I will be on Radio Black and White WPRR in about 5 minutes den-a.plr.liquidcompass.net/player/flash/a…
— Warren Throckmorton (@wthrockmorton) July 30, 2012
Click the link above to listen live…
A college psychology professor's observations about public policy, mental health, sexual identity, and religious issues
I will be on Radio Black and White WPRR in about 5 minutes den-a.plr.liquidcompass.net/player/flash/a…
— Warren Throckmorton (@wthrockmorton) July 30, 2012
Click the link above to listen live…
Part one is here; part two of The Blaze series where Barton answers his critics is more of the same from David Barton’s first response on his Wallbuilders’ website.
The article does not mention that Coulter and I are conservative Christians, both being active in our churches, we are not afraid of religion. We did not write our book to attack Christianity but to be faithful to it. In light of that fact, a reasonable question would have been: why are conservative Christians are also critiquing your work?
Seemingly oblivious to the irony, Barton criticizes me for writing about history since I am a psychologist.
“They don’t attack the facts — they attack the education – and that’s a way to change the topic,” Barton said. “If education really matters, there’s a lot I can point out. Ben Franklin didn’t have an education at all. George Washington didn’t have a military education.”
The historian explained that Americans have traditionally prided themselves “not on the labors you wear, but the fruit you produce.” He took specific aim at Warren Throckmorton, an associate professor of psychology at Grove City College (we mentioned Throckmorton in our original piece).
“The case of Throckmorton is a great example. He’s a psychology guy. Tell me what history experience he has — he has no training in that area at all,” he said, going on to wonder why Throckmorton is permitted to critique him with little scrutiny when he, too, purportedly has little formal history education.
We did attack “the facts.”
Furthermore, do you see what he did there? He said his critics don’t attack the facts but rather his education and then he did the same thing to me (ignoring my co-author, Michael Coulter) in the next paragraph. He didn’t answer our facts (even the ones raised in Part one of the Blaze series), he just criticized my profession and his perception of my training.
The primary question of fact Barton addresses is Jefferson’s faith. He says Jefferson was unorthodox in the last 15 years of his life. Jefferson was unorthodox as an older man but he began his skepticism of the Trinity before 1788 (he died in 1826), if we can believe his letter to J. P. Derieux — a letter that Barton does not cite in The Jefferson Lies.
To be continued, I am sure…
This morning Glenn Beck’s news site, The Blaze, launched a three-part series examining criticism of David Barton. Today was given to a description of some of Barton’s critics while the next two days, Barton will have the platform.
My book with Michael Coulter, Getting Jefferson Right, was mentioned as well as a couple of blog posts. Stephen Prothero’s USA Today column was mentioned as was criticism from a NYT’s article about Barton. I was glad to see the links to the articles so readers can follow them out and evaluate the at least some of the evidence. I do wish it would have been made clearer than the negative evaluation of Barton’s history is coming from people all over the ideological spectrum.
This series comes just ahead of Beck’s Restoring Love conference in Dallas where Barton will unveil his Founders Bible published by a division of Windblown Media.
On Monday I noted that a publisher associated with The Founders’ Bible disclosed on his forum that James Hammond, pro-slavery leader prior to the Civil War, would be included in that Bible as a proponent of the view that America is a Christian nation. Read that post for a selection of Hammond’s ugly views.
In this post, I want to provide a little more information on Hammond’s views and begin with the day of thanksgiving proclamation made by Hammond which led to the quotes in the Founders’ Bible. In September 1844, Hammond proclaimed:
Whereas, it becomes all Christian nations to acknowledge at stated periods, their dependence on Almighty God, to express their gratitude for His past mercies, and humbly and devoutly to implore His blessing for the future:
Now, therefore, I, James H. Hammond, Governor of the State of South Carolina, do, in conformity with the established usage of this State, appoint the first Thursday in October next, to be observed as a day of Thanksgiving, Humiliation and Prayer, and invite and exhort our citizens of all denominations to assemble at their respective places of worship, to offer up their devotions to God their Creator, and his Son Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world.
Given under my hand, and the seal of the State, in Columbia, this ninth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-four, and in the sixty-ninth year of American Independence.
James Hammond
The Jewish community of Charleston was offended by the proclamation since they were obviously not included. They asked for an apology from Hammond but he refused to offer it. Hammond’s words included in the Founders’ Bible come from his reply to the Jewish community. Hammond told the Jewish minority that he would not apologize.
Here is his response in full:
Yesterday, I wrote about the disturbing inclusion of racist and pro-slavery James Hammond in an article to accompanying The Founders’ Bible. Although not as distressing as the Hammond article, there are other problems with articles in the Bible that have come up before. Today, I want to note just one of them – the rewriting of Exodus 18.
If John E. Peterson’s rendering is accurate (this link has been disabled, here is the Google cache), then here is one thing the Founders’ Bible says about Exodus 18 and Israel’s history.
For citizens in that era, a monarchy was the standard for government. And why not? After all, kings were featured prominently throughout the Scriptures: King Saul, King David, King Solomon, King Rehoboam, King Josiah, King Jehoshaphat, etc. So it was easy for citizens to assume that God preferred monarchies, but a closer study of the Bible indicated that this was definitely not God’s preference. In fact, God even sent the prophet Samuel to dissuade His people from monarchies (1 Samuel 8:10-18), but Israel demanded kings anyway.
Continue reading “Founders’ Bible Rewrites Exodus 18 to Fit Christian Nation Narrative”