What do you do when someone lies publicly and repeatedly about the history of your country? If you're Jon Stewart and that "someone" is evangelical pseudohistorian David Barton, you give him free publicity and a platform while looking vaguely uncomfortable. Luckily, not everyone is Jon Stewart.
Earlier this year, David Barton's book, The Jefferson Lies, was recalled by its publisher after being voted "the least credible history book in print". Much of the research that went into proving Barton was distorting history came from one independent scholar, Chris Rodda, who is also the Senior Research Director for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Her book, Liars for Jesus, was released before Barton's. In Liars for Jesus and in a series of videos and blog posts released after Barton's book was published, she immersed herself in the history of the founders. Time and again, she demonstrated that Barton's claim were not just misreadings of the historical documents, but gross misrepresentations of them and sometimes, outright lies.
Rodda recently released the first of her chapter-by-chapter refutations of The Jefferson Lies. This Sunday, she joins us by phone to discuss the audacity of David Barton and the process of defending our country's history.
Related Links:
- Liars for Jesus: The Religious Right's Alternate Version of American History Vol. 1 on Amazon
- Debunking David Barton's Jefferson Lies (#2 - Jefferson Founded a Secular University) on Amazon
- The website for Liars for Jesus with copies of documents cited
- This Week in Christian Nationalism (Rodda's blog)
- Military Religious Freedom Foundation
- "Hard Truth for Author: Publisher Pulls ‘The Jefferson Lies’"
- "Book Excerpt: Barton’s Lie About Jefferson and Scottish Common Sense"
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