us.
We encourage you to watch the full program for yourself to see the entire context (link provided below)!
http://www.kcm.org/media/webcast/kenneth-copeland-and-david-barto/131111-an-awakening-to-god-in-america

So now the Southern Baptist Convention and Gospel Coalition are part of the “liberal secularist left” and “hostile to religion?” As has been a pattern, Mr. Barton does not regret what he said nor distance himself from Mr. Copeland, he blames the people who listened to the broadcast and reported exactly what the two men said.
 
 

The secessionist, neo-Confederate organization League of the South was represented at Larry Klayman’s Reclaim America Now rally in Washington, D.C. According to Klayman, the rally sought to clean house in Washington:

Freedom Watch and its founder Larry Klayman call upon all Tea Party, conservative, libertarian, and other groups and persons, indeed to all patriotic citizens, to converge on Washington D.C., en masse, on November 19, 2013, and demand the resignations of President Barack Hussein Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and House Speaker John Boehner.

Klayman predicted millions would show up to demand Obama’s resignation. The highest attendance figure I have seen (Washington Times) is 200. Clearly Klayman didn’t meet his goal.
On the program was Michael Peroutka, board member of the League of the South. In 2012, while speaking to the League of the South, Peroutka declared his agreement with the League of the South’s objective to have the Southern states secede. Watch his remarks on Tuesday here:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ludQu2Xgj3Y[/youtube]
In this clip, Peroutka says America was founded upon “the biblical view of law and government” and lauds Klayman for setting up the rally to reclaim that view.
According to Time magazine report, Klayman is giving Obama until November 29 to vacate the office. If not, he will attempt to force him out.