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Most Recently Updated Passages

Using History to Mold Ideas on the Right

By ERIK ECKHOLM
Posted: May 4, 2011.

Print: New York Times

excerpts:

Through two decades of prolific, if disputed, research and some 400 speeches a year on what he calls the forgotten Christian roots of America, Mr. Barton, 57, a former school principal and an ordained minister, has steadily built a reputation as a guiding spirit of the religious right…Liberal organizations are raising the alarm over what they say are Mr. Barton’s dangerous distortions, including his claim that the nation’s founders never intended a high wall between church and state.

...But many professional historians dismiss Mr. Barton, whose academic degree is in Christian education from Oral Roberts University, as a biased amateur who cherry-picks quotes from history and the Bible.

“The problem with David Barton is that there’s a lot of truth in what he says,” said Derek H. Davis, director of church-state studies at Baylor University, a Baptist institution in Waco, Tex. “But the end product is a lot of distortions, half-truths and twisted history.”

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Comments (10)

Great . Siiiiic infinit ! Here we go again -Dawkins and Sam Harris (after posting prayer petitions up in Worcester Cathedral ... Yes Mr Atheist !) has now posted the little ‘to woo a woman’ video on his pay per view- channel. I now have to trawl the the whole load of LIES (come to that in a while) to see whether they show me in the audience (N.B.I DID NOT CONSENT… if I am !). Sam and Daw, evidently smile changed their litlle tete a tete that night -to suit Sam’s beloved. Right . A speech on morality -N.B. we know the truth RE: proposal -Sam’s married . Sam is sleazy and conniving . (Also, I got the distinct impression that Sammy thought ooh, I’ll wear black for Angie smile Well, I was wearing my own colours . They didn’t pay me for the input -well timed Dawkins, as I said before: Sam Harris, J. Anderson Thomson, R. Elisabeth Cornwell, Claire Enders, Richard Dawkins along with their other unmemorables -are still coasting on bringing money in through my statements, please allow silence to fall upon them. In whatever Sam Harris, J. Anderson Thomson, R. Elisabeth Cornwell, Claire Enders, Richard Dawkins along with their other unmemorables do -they instil injustice -to which leads to iniquitous self-indulgence. I’m sure the two witchies will get some nice royalties from my words again -jealous sluts. Lots of money for you eh? Yeah. Sleep easy tonight you whores -you’ve been made aware of what’s going on .

posted on May 4, 2011
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Uh… What?

posted on May 4, 2011
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I second AG’s post.  What in the world are you talking about??

posted on May 5, 2011
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4. Gabby Johnson

I third that sentiment.  Fully incoherent.

posted on May 5, 2011
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5. the cat's pajamas

fourth…and for the record, I can’t tell you how happy I am that I’m not the only one who found that garbled mess of arbitrary name-drops and partial/run-on sentences frustrating.

I thought I was losing my mind

posted on May 5, 2011
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6. arbitrarity

There’s more than just run-on sentences going on up there.

posted on May 5, 2011
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7. Christopher

Yes, and none of it good. “Me” sounds like he’s got some rather serious issues, his incoherent writing notwithstanding. Moving on, however.

At the least, this article provides some guidance for who NOT to vote for in the next presidential election, though I’d already ruled out everyone this nutjob ‘advises’.

A little affirmation never hurts, though.

posted on May 6, 2011
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You know those “report this as inappropriate” options on the bottom of each post?  Well, we need another available option: “report this as absolutely hilarious.”

On to the article and Barton - you know, I admire his love of history, for I too am an armchair historian.  The problem is that Barton is already lost to religion.  It’s like we see time and again with the religious - fact is fiction to them when the fact doesn’t coincide with their preconceived view.

posted on May 6, 2011
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9. seventhplanet

The article on Barton belongs in the Hall of Shame.  What lengths people go to insist that the U.S. is a christian nation, notwithstanding all evidence to the contrary.  If the Founders wished to include the Judeo/Christian god as the primary law-giver, they could (and would) have simply done so.  They didn’t, and that’s all the evidence I need.

posted on May 8, 2011
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hey guys, I can’t seem to understand the point. can somebody please tell me?

tag: religious right

posted on June 24, 2011
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