Evangelist Republican David Burton on American History

[shnozzola]

http://www.npr.org/2012/08/08/157754542/the-most-influential-evangelist-youve-never-heard-of

"You look at Article 3, Section 1, the treason clause," he told James Robison on Trinity Broadcast Network. "Direct quote out of the Bible. You look at Article 2, the quote on the president has to be a native born? That is Deuteronomy 17:15, verbatim. I mean, it drives the secularists nuts because the Bible's all over it! Now we as Christians don't tend to recognize that. We think it's a secular document; we've bought into their lies. It's not."

We looked up every citation Barton said was from the Bible, but not one of them checked out.

On his tours of the U.S. Capitol, for example, he claims that Congress not only published the first American Bible in 1782, but it also intended the Bible to be used in public schools.

"And we're going to be told they don't want any kind of religion in education, they don't want voluntary prayer?" Barton asks his audience rhetorically? "No, it doesn't make sense."

But historians say Barton is flat-out wrong in his facts and conclusion. Congress never published or paid a dime for the 1782 Bible. It was printed and paid for by Philadelphia printer Robert Aitken. At Aitken's request, Congress agreed to have its chaplains check the Bible for accuracy. It was not, historians say, a government promotion of religion.

Barton's next stop: the Republican National Convention, where as a Texas representative to the GOP Platform Committee, he will lay out his vision of America.

[Garja]

David Burton is a sham, a historian in only the greatest perversion of the word, and a revisionist who attempts to change history as he sees fit.

[Truth OT]

Good Ole Davy B. the great wallbuilder. He's Glenn Beck's go to historian.

[wright]

David Burton is a sham, a historian in only the greatest perversion of the word, and a revisionist who attempts to change history as he sees fit.

All the more reason to call him and similar frauds on their lies. There have always been those easily swayed by loudmouths who come up with popular reinterpretations of contemporary / historical events. With the advent of the internet and other mass communication, the number of the willfully ignorant can swell to critical mass all too easily.

[Nam]

Sadly, there are many others of his ilk out there.

-Nam

[Red McWilliams]

This is precisely why the Texas GOP platform explicitly prohibits the teaching of critical thinking.

[Garja]

^ exactly.

And law makers wonder why our students are failing.

[Backspace]

Barton's next stop: the Republican National Convention

I couldn't think of a more appropriate place for him.

as a Texas representative to the GOP Platform Committee, he will lay out his vision of America.

Hypocrisy, fear, hatred, bigotry... and the love of Cheezus Crust.

[Nick]

Republicans can lie, distort things, and say all kinds of crazy shit and most of the time it is accepted or covered some and forgotten.  It is almost expected of them now.  If anyone else steps out of line it is viewed as an outrage and hammered on by the right.  We are never going to become an enlightened people.  We will be lucky to be able to read and write in another 50 years.

[Nam]

Nick! you can read and write?

I wish I could.

-Nam

[Garja]

I ran across a quote from Thomas Jefferson that made me think about this thread.

As I'm sure many of you know this guy recently published a book on Thomas Jefferson called "The Jefferson Lies" in which he (erroneously) claims that Jefferson was a devout Christian.

Anyway, here is the quote "The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter" (Jefferson qtd in Dawkins 2008).  Always knew I liked Jefferson.

As I was getting ready to write this post I was surprised and delighted that this douche bag's  book was being pulled by its publisher for being full of shit. http://www.opposingviews.com/i/religion/christianity/publisher-pulls-david-bartons-book-jefferson-lies

[Garja]

Its a classic conservative gambit.

Keep telling the same lie over and over until it becomes accepted as truth.  Then repeat the lie in spite of contradictory evidence pretending the contradictory evidence doesn't exist (see just about every argument for Intelligent Design).