How did this happen?
Louie Gohmert was co-chair of the Congressional Prayer Breakfast this year (along with Janice Hahn D-CA) and so it is possible that the prayer breakfast committee promoted this to the African leaders. It is also possible that Barton sponsored it and used his relationship with Gohmert to spread the word.
Hard to say which stories he told. Perhaps he told them Congress printed the first English Bible to use in schools, or that most of the founders had seminary degrees. Despite the fact that even the Family Research Council removed a video of this presentation, Barton is still giving it, this time to international leaders.
The Fellowship Foundation helps to plan and run the prayer breakfast. When I attended in 2010, I attended the African breakfast and other events and did not hear Christian nationalist messages. All in all, it seemed pretty tame from a political perspective. I cannot imagine how this presentation by Barton would support the mission often articulated by the Fellowship.
Tag: david Barton
David Barton's Favorite Candidate For Texas Attorney General Preparing Texas To Be Independent Nation
Like Ted Cruz before him, Barry Smitherman is a rising star in the Texas GOP. Smitherman is currently chair of the Railroad Commission and running to be Texas Attorney General. David Barton endorsed Cruz and now David Barton has endorsed Smitherman for AG.
Smitherman’s views are right of center to say the least. He is preparing for the demise of the nation and wants Texas to be ready to secede from the union. So when Smitherman says he wants to secure the borders, he might mean with Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana and Arkansas as well as Mexico.
His defense of Christian identity group “Crusaders for Yahweh” is disturbing for one of two reasons. Either Smitherman doesn’t know the Crusaders are white nationalists, or he does know and stuck up for them anyway. Being in sympathy with white nationalists would be worse than being uninformed, but being uninformed about such things does not inspire confidence in an Attorney General candidate.
*I changed the headline to reflect the fact that I have seen no evidence that Smitherman advocates secession from the U.S. now. His statement to WND supports Texas independence if the U.S. collapses.
Top Ten Posts in 2013
Here are the ten most visited pages on the blog for 2013. Two posts were written prior to 2013 but continue to be quite popular. I designate them in the list below by the year of publication.
1. On The Allegations of Plagiarism Against Mark Driscoll
2. Janet Mefferd Removes Evidence Relating to Charges of Plagiarism Against Mark Driscoll; Apologizes to Audience
3. Ingrid Schlueter Resigns from Janet Mefferd Show Over Mark Driscoll Plagiarism Controversy
4. John Piper Calls Out Famous Guys (Like Mark Driscoll) on Ghostwriting
5. Was the National Rifle Association Started to Drive Out the KKK?
6. A Major Study of Child Abuse and Homosexuality Revisited (2009)
7. Mars Hill Church Alters Statement of Mark Driscoll Plagiarism Controversy
8. Narth Loses Tax Exempt Status
9. Mars Hill Sermon Series Battle Plan Reveals Source Behind Mark Driscoll’s Book on Peter
10. The Trail of Tears Remembered (2011)
Clearly, posts about the controversy surrounding Mark Driscoll and allegations of plagiarism and ghostwriting were popular. With Driscoll’s apology the attention left the issue, even though he did not address several other instances in other books. To some degree, he was probably also aided by Christmas break and the Duck Dynasty hullabaloo. I was surprised that the most popular post about David Barton was about his claim that the National Rifle Association was started to counter the KKK. There are so many other claims that are even more outrageous. As far as I can determine, donations to NARTH are still not deductible. The two posts from past years have consistently shown up on the top ten lists since they were published.
The move to Patheos has been smooth thanks to the great folks there and I want to thank readers for making the switch and welcome all the new readers here.
Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson Uses Fake George Washington Quote
Phil Robertson is getting all manner of scrutiny these days. Given his high profile and recent controversy over his remarks to GQ, it is understandable that his prior speeches will be examined. In the one below, Robertson appears to advise marriage for young teens. I say appears because I don’t have the entire video. He did however marry his wife when she was 16 and added that one should get parental permission.
Various bloggers (e.g. Rawstory where I saw it first) have examined Robertson’s dating advice which is just silly if he really means it. I want to call attention to use of a quote falsely attributed to George Washington. At 1:10 into the clip, Robertson says:
The reason you Georgia boys can deer hunt, duck hunt, squirrel hunt, hog hunt, (holding up his Bible) that’s the reason you can do it. What I’m holding in my hand right there. That’d be a Bible. You said, now let me get this right. If it were not for this, you would not hunt here. No sir. Here’s a quote, Georgia. ‘It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.’ George Washington, your first president. You know what they said? Name the capital of our country after him!
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBzOjcqWWkA[/youtube]
This quote has been misused frequently over the years and can be traced back at least David Barton’s 1992 book Myth of Separation. Barton took heat over use of such quotes and issued a list of what he called unconfirmed quotes. Nonetheless, those who get their history from Barton, and perhaps Phil Robertson is one of those folks, still use the spurious quotes to bolster their Christian nation view of the Constitution, in this case the Second Amendment. Mount Vernon addresses this particular quote here and even Barton now acknowledges that there is no indication Washington ever said it.
This is another illustration of why getting history right matters. Mr. Robertson has been misinformed by some religious leader who claimed expertise in history. He probably trusted the source because of common religion. As I said in a prior post, evangelicals claim to have a message of love and reconciliation and yet they often mix it up with lots of other messages, based on faulty information, that detract from the core.
Politifact Debunks Bryan Fischer's Christianity Only View of the First Amendment
Just as I did in 2011, yesterday Politifact debunked Bryan Fischer’s claim that the founders said religion but meant Christianity.
On his 12/10/13 Focal Point broadcast, Fischer said:
By the word religion in the First Amendment, the founders meant Christianity.
Not so.
Politifact’s Punditfact writers consulted Baylor’s Thomas Kidd, Rutger’s Jan Ellen Lewis and Virginia Foundation for the Humanities Fellow John Ragosta to provide the complete picture. Fischer believes Muslims should not have the right to build any new mosques. His topic on the broadcast was claims for First Amendment protections by Satanists.
I doubt this comeuppance will distract Fischer from misleading his American Family Association audience. Such facts have come to light before. His own organization, the AFA, publicly disagreed with him in 2011 but he continues to preach his fictions. Fischer’s argument is an extension of David Barton’s Christian nationalist perspective. Barton has defended the view that the First Amendment only applies to monotheistic religions.