David Barton is perhaps the leading proponent of the notion that the U.S. was once, and should again be a “Christian Nation.” He wants to sell you on that idea. He has books and tapes to sell too. The problem is that his slick products and presentations don’t stand up to scrutiny. For example, in 1996, the mainstream Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs wrote a detailed critique, debunking Barton’s Christian nationalist notions.
Barton is speaking in Worcester, Massachusetts at a Christian homeschooling convention at the end of the month — in the wake of a firestorm of criticism in Washington, DC about his bogus version of history, his attacks on the role of the federal judiciary, and concerns about his theocratic political agenda.
Barton is currently at the center of a growing series of contoversies in Washington, DC regarding his association with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN).
Frist recently invited his congressional colleagues to participate in a “private tour” of the U.S. Capitol building with Barton. Frist described the tour as a “Fresh Perspective on Our Nation’s Religious Heritage” and that Barton is “a historian noted for his detailed research into the religious heritage of our nation.”
A simple Google search turns up other disturbing information about Barton. Not only does he disseminate biased and misleading materials, he has a profound, and profoundly alarming political agenda. Last year, Beliefnet reported that Barton is on the board of The Providence Foundation, a Christian Reconstructionist oriented organanizaton. Reconstructionism is an influential political theology whose proponents argue that the U.S. should be a Christian theocracy, under “Biblical law.” (I wrote about this movement and its role in the Christian right in detail in my book Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy.)
Lest anyone think that this is a tempest in a teapot, and that Barton is a fringe figure of no signficance, Roll Call reports that Barton often conducts such tours under the sponsorship of Members of Congress. He is also the Vice-Chair of the Texas Republican Party.
Rev. Welton Gaddy, executive director of the Interfaith Alliance urged Frist to “disassociate” himself from Barton. “I first became acquainted with Mr. Barton in the early 1970’s,” Gaddy wrote, “when I was a staff member of the Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. For the past 30 years, Barton has been evangelizing his extremist beliefs that the separation of church and state is a myth and that the United States was founded as and should be governed as a Christian nation; this is bad history and dangerous theology. By having Mr. Barton as a host of a religious heritage tour, you send a volatile message to all Americans that Washington has once again overstepped its bounds and is endorsing revisionist history along with advancing a right-wing agenda. Given the present mood of the country and the questionable role that religion has played in Washington recently, these are treacherous waters to be treading.”
Ralph Neas, president of People for the American way also urged Frist, to disassociate himself from Barton, citing one of Barton’s books. From Neas’ description, the book sounds like a field manual for the current attacks on the state and federal judiciary by Christian Right leaders and their allies in Congress.
“Mr. Barton’s 1996 book Impeachment!: Restraining an Over Active Judiciary,” writes Neas, [is] “a 50 page handbook on how and why the right should push for impeachment of judges whose decisions they disagree with on abortion, school desegregation, homosexuality, and other subjects.”
“Clearly stated,” Neas concluded, “is Barton’s agenda to intimidate federal judges, noting that even if impeachment does not succeed, the threat ‘serves as a deterrent’ and would cause judges to ‘become more restrained.'”
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) denounced Barton’s planned tour noting that Barton “intends to prove that the separation of church and state is a myth, and that America’s Founders intended for the United States to be a Christian nation.” He called on Frist to cancel his plan “to tour the U.S. Capitol with this man who says this should be a Christian-only country.”
The Barton controversy figures into the widening attack on the judiciary by Christian Rightists and their allies in Congress. Some of rhetoric has seemed to justify violence against the judiciary. According to a report in The Washington Post, author Edwin Vieira told a recent conference “Remedies to Judicial Tyranny,” in Washington DC, that Supreme Court justice Anthony M. Kennedy, “should be impeached because his philosophy, evidenced in his opinion striking down an anti-sodomy statute, ‘upholds Marxist, Leninist, satanic principles drawn from foreign law.'”
“Ominously,” the Post added, “Vieira continued by saying his ‘bottom line’ for dealing with the Supreme Court comes from Joseph Stalin. ‘He had a slogan, and it worked very well for him, whenever he ran into difficulty: ‘no man, no problem,'” Vieira said.
“The full Stalin quote, for those who don’t recognize it, is ‘Death solves all problems: no man, no problem.’ Presumably, Vieira had in mind something less extreme than Stalin did and was not actually advocating violence. But then, these are scary times for the judiciary. An anti-judge furor may help confirm President Bush’s judicial nominees, but it also has the potential to turn ugly.”
“A judge in Atlanta and the husband and mother of a judge in Chicago were murdered in recent weeks. After federal courts spurned a request from Congress to revisit the Terri Schiavo case, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) said that “the time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior.” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) mused about how a perception that judges are making political decisions could lead people to ‘engage in violence.'”
“The people who have been speaking out on this, like Tom DeLay and Senator Cornyn, need to be backed up,” longtime Christian Right leader Phyllis Schlafly said to applause at the conference.
When Barton is not giving capitol tours with Senator Frist, he often speaks at Christian Right political conferences, and conventions of Christian homeschoolers. Homeschools are key markets for the historical revisionist materials produced by Barton’s and like minded groups. For example, Barton will be the keynote speaker at a Massachusetts statewide homeschooling convention at the Worcester Centrum on April 29th.
“We are pleased to welcome David Barton of WallBuilders,” according to the conference web site, “as one of our keynote speakers this year. David will bless us with his passion for the clear truth of the Christian founding and principles of our nation. He will be presenting one workshop on Friday afternoon and a keynote address on Friday evening.”
Barton will certainly not be the only controversial Christian Rightist in Worcester. One of the many exhibitors seeking to seek to sell thier wares and services at the Worcester conference, and at similar events around the country, will be the Home School Legal Defence Assocation, (HSLDA) headed by longtime Christian Right activist, Michael P. Farris, who was a featured speaker at the anti-judiciary conference. Farris said, according to The Washington Post, that Justice Kennedy, a Republican appointee of Ronald Reagan, “‘should be the poster boy for impeachment’ for citing international norms in his opinions. ‘If our congressmen and senators do not have the courage to impeach and remove from office Justice Kennedy, they ought to be impeached as well.'”
Farris, Barton, and others are disseminating Christian nationalist propaganda through a nationwide network of sectarian Christian schools and home schools, which many Christian Rightists see as the base for the longterm takeover the of the U.S. As I reported in Eternal Hostility, Chris Klicka, HSLDA’s Senior Counsel and Director of State and International Relations has written, “Sending our children to public schools violates nearly every Biblical principle… It is tantamount to sending our children to be trained by the enemy.”
People concerned about the growth of the Christian nationalist movement, and its propagation through the Christian homeschooling network, might want to check out this list of home school conventions, and the speaking schedule of David Barton and his staff.
[Crossposted from FrederickClarkson.com]
Washington DC is waking up!
a Vast Left Wing Conspiracy. It’s rather disturbing to think that this is just one tendril of their entire setup.
I’m glad people are pushing back against guy, but we need local and national involvement on all levels to push progressive views and values forward, to work with the churches and schools and to build things together, instead of separate little groups. And not stop… because these people never, ever, ever give up.
Good information to have and thanks for sharing it. Now if we can only get more people to stand up to these zealots and see them for the serious threat they are.
Well, this is a really good start. This is the first time, to my knowledge, where a member of Congress has stood up and adressed the Christian Nation issue in general, and Barton in particular.
Alas, I don’t seem to be able to get many people to read, comment on and recommend my diaries on the Christian Right — including this one.
Oh I think probably a number of people read (I just recommended… so many things to remember to do, sigh).
As for people commenting… the topic itself is very interesting, but lots of info to it. Probably your participation in the commentary or discussion would cause others to comment. Not saying that you don’t, I don’t recall from your other diaries, but especially when there are not all that many active people on the site, thats one way to get actiivity in the diary.
I’m interested in the rise of the christian right as one prong of the overall right wing strategy, especially at the local levels (which is where it’s most insidious, I think).
well, I can’t be around 24/7, but I am a pretty active commenter on my diaries.
Here like at Kos, its a mystery as to what will catch people’s attention, and what won’t.
I cross post here from my own site, which has its own audience. So I am pleased with whatever happens. I have no expectations, and don’t take it personally if a diary dosn’t get much attention. But I do hope that whatever happens with my and other diaries on this subject, that people will sit up and take notice, and use what they learn from the diary and discussion to take action.
What sort of action would you recommend people take? I’m sure there are things people can do, I’m just not sure what. Well, besides writing letters and such.
I can’t see what can be done about the home schooling part of it… in fact, there were a couple of news stories recently about small school districts basically trying to bribe home schoolers back into the public school system by promising to hold Bible type classes and to teach Creationism in science class and so on. They are losing too much money on the children not being in school.
That sort of thing definitely could be a place to take action, for sure, especially if one lives in one of those communities.
well, I have done some diaries on this general subject. I am not sure what to suggest about the homeschoolers, its a controversial subject, because some progressives homeschool as well. I am not opposed to it. But the Christian homeschooling movement is an antidemocratic, revolutionary breeding ground. Not everyone of course, but there is no question that this is where the theocratic revolutionaries are planning the future.
More generally, much of the strength of the Christian Right is not in thier numbers or how they school, but from smart, actual electoral politics. So the shortest answer is building our personal knowledge and electoral skills, and making it a priority. Doing it in collaboration with like minded folks. This is the nugget of the success of the Christian Right. Its time to turn off the television, and reclaim our citizenship. Message, sure, Values and framing, sure. But these are all subsets of electoral politics. Not the other way around. Once we are clear what our priority needs to be, the other pieces fall into place.
with this conclusion:
More generally, much of the strength of the Christian Right is not in thier numbers or how they school, but from smart, actual electoral politics.
Mind you, you’ve probably done more research than I have, but I think the one drives the other. Smart electoral politics, surely, but part of that is the structural base they work from. Not all the christian homeschoolers, or even all those who consider themselves conservative christians, are the radical christian right that is getting elected… it’s just that they are not being approached with the more radical elements of the programs, but with stuff that more fits their world view.
But it still gets them to vote for Republicans. Without our building that wide base, as well as having smarter electoral politics (and, hopefully, better candidates) I think we’ll be in a bad position. For the long term, anyway, maybe not the short.
I don’t much like the framing stuff, by the way, although I suppose it comes in handy.
the homeschoolers, those that are overtly political, tend to be the base for the openly theocratic Constitution Party, (formerly the U.S. Taxpayers party.)
The genius behind the Christian Right’s electoral successes, have been in working across the election cycle, independent of but within the GOP. Year in, year out for the past 15 or so years. It reallyu crystalized with the advent of the Chrisian Coalition in 1989. All of the other Christian right groups emulated and adapted thier general model. No other sector of society did anything remotely like it. The rest is history.
The Christian Right did not so much vote republican as Become The Republicans. It took some time, but this is now the best organized faction in American politics, and are excersizing power far disproporionate to their numbers.
I offer you just for example, the extraordinary actions of the congress and the president in the Terry Schiavo case. The vast majority of the public did not approve.
The pres and Congressional leaders are getting away with as much as they are because of the war.
I’ll answer this downthread.. it’s getting a bit squishy here.
I think some people are turned off to the idea because they see it as “spin” or somehow manipulative, even dishonest. But that’s not how I see it or how, I think, most people who embrace the concept see it. It’s simply a way of fighting back against the lies and distortions of the Right. If we refuse to participate in how public perceptions of the issues are formed, we leave a vacuum that the Right will fill with more lies and distortions.
It’s about giving careful thought to why and how those distortions work and seeking a way to return the discussion to honesty, by chosing our words carefully and not playing into their hands. For example, they were able to constantly pound away that forcilbly re-inserting Terry Schiavo’s feeding tube was an act of “valuing life,” and that letting her finally be at peace was “murdering” her.
We need to choose our words as carefully as they do – not to spin or lie or distort, but to make clear our very truthful and honest positions.
I’ll answer down thread.
Following some of those links are just creepy..the wallbuilders site where I was reading his part justifications of slavery on his article on slavery/bible and founding fathers is certainly pretty sickening. Pretty much a bunch of double talk crapola.
On homeschooling: I’m not opposed to it, in principle… as you say, progressives also home school although not in as large numbers, I don’t think. But it all has the effect, as with vouchers, of pulling the resources out of the public schools instead of everyone working to make the public schools better (especially the ones in depressed neighborhoods). Anyway, thats another topic, and a tough one.
The genius behind the Christian Right’s electoral successes, have been in working across the election cycle, independent of but within the GOP. Year in, year out for the past 15 or so years. It reallyu crystalized with the advent of the Chrisian Coalition in 1989. All of the other Christian right groups emulated and adapted thier general model. No other sector of society did anything remotely like it. The rest is history.
I think we are saying the same things, only in different ways. The year in, year out working across election cycles, independent of but part of the party… that’s what we need to do. Regardless of where they are working… whether they are getting on school boards, or city councils, or libraries or whatever, they have an ultimate goal of changing society to fit their (mostly) religious world views. Although I think any number of them are just using the religious as a vehicle to get to where they want to go… they have no intentions of actually bringing them along for the ride.
The Christian Right did not so much vote republican as Become The Republicans. It took some time, but this is now the best organized faction in American politics, and are excersizing power far disproporionate to their numbers.
We have the numbers… we don’t (and probably will never) have the organized structure they have built. I am not sure we need one though, but we do need to be everywhere that they are, and in more places besides.
By working the ground so persistently and so long, they have been able to get truly crazy insane people elected, often even getting votes from reasonably sane citizens. They throw blankets over their agenda (moral values, terrorism, war, etc) and people vote for the blankets without ever really considering what’s underneath. Or having been convinced that what’s underneath doesn’t even matter, because the blankets are the main thing.
sorry, nanette. You asked me what I thought needed to be done, and I told you. I don’t understand your response. You say we need to respond, but you also suggest that we don’t need to be organized.
IMHO, there is no substitute for effective — and appropriate — organization. Its like everything else, absent effective planning, its like planning for failure. We need to build our electoral strength, which is not just about numbers. In my considered opinion after 25 years of study of the right, and just 3 active in electoral politics, I can say with the greatest of confidence that there is no substitute, there is no substitute, there is no substitute for effective and appropriate electoral organizing.
Oddly, its very simple. Either we are willing to use the tools of constitutional democracy to preserve it, or we are not.
It really doesn’t matter if we have a critque of how the relious right uses and misuses morality — unless we have a strategy for winning elections.
sorry, nanette. You asked me what I thought needed to be done, and I told you. I don’t understand your response. You say we need to respond, but you also suggest that we don’t need to be organized.
The perils of typing on only one cup of coffee!
I was agreeing with you, or trying to anyway, on both the organization and the electoral strategies, etc. What I was trying to say is that I am not sure that we (the Left) will ever reach that same level of organization in the same way.
Replicating the ground level, electoral and political work, but in our own fashion and that suits us but still brings the results we need, is more what I was talking about. I hope that explains better.
ok cool. Clearly coffee is going to have to be part of any strategic organizing plan. I avoid writing anything, to anyone for any reason until I am thoroughly caffeinated. But sometimes I forget!
Well, I’m often not much more articulate when wide awake, but it makes a good excuse ;). Thanks for your patience and the conversation.
Janet:
We need to choose our words as carefully as they do – not to spin or lie or distort, but to make clear our very truthful and honest positions.
Yes. You’ve put it well… I think if it’s done right, it can be a very good thing. Learning how to put things so that they resonate and appeal to people… or just finding the words to explain what is going on, in simple terms, can only help.
I do have discomfort with the seemingly manipulative aspects, which not all engage in by any means… but at the same time I think we should be seeking out ad writers and brand experts ;). It’s a sales job, no matter how you look at it, and we need to get good at selling (or presenting, branding, whatever) ourselves and our values, principles, etc.
We also need to get good at making sure that the people we elect are not just the brand, but the ‘real thing’. I mentioned in a prior post that the right wing have managed to get totally insanely right wing people elected, and we have trouble getting even slightly progressive people into office. Changing the debate at the ground level, I believe, is one of the ways to make a difference in that, so I’ll gladly use the framing thing if it helps.
This is such a big issue that where do we start with the framing? Maybe people on this thread can come up with some ideas to start with in the framing dept…..speaking of coffee I’m still working on getting up to speed on that so right now I’m still officially brain-dead.
I know we somehow have to separate the idea in peoples minds that just because you ‘say’ you are a christian that does not automatically mean what regular people think it might mean. Ordinary decent values believed by regular christians are not even close to what the Right Wing/Dominionist ‘christians’ are advocating.
These people are more like any supremest group that advocates their vision for the country that all should have to follow…or else.
We won’t get anywhere until we make people aware of these people and what they are really doing and I guess that goes back to start with framing the issue. Find catchy but truthful slogans and soundbites that will get people’s attention so the will start listening to us.
Everybody and their uncle (and aunt!) seems to be working on framing. I think the greater problem is figuring out who has the right answer.
I suspect it turn out to be different for each area of the country or something… a friend in Texas is trying to teach me (thru email and chat) how to speak to ‘red state’ people , without offending them. She seems to think I need lots of help ;).
I think the Schiavo Fiasco was just the first crack in the blindness of some of the people who felt that the Republicans believed the same things they did, as far as Christianity and such. No doubt other things will come up as well, as they overreach and do increasingly nutty stuff. And of course, it doesn’t matter what actually is done, some will support their party through torture and corruption and war and anything at all.
We just need to be in a position… framed and otherwise, to take advantage of the others.
Yes, that’s why this should start with grassroots efforts so people in each area of country can frame the issue in local speak but with the same overall message getting out.
I don’t like the word ‘frame’ in itself as it implies to me somehow being slightly dishonest although I know that isn’t the intent.
Maybe we should re-frame “framing”. Truth telling vs lies. Fact vs fiction. Um… well, obviously framing is not my strong suit ;).
Framing to me was always lying about someone or setting them up to take the blame for something. I think probably that’s a few people’s reasons for not really liking the word.
‘Just the facts, ma’m, the Joe Friday Tour to simply tell the truth..yeah I’m not good at trying to figure out a ‘frame’ either.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/7235393?pageid=rs.Home&pageregion=single7&rn
d=1113323439062&has-player=false
This is a fairly short but concise article that hits all the right notes about Dominionists and how many are in government and the leaders of the whole ‘religious’ movement. And makes them sound very scary which is good. Glad Rolling Stone has done an article on this.
yes. thats a good piece.
I have read that there is some talk among the radical pseudo-Christian right about expanding the death penalty, consistent with Justice Scalia’s originalist interpretation of the 8th amendment. Can you point me to any resources about this subject?
I know they want to “reinstitute” Biblical Law and make America a “Christian Nation” – like they affirmed in the 2004 Texas GOP platform.
How do they envision stamping out homosexuality? Are they going to force us into their therapy to cure us, put us in internment camps or kill us? What about flogging and stoning like we see in the Near East?Somehow leaving us alone to live our lives in peace does not seem to be consistent with their agenda.
From everything I have read and heard, they would be content with criminalization in the near to mid term. Thats why they are upset with Justice Kennedy who authored the supremes’ ruling in the Texas sodomy case. The courts are not headed in thier direction.
As long as the laws were still on the books, albeit unenforced, they had hope of restoring the culture to something like the 50s.
With the courts increasingly oriented to individual rights, including those of gay and lesbian people, the urge to coarse majoritarianism through the Congress is what they are attempting on many fronts.
If you want to look at the comprehensive long range list of capital crimes under Biblical Law, I wrote about it in my study of Christian Reconstructionism in The Public Eye. (visit my web site to find the link). I also update and expand on that material in my book.
I have a lot of reading to catch up with and I am so glad that you are bringing this to our attention. What I have discovered so far is there are some very rich people networking to spread the so-called “Christian Movement” in the US (and it is spreading here in Europe as well). My instincts tell me that these people can care less about religion but are using it as a tool to obtain more power and more wealth and can care less about the middle class and poor (or religion for that matter). Don’t get me wrong, I think there are some real “believers” in this movement but they are being used as pawns. Just a couple of thoughts at the top of my head on how this battle should be fought:
1. Find out who these people are and how they operate.
(While I still need to go back and read all of the links that have been recommended, I would like to recommend a few myself.)
http://www.toobeautiful.org/lat_020927.html
http://www.sonoran-sunsets.com/jesus.html
2. Once we are able to identify who these power grabbers are, we need to find ways to wake up the American people and let them know that they are being had. The hard part is trying to figure out how.