http://tfninsider.org/2011/10/13/exposi ... cribe-blog
I recall earlier this year on April 09,2011 that I had posted in these forums a topic that was titled . . .
Exposing David Bartonâ??s Bad History
By TFN
David Barton might be a popular speaker in conservative circles and considered a â??historianâ? and â??constitutional expertâ? by politico-entertainers like Glenn Beck and politicians like Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich. But a scholarâ??s new review of Bartonâ??s American history textbook (yes, he has one) exposes the Texanâ??s simplistic, selective and ideologically distorted accounts of the nationâ??s early history. The review by Prof. Steven K. Green for the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund is available here.
Unlike Barton, Prof. Green really is an expert in constitutional law and history. He currently is a constitutional scholar, historian and law professor at Willamette University in Oregon. He also serves as director of the Willamette Center for Religion, Law and Democracy.
Prof. Green explains how Bartonâ??s Drive Thru History America is peppered with factual inaccuracies, offers a simplistic and glorified view of the nationâ??s early history and promotes a sectarian perspective clearly intended to proselytize students. Prof. Green writes:
â??[The textbook] displays a clear devotional tone and contains a number of religious truth-claims that cross the line into promotion of a particular religion. Beyond this, the curriculum presents a problematic historical account of the founding period that falls well outside mainstream scholarly understanding, providing inaccurate, incomplete and biased profiles of various leading figures from that era.â?
Barton and co-author Nita Thomason developed the textbook and accompanying materials for students in Grades 6-12. A promotional website markets the textbook for use in both private and public schools. Those materials focus on the nationâ??s founding period and on selected historical figures, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Abigail Adams. And their profound disrespect for the religious freedom of parents is as objectionable as their distortions of history. Prof. Green writes:
â??Inculcating a â??Christian worldviewâ?? or persuading students to â??repentâ?? and â??listen to Godâ?? is a responsibility that belongs solely with a parent or religious congregation. For a public school to utilize curricular materials toward this end is not only a clear Constitutional violation, it is a betrayal of the trust parents place in public schools.â?
The Texas Freedom Network has posted Prof. Greenâ??s review and other information about Barton and his political work in a new David Barton Watch section of our website.
An Ultimatum At Gunpoint From Another Right Wing Bully!!!
http://www.sportssuck.org/phpbb2/viewto ... f=1&t=5318
Here is a YouTube link you all should watch.Turns out that former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee hasnâ??t been praising David Barton just on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Last month Huckabee also touted the master propaganda artist and play-pretend â??historianâ? at the religious rightâ??s Rediscover God in America confab in Iowa. In fact, he thinks Americans should be forced to listen to Bartonâ??s revisionist history nonsense â?? â??at gun point, no less.â? Right Wing Watch from People for the American Way quotes from the Hucksterâ??s speech:
â??I donâ??t know anyone in America who is a more effective communicator [than David Barton.] I just wish that every single young person in America would be able to be under his tutelage and understand something about who we really are as a nation. I almost wish that there would be something like a simultaneous telecast and all Americans would be forced, forced â?? at gun point no less â?? to listen to every David Barton message. And I think our country would be better for it. I wish itâ??d happen.â?
Mike Huckabee Wants People To Be Forced to Listen To David Barton At Gunpoint
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mwGYr0OWzw&feature
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Uploaded by RWWBlog on Mar 24, 2011
Mike Huckabee speaks at the Rediscover God in America Conference in Iowa and says that America would be better off it everyone were forced, at gunpoint, to listen to David Barton.
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Yeah, so Mike Fuckabee wants us all to listen to David Barton, at gun point!!!
And here's some more good stuff, an article from AlterNet
http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/201 ... -gunpoint/
The fact is, that the founding fathers of our country were NOT Christians.Mike Huckabee Says He Wants Americans To Be Indoctrinated At Gunpoint
Posted by B. E. Wilson at 2:01 pm
March 30, 2011
Did Mike Huckabee just flush his presidential aspirations down the proverbial toilet? Well, if American mainstream media has an ounce of journalistic gumption remaining the answer most certainly would be â??yesâ?. Huckabee has just been caught on video, at a Christian supremacist conference, stating that Americans should be forcibly indoctrinated at gunpoint. The organization which hosted the â??Rediscover God In Americaâ? conference, United in Purpose, has edited Huckabeeâ??s comment from footage of his speech, but not before People For The American Wayâ??s Kyle Mantyla captured the unedited footage, in which Mike Huckabee states, â??I almost wish that there would be, like, a simultaneous telecast, and all Americans would be forcedâ??forced at gunpoint no lessâ??to listen to every David Barton message, and I think our country would be better for it. I wish itâ??d happen.â?
David Barton is the leading promoter of a brand of falsified American history altered to support the claim that America was founded as a Christian, rather than a secular, nation. As Chris Rodda, who has authored an entire book debunking Bartonâ??s brand of pseudo-history, writes,
I was quite surprisedâ?¦ to come across a video clip from this conference on the People for the American Way (PFAW) Right Wing Watch blog with the headline â??Huckabee: Americans Should Be Forced, At Gunpoint, To Learn From David Barton.â? I had watched Huckabeeâ??s speech. How on earth could I have missed a statement like that? Well, I didnâ??t. It had been edited out of the webcast that I had watched.
Kyle Mantyla over at PFAWâ??s Right Wing Watch had recorded Huckabeeâ??s speech when it was streamed live on Thursday, and posted the â??forced at gunpointâ?? clip on Friday. By Saturday, when I watched the webcast on the United in Purpose website, that part of Huckabeeâ??s speech had been edited out.
The webcast that I saw showed Barton leaving the stage as he ended his presentation, then the screen going black for a moment, and then what appeared to be the beginning of Huckabeeâ??s speech. What was edited out was Barton returning to the stage to introduce Huckabee, and the first two minutes and forty-five seconds of Huckabeeâ??s speech, during which Huckabee made his â??gunpointâ?? comment and praised David Lane, the man behind all of the American â??Renewalâ? and â??Restorationâ? projects that have popped up across the country during the past few elections.
[below: the unedited footage from Huckabee's speech, with the "joke" about indoctrinating Americans at gunpoint to be found at at 1:06. Footage courtesy of Kyle Mantyla of Rightwing Watch, who might have almost single-handedly consigned Huckabee's presidential hopes to the dustbin of history.]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1O1dvN8lag&feature
I should also note that what Chris Rodda has to say about this has especial weight given that sheâ??s arguably been the most indefatigable author to challenge David Bartonâ??s sprawling falsified American history oeuvre, as a Talk To Action site search on Roddaâ??s extensive posts debunking Barton would suggest. Chris Rodda is author of the book Liars For Jesus: The Religious Rightâ??s Alternate Version of American History which prominently features David Barton, head of Wallbuilders and arguably king of the â??liars for Jesusâ?. Rodda is also Head Researcher for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.
http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/founding-f ... anity.html
These are indisputable FACTS of history. America was NEVER founded as a "Christian" Nation, it was meant to be a secular Government that recognizes that rights of ALL religions to exist AND the rights of non-religious people as well.Our Founding Fathers on Christianity
Anyone who tells you that the Founding Fathers were trying to create a Christian nation is either a liar or parroting what other liars told him. This is what they really had to say about Christianity.
The Faith of our Founding Fathers
By Dean Worbis
No one disputes the faith of our Founding Fathers. To speak of unalienable Rights being endowed by a Creator certainly shows a sensitivity to our spiritual selves. What is suprising is when fundamentalist Christians think the Founding Father's faith had anything to do with the Bible. Without exception, the faith of our Funding Fathers was deist, not theist. It was best expressed earlier in the Declaration of Independence, when they spoke of "the Laws of Nature" and of "Nature's God."
In a sermon of October 1831, Episcopalian minister Bird Wilson said, "Among all of our Presidents, from Washington downward, not one was a professor of religion, at least not of more than Unitarianism."
The Bible? Here is what our Founding Fathers wrote about Bible-based Christianity
Thomas Jefferson
"I have examined all the known superstitions of the world and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology. Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the earth."
SIX HISTORIC AMERICANS
By John E. Remsburg, letter to William Short
Jefferson again
"Christianity...(has become) the most perverted system that ever shone on man...Rogueries, absurdities and untruths were perpetrated upon the teachings of Jesus by a large band of dupes and imposters led by Paul, the first great corruptor of the teachings of Jesus."
More Jefferson
"The clergy converted the simple teachings of Jesus into an engine for enslaving mankind and adulterated by artificial constructions into a contrivance to filch wealth and power to themselves . . . these clergy in fact, constitute the real Anti-Christ."
Jefferson's word for the Bible? "Dunghill."
John Adams
"Where do we find a precept in the Bible for Creeds, Confessions, Doctrines and Oaths, and whole cartloads of other trumpery that we find religion encumbered with in these days?"
Also Adams
"The doctrine of the divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity."
Adams signed the Treaty of Tripoli. Article 11 states
"The Government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion."
Here's Thomas Paine
"I would not dare to so dishonor my Creator God by attaching His name to that book (the Bible)."
"Among the most detesable villains in history, you could not find one worse than Moses. Here is an order, attributed to 'God' to butcher the boys, to massacre the mothers, and to debauch and rape the daughters. I would not dare so dishonor my Creator's name by (attaching) it to this filthy book (the Bible)."
"It is the duty of every true Diest to vindicate the moral justice of God against the evils of the Bible."
"Accustom a people to believe that priests and clergy can forgive sins...and you will have sins in abundance."
And; "The Christian church has set up a religion of pomp and revenue in pretend imitation of a person (Jesus) who lived a life of poverty."
Finally let's hear from James Madison
"What influence in fact have Christian ecclesiastical establishments had on civil society? In many instances they have been upholding the thrones of political tyranny. In no instance have they been seen as the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty have found in the clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate liberty, does not need the clergy."
Madison objected to state-supported chaplains in Congress and to the exemption of churches from taxation. He wrote "Religion and government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together."
These Founding Fathers were a reflection of the American population. Having escaped from the state-established religions of Europe, only 7% of the people in the 13 colonies belonged to a church when the Declaration of Independence was signed.
Among those who confuse Christianity with the founding of America, the rise of conservative Baptists is one of the more interesting developments. The Baptists believed God's authority came from the people, not the priesthood, and they had been persecuted for this belief. It was they - the Baptists - who were instrumental in securing the separation of church and state. They knew you can not have a "one-way-wall" that lets religion into government but that does not let it out. They knew no religion is capable of handling political power without becoming corrupted by it. And, perhaps, they knew it was Christ himself who first proposed the separation of church and state; "Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto the Lord that which is the Lord's."
In the last five years the Baptists have been taken over by a fundamentalist faction that insists authority comes from the Bible and that the individual must accept the interpretation of the Bible from a higher authority. These usurpers of the Baptist faith are those who insist they should meddle in the affairs of the government and it is they who insist the government should meddle in the beliefs of individuals.
References The writings of Thomas Jefferson exist in 25 volumes. The references for this article were found in the book, SIX HISTORIC AMERICANS, by John E. Remsburg (who interviewed many of Lincoln's associates). Much of his work on Jefferson came from THE MEMOIRS, CORRESPONDENCE AND MISCELLANIES FROM THE PAPERS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, 4 volumes ed. by Thomas Jefferson Randolph (the grandson of Thomas Jefferson).
WWJD What Would Jefferson Do?
April 13, 2000 marked Thomas Jefferson's 257th birthday. In honor of this occasion, Americans United has pulled together some of Jefferson's best statements on church and state. Jefferson, along with James Madison, was a key architect of the religious liberty guarantees we enjoy today. What better way to honor the memory of this visionary founder than spending a few moments reading and reflecting on his timeless wisdom? With issues such as voucher aid to religious schools and government-sponsored prayer in public schools pending in Congress and the state legislatures, Jefferson's comments are just as relevant today as they were then.
Religious Right activists claim the framers never intended to separate church and state. Christian Coalition president Pat Robertson says separation is a "lie of the left." TV preacher Jerry Falwell called it "a modern fabrication."
Here are Jefferson's own words on the subject.
Separation of Church and State
"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State."
--Letter to the Danbury (Conn.) Baptist Association, January 1, 1802
Taxation for Religion
"[T]o compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical; that even the forcing of him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor whose morals he would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness . . . . . Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."
--Excerpts from Jefferson's Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, 1786
Government-Sponsored Prayer and Other Religious Worship
"I do not believe it is for the interest of religion to invite the civil magistrate to direct its exercises, its discipline, or its doctrines; nor of the religious societies, that the General Government should be invested with the power of effecting any uniformity of time or matter among them. Fasting and prayer are religious exercises; the enjoining them an act of discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the times for these exercises, and the objects proper for them, according to their own particular tenets; and the right can never be safer than in their hands, where the Constitution has deposited it."
--Letter to Samuel Miller, January 23, 1808
David Barton and Mike Mike Huckabee are both lying sacks of shit!
When you try to have religion take control of the Government, then the Government will also be able to control religion, and then, we would have a Theocracy instead of a Democracy, which is what our founding fathers wanted to keep from happening in the first place, because of humanities past experiences with Theologies.
Yeah! Been there! Done that!
And again . . . . .
So, only about 7% percent of the signers of The Declaration of Independence were Christian. The rest were either Deists or atheist, or at least agnostic.These Founding Fathers were a reflection of the American population. Having escaped from the state-established religions of Europe, only 7% of the people in the 13 colonies belonged to a church when the Declaration of Independence was signed.
These are the facts!
But, NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Now, we have a couple of bed-wetting ignoramuses in shitty diapers in the Republican party who wish to force their lies and their infantile Creationist fairy tales on us, and force us to listen to their BULLSHIT at gunpoint!!!
When I was going to school, I had sports shoved down my throat by my PE coaches in the gymnasium, and I had a lousy teacher who bashed my head against a brick wall in an argument over an Astronomy book he would not allow me to check out from the school library.
I was being denied a decent education in school, so I went to the public libraries to check out the books I wanted to learn for myself what I was not allowed to learn in school.
I believe that it was all systematic, that what had happened to me in our ever declining educational system, that it was done intentionally, that maybe, I was just a lab rat in some experiment.
OK! You fuck-tards in the Republican party, you're really pissing me off!!!
You want a real life Manchurian Candidate???
Just keep pushing and pushing and pushing and . . . . .
. . . . . you got your potential Manchurian Candidate.
I'm right here sitting on my fat ass in front of my computer!
Your Manchurian Candidate!!!
I'm fat and sassy! I love to sing & dance & stomp my feet & really rock your world!
