David Barton's ongoing refusal to admit his mistakes, even after being confronted by Christian historians

by Warren Throckmorton

Warren Throckmorton is a Professor of Psychology at Grove City College and Fellow for Psychology and Public Policy at the Center for Vision and Values which is a part of Grove City College.His most recent project is "Getting Jefferson Right: Fact Checking Claims about Our Third President," which is a book with GCC colleague Michael Coulter.

In August 2012, Thomas Nelson (now part of Harper Collins Christian) pulled David Barton’s book The Jefferson Lies from publication. This rare move by Thomas Nelson took place in the midst of efforts by several people to confront Barton with his errors. While I cannot tell the whole story (in part because I don’t know it and in part because the main players are not willing to discuss it completely), I can provide a little more insight into the situation. ...

The awareness of Barton’s systematic distortion of the nation’s founding is well known at the highest levels of the Christian political right and yet many such groups continue to promote Barton as an exemplary historian. Because the Christian right is aware of the problems but continues to feature Barton as an historian, the “great confrontation of 2012″ has turned into the “great cover-up of the present.”

More to come: Gregg Frazer’s review of America’s Godly Heritage is a devastating critique of this popular DVD program. It has been read by high level decision makers on the Christian right and ignored. I urge readers to read it and pass it around. I intend to give it more attention by focusing on various highlights in upcoming posts.

Read entire article at patheos.com