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May 21, 2011

God and the US constitution

There is a person named David Barton who has been pushing the idea that the US was founded as a Christian country and that the separation of church and state was not intended to be a guiding principle. He is widely quoted in evangelical circles as an authority on this topic and has been influential in setting guidelines for high school textbooks.

In early May, Jon Stewart invited him to The Daily Show which is where I first saw him. Barton struck me as a fast talking snake oil salesman who knows how to impress people with seemingly erudite knowledge and to my irritation managed to steamroll Stewart.

To his credit, Stewart realized that he had been snowed so last week he brought on a genuine constitutional historian, Richard Beeman of the University of Pennsylvania, author of the book Plain Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution, to set the record straight. (The book is on my list of things to read.)

You can see all the interviews.

David Barton part 1:

David Barton part 2:

Richard Beeman part 1:

Richard Beeman part 2:

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Comments

There's also a woman, Chris Rodda, who does a good job of taking apart Barton's revisionism in her book entitled Liars for Jesus, and a series of videos she has on her Youtube channel where she deals with various claims that Barton makes in his public lectures. I've linked to her Liars for Jesus webpage in my name. Her Youtube channel is ChisRodda2.

Posted by David on May 21, 2011 04:42 PM

I'm glad you posted these videos.

When Barton started sharing his "correct" interpretation of the Treaty of Tripoli, I looked up the text of it on the internet. The guy apparently failed reading comprehension in school.


I was so relieved when Stewart had Beeman on.

Posted by Scott on May 21, 2011 10:00 PM