buckeye
2008-10-24 09:34:19 UTC
David Barton: Americas Greatest Historian
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/david-barton-america%E2%80%99s-greatest-historian
By Kyle | October 20, 2008 - 2:04pm
I mentioned the return of the Texas Restoration Project a few months ago
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/return-restoration-project
and then promptly forgot about it. Fortunately, the folks at Talk 2 Action
have a better memory than I do and actually attended the event and provide
an inside report.
Back when he was running in the GOP primary, Mike Hucakbee praised
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/will-david-barton-be-huck%E2%80%99s-secretary-education
right-wing pseudo-historian David Barton as perhaps "the greatest living
historian on the spiritual nature of America's early days." But it seems
that, since dropping out, his opinion of Barton has only increased because
he is now calling him the "single best historian in America today":
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/10/11/152047/08
********************************************************************************
" According to candidate Mike Huckabee, history revisionist David Barton
is the best historian our country has to offer the nation. Barton's best
seller, The Myth of Separation of Church and State, violates the basic
tenets of the Baptist faith Huckabee was ordained into and is still a
member. This view by Huckabee about Barton was uttered at the Texas
Restoration Project meeting in Austin, Texas, October 9-10th. Helping to
host and speak at the event were Barton, Huckabee and Governor Perry - the
state GOP official. On a first-to-call basis, the pastors of the state's
churches, as well as their wives, were invited to come and stay free of
charge in a $250/night Hilton Hotel room. Over 1,000 showed up, and it was
announced that several hundred more wanted to attend, but could not because
there was no room for them. Perry sits atop a state platform that wants to
pull the nation out of the U.N., abolish the U.S. Department of Education,
appeal minimum wage and do away with Social Security. Not to mention the
platform affirms giving state money to religious schools and wants to
dispel the myth of separation of church and state.
Huckabee and good buddy David Barton were up next, and between sessions
provided photo opts for admiring pastors. Huckabee said this was a
spiritual, not a political meeting, and he preached to the crowd. In spite
of the get out the vote drive and lamenting of the false concept of
separation of church and state, the mixture of pulpit and ballot continued
Huckabee introduced his friend David Barton as a man God raised up for
the moment. Mike knew of no other man in the country having such a great
impact on the land.
Next, Barton did his Christian-nation thing and stated the Bible had
something to say about minimum wage and estate taxes. Evidently, that meant
the text was against them both. A common religious right position in voter
guides is that minimum wage is immoral. Barton told several stories of
heroic Revolutionary War pastors who left the pulpit and led the men of the
church into killing English troops. He lamented that this is what is needed
today to restore the nation: That is, motivated and active pastors who lead
out. Barton then said that separation of church and state, which he stated
- is not in the Constitution - and only applies to the state interference
in the church - a common religious right position.
Voter guides from Barton's organization were placed at the tables where
we sat. There was a sign-up sheet to list name, email and church
information. Morning speakers reminded us that the glory of God has been
lost in the nation, and the Bible and prayer have been expelled from
schools. The key question was what the church would do about these things.
Barton proceeded to defend his position that the two key issues of the
election centered around abortion and gay rights. He said the Bible taught
that these were the key priority issues and poverty, environment, justice,
civil rights and the prospect of an unjust war all sat as minor ethical
issues compared to the other two. He explained that in the past few
elections, laws have been enacted by Christians to limit abortions. That
was - he admitted - until the 2006 elections. He conceded pro-life forces
lost ground. His conclusion was that a get out the vote effort in 2008
could reverse this. David stated that what a person believed about abortion
defined how one would vote regarding all other legislative issues. Barton
reminded the group that judicial appointments will define our culture. He
then explained to the pastors that for the past 50 years government has
told pastors what to say in the pulpit. The Texan then complained that the
government did a terribly inefficient job of helping the poor. It would
better for the churches to hand out this money and do drug and prison
rehab. He restated, "The church has got to be involved in the election."
**************************************************************************
We werent there so obviously we dont know exactly what Bartons
presentation was like, but if you want to get a sense of how Barton
typically uses his biased history of America to promote the Religious
Rights political and electoral agenda, you can watch him do so here.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/david-barton-work
***************************************************************
You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Historical Reality SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
***************************************************************
. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
. . .
****************************************************************
USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
*****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
****************************************************************
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/david-barton-america%E2%80%99s-greatest-historian
By Kyle | October 20, 2008 - 2:04pm
I mentioned the return of the Texas Restoration Project a few months ago
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/return-restoration-project
and then promptly forgot about it. Fortunately, the folks at Talk 2 Action
have a better memory than I do and actually attended the event and provide
an inside report.
Back when he was running in the GOP primary, Mike Hucakbee praised
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/will-david-barton-be-huck%E2%80%99s-secretary-education
right-wing pseudo-historian David Barton as perhaps "the greatest living
historian on the spiritual nature of America's early days." But it seems
that, since dropping out, his opinion of Barton has only increased because
he is now calling him the "single best historian in America today":
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/10/11/152047/08
********************************************************************************
" According to candidate Mike Huckabee, history revisionist David Barton
is the best historian our country has to offer the nation. Barton's best
seller, The Myth of Separation of Church and State, violates the basic
tenets of the Baptist faith Huckabee was ordained into and is still a
member. This view by Huckabee about Barton was uttered at the Texas
Restoration Project meeting in Austin, Texas, October 9-10th. Helping to
host and speak at the event were Barton, Huckabee and Governor Perry - the
state GOP official. On a first-to-call basis, the pastors of the state's
churches, as well as their wives, were invited to come and stay free of
charge in a $250/night Hilton Hotel room. Over 1,000 showed up, and it was
announced that several hundred more wanted to attend, but could not because
there was no room for them. Perry sits atop a state platform that wants to
pull the nation out of the U.N., abolish the U.S. Department of Education,
appeal minimum wage and do away with Social Security. Not to mention the
platform affirms giving state money to religious schools and wants to
dispel the myth of separation of church and state.
Huckabee and good buddy David Barton were up next, and between sessions
provided photo opts for admiring pastors. Huckabee said this was a
spiritual, not a political meeting, and he preached to the crowd. In spite
of the get out the vote drive and lamenting of the false concept of
separation of church and state, the mixture of pulpit and ballot continued
Huckabee introduced his friend David Barton as a man God raised up for
the moment. Mike knew of no other man in the country having such a great
impact on the land.
Next, Barton did his Christian-nation thing and stated the Bible had
something to say about minimum wage and estate taxes. Evidently, that meant
the text was against them both. A common religious right position in voter
guides is that minimum wage is immoral. Barton told several stories of
heroic Revolutionary War pastors who left the pulpit and led the men of the
church into killing English troops. He lamented that this is what is needed
today to restore the nation: That is, motivated and active pastors who lead
out. Barton then said that separation of church and state, which he stated
- is not in the Constitution - and only applies to the state interference
in the church - a common religious right position.
Voter guides from Barton's organization were placed at the tables where
we sat. There was a sign-up sheet to list name, email and church
information. Morning speakers reminded us that the glory of God has been
lost in the nation, and the Bible and prayer have been expelled from
schools. The key question was what the church would do about these things.
Barton proceeded to defend his position that the two key issues of the
election centered around abortion and gay rights. He said the Bible taught
that these were the key priority issues and poverty, environment, justice,
civil rights and the prospect of an unjust war all sat as minor ethical
issues compared to the other two. He explained that in the past few
elections, laws have been enacted by Christians to limit abortions. That
was - he admitted - until the 2006 elections. He conceded pro-life forces
lost ground. His conclusion was that a get out the vote effort in 2008
could reverse this. David stated that what a person believed about abortion
defined how one would vote regarding all other legislative issues. Barton
reminded the group that judicial appointments will define our culture. He
then explained to the pastors that for the past 50 years government has
told pastors what to say in the pulpit. The Texan then complained that the
government did a terribly inefficient job of helping the poor. It would
better for the churches to hand out this money and do drug and prison
rehab. He restated, "The church has got to be involved in the election."
**************************************************************************
We werent there so obviously we dont know exactly what Bartons
presentation was like, but if you want to get a sense of how Barton
typically uses his biased history of America to promote the Religious
Rights political and electoral agenda, you can watch him do so here.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/david-barton-work
***************************************************************
You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Historical Reality SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
***************************************************************
. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
. . .
****************************************************************
USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
*****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
****************************************************************