Tag: david Barton

Ecclesia College Benefited from Arkansas Bribery Scheme

UPDATE: Ecclesia College president Oren Paris III tonight issued a statement denying any wrongdoing in this case.
A news report out of Arkansas sounds ominous for some of the blog’s favorite people.
Ecclesia College received $200,000 from an Arkansas government agency to build a building on campus. According to the report a sitting State Representative took a $18,000 bribe in order to funnel the money to Ecclesia.
This isn’t the first time Ecclesia benefited from public funds. The school received $592,000 via the same discretionary fund in calendar years 2013 and 2014. Only the Arkansas Energy Office received a higher amount of funding over the same period.  Despite lack of regional accreditation, Arkansas tax dollars have been spent lavishly on Ecclesia.
David Barton and Eric Metaxas are on the Board of Regents at Ecclesia, although there is nothing in the report suggesting they knew anything about the matter.
According to the plea agreement, the president (not named in the agreement) of “Entity B” was aware of the arrangement. The president of “Entity B” (Ecclesia College) is Oren Paris III.
According to a contact at Ecclesia president Paris is meeting with the board about the plea agreement this afternoon.
Here’s part of the agreement involving the only named participant, Representative Micah Neal:

Honest Services Fraud Concerning Entity B
v. In or around 2014, Senator A told NEAL that if NEAL, as an Arkansas Representative, authorized and directed GIF money to Entity B, then Person B would pay NEAL a portion of the money in exchange for EAL’s official action.
w. NEAL and Senator A agreed to authorize and direct a total of $200,000 of GIF money to Entity B in exchange for kickbacks from Person B. Of the $200,000, NEAL agreed to direct $50,000 of the GIF money to Entity B, and Senator A agreed to direct $150,000 of the GIF money to Entity B.
x. On or about December 18, 2014, the NWAEDD issued a check in the amount of$200,000, and drawn on the NWAEDD’s Arvest Bank account ending in 8611, to Entity B. The check constituted GIF monies that had been appropriated by NEAL and Senator A, and was awarded pursuant to a GIF grant application signed by Person B that had been emailed, via interstate wire communications, to the NWAEDD from Entity B in Springdale, Arkansas, on or about December 5, 2014. The application requested a $200,000 GIF grant and listed NEAL and Senator A as sponsors.
y. On or about December 19, 2014, the $200,000 check from the NWAEDD to Entity B was deposited into Entity B’s Centennial Bank account ending in 0681. Arvest Bank subsequently settled the check totaling $200,000 with Centennial Bank via an interstate wire communication.
z. The spreadsheets maintained by the NWAEDD for NEAL and Senator A showed a deduction in December 2014 of $50,000 and $150,000, respectively, for the GIF grant awarded to Entity B.
aa. A check dated January 5, 2015 and drawn on Entity B’s Centennial Bank account ending in 0681 in the amount of $65,000 was issued to Person C’s company and deposited that same day into Person C’s company’s Arvest Bank account ending in 7761. The check was issued at the direction of Person B. Over the following three days, Person C made three cash withdrawals per day totaling $53,700 from his company’s Arvest Bank account ending in 7761.
bb. Between approximately December 19, 2014 and approximately January 30, 2015, and following Entity B’s receipt of NEAL’s and Senator A’s GIF money in the amount of $200,000, Senator A contacted NEAL and told him that Person C would be bringing $18,000 in cash to NEAL in exchange for NEAL having authorized and directed the appropriation of the GIF money to Entity B.
cc. Between approximately December 19, 2014 and approximately January 30, 2015, and following NEAL’s communication with Senator A, Person C met with NEAL and, on behalf of Person B, paid NEAL $18,000 in cash.
dd. NEAL agrees and stipulates that he conspired with Senator A and others in the Western District of Arkansas and elsewhere to deprive the citizens of the State of Arkansas of his honest services as an Arkansas state legislator by taking official actions and using his official position to appropriate and direct funds to Entity A and Entity B in exchange for kickback payments, and that the conspiracy and scheme to defraud the citizens of the State of Arkansas of his honest services involved the use of interstate wire communications and mailings that were sent and/or received in the Western District of Arkansas.

Stay tuned…

More Questionable Quotes from David Barton: Who is Disrespecting History?

I realize this isn’t exactly big news but David Barton’s use of questionable quotes caught my eye because there is a local connection.
In a WND article out yesterday, David Barton described a situation in nearby Oil City, PA. Here is his not-quite-accurate version:

Because these groups are non-discriminatory in their God-hating, even our venerated military heroes are not off limits. The Veterans of Foreign Wars in Oil City, Pennsylvania, placed a bench in a city park, and on the bench was an inscription of a famous quote by William Penn: “If we will not be governed by God, we must be governed by tyrants.” This quote, selected by retired military veterans from the historical writings of the founder of their state, was too much for these history-haters. It generated a lawsuit from the American Atheists Legal Center.
(Maybe I should apologize for my patronizing tone, but my defense is that “Sarcasm is the body’s natural defense against stupidity.” Albert Einstein once noted: “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.” It seems he’s still being proved right on the latter.)

With those details, I was able to piece together a more accurate narrative.
In a city park there, the VFW in 2003 placed a bench with the slogan: “Men who aren’t governed by God will be governed by tyrants.” Late last year, the American Atheists Legal Center wrote the Oil City leaders a letter of complaint (not a lawsuit) and asked that the slogan be changed. The AALC offered to replace the bench for free with another slogan less offensive to them. According to a Venango county news report, the town Council voted in early December to remove the bench. Now, a citizens’ group has created a website to raise money to defend the bench. Liberty Counsel has also offered to defend the city pro bono. As of now, the bench is still there. A representative of that group told me this morning that nothing has happened with the bench to date.
When I read Barton’s account, my first thought was that both quotes (Penn’s and Einstein’s) were questionable. I also wondered if the facts of the situation were described accurately.
What is so typical of Barton is that he is off on both the current event and the history. First, he tells us that the Oil City bench has a William Penn quote: “If we will not be governed by God, we must be governed by tyrants.” However, the bench doesn’t have that exact quote. It says: “Men who aren’t governed by God will be governed by tyrants.” Second, it is extremely unlikely that Penn said or wrote either quote.
I traced the quote back to a book by Mark Beliles where it is combined with something William Penn did write. Often the quote appears like this (e.g., from William Federer’s book of quotations):
Federer Penn
The first part of the quote is correct and comes from a letter Penn wrote to Peter the Great. However, the second part appears to be added on. I found the letter Penn wrote to Peter the Great and the phrase, “Those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants” is just not in it.

Thus, Barton claims in his WND article that the atheists are disrespecting history. On first analysis, it appears that it is Barton who has it wrong.
Regarding the Einstein quote, I learned that the claim on that quote comes from founder of Gestalt therapy Fritz Perls. Perls claimed Einstein said, “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe” to him in a conversation. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I point readers to a very thorough blog post on this quote at the highly recommended Quote Investigator blog.
Knowing a little about Perls, I don’t have any confidence that Perls ever had a conversation with Einstein, or if he did that Einstein said that quote exactly as Perls reported it. I note from the blog post that Perls recollection of the quote crystallized in Perls’ books written after Einstein died, and thus could not contest it. In any case, I am not surprised Barton used a quote which has a questionable source.
UPDATE: I spoke with Oil City Mayor William Moon this afternoon. He told me that the AALC and the VFW are in discussions about what slogan to include on the new bench. He said the bench will remain in the park until AALC and VFW agree on a slogan and a new bench is delivered.
 

David Barton Criticizes the Accuracy of Bill O'Reilly's History Books

This is a classic.
Self-styled historian David Barton (with the fake PhD he won’t explain) now comes forward with criticism of the accuracy of Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly’s history books. Lack of self-awareness, thy name is Barton.
The context is Barton’s daily Wallbuilders Live (which is recorded) radio show. Barton responds to a question from a listener about the accuracy of O’Reilly’s books, especially Killing Reagan. Now actual historians have ripped O’Reilly’s book on Reagan so I am not quarreling with the fact that Barton jumped on that bandwagon.  What sends the irony meter into paroxysms is his statements about what historians should do when faced with mistakes in their work. Barton criticizes O’Reilly for sensationalizing General Patton’s death and says Patton’s “toe tag” reveals his actual cause of death. He claims O’Reilly knew his book was wrong on the matter but published the false information anyway.
Listen to a segment of the broadcast and wait for the punch line about three minutes into this clip.

At 3:01 into this clip, Barton says:

If you have something that’s factually shown to be wrong, you need to go back and make the correction on it.

Now, for certain, those are words to live by. I now expect Barton to admit the following:

That would be a good start. There are more where those came from. Let’s see if Barton takes his own admonition.

David Barton's PhD School Life Christian University Claims America's Founding Is Church History

Nearly three months ago, David Barton proudly proclaimed that he had an earned PhD. The very next day he removed the video claim from his websites and never explained why. We later learned that Barton’s earned degree came from Life Christian University, a diploma mill based in Lutz, FL. Barton’s degree was given based on his published works in history which Life Christian considered to be part of Church history.
Now, via another statement from Life Christian University, more details are available about Barton’s so-called earned degree.  According to LCU, “earned” PhD degrees are awarded based on published works.

This is our process for awarding earned degrees based on published works:
1. We accept a student’s earned degrees from other institutions based on their official transcripts.
2. We award credit for published works commensurate with the amount of writing required for a Master’s Thesis or a Doctoral Dissertation.
Please note that earned degrees based on published works are all issued only from our Main Campus in Tampa, FL, and say that clearly on the degree certificate.

And so it appears that LCU accepted Barton’s BA from Oral Roberts University and considered his self-published books as meeting the writing requirement. The requirements are minimal:

The Doctoral-level dissertation must be a minimum of 150 pages in length. It should not exceed 160 pages.
The Master’s level thesis must be a minimum of 50 pages in length. It should not exceed 55 pages.

With those skimpy guidelines, anybody who has self-published a book would be eligible for LCU’s highest honor. The credit LCU awards for an earned degree don’t include any academic work as a part of a program. In other words, the degree is not actually earned and, if it has any status at all, it would have to be considered an honorary degree (as Joyce Meyer recently relabeled her LCU PhD as required by law in MO).
The guidelines don’t address what happens when an author’s book is pulled from publication due to errors.
If LCU was in compliance with FL law, no degrees outside of religious degrees would be offered. However, in Barton’s case, LCU has made an exception.

As a University with religious exemption, we only offer degrees that fall under that exemption.
Church History is part of our curriculum. Dr. Wingate feels that the founding of America and our country’s involvement in the unfolding of God’s plan for the nations of the world is one of the top topics of Church History for the last 400 years!

If America had a state church, then one might make this case. However, Wingate’s stretching of the truth is obvious for all to see. Furthermore, Barton claims expertise in “historical and constitutional issues,” not church history. A review of Barton’s books doesn’t turn up themes which comprehensively deal with the history of the church in America.
LCU only offers one course in Church History:

TH-431 CHURCH HISTORY This course teaches the student the origin of the Christian Church, its birth, and its development from the Day of Pentecost through modern times.

Obviously, this course does not address America’s political history. It also should be obvious that LCU’s faculty isn’t qualified to assess Barton’s work as a matter of history, church or otherwise.
How long will Barton and LCU carry on this charade?
 

Joyce Meyer No Longer Calls Her Life Christian University PhD an Earned Degree

After I pointed out that it is illegal in Missouri to claim an earned PhD when you don’t have one, mega evangelist Joyce Meyer has changed the description of her Life Christian University doctorate. Here is what she used to claim:
Joyce Meyer ministry PhD
She claimed that she had “an earned PhD in theology from Life Christian University…”
Now she accurately refers to the degree as honorary.
Joyce Meyer ministry PhD honorary
David Barton referred to his Life Christian University degree as earned but where it is illegal to do so, Joyce Meyer changed the description.