This one ranks along with the Creation Museum's "Adam"
being a gay actor with a porn site.
David Barton has been pushing the "American Is A Christian Nation"
meme so hard and so long that he's now at his sloppiest in establishing it: he
has now created "The Founders' Bible", a copy of the New American
Standard Bible (naturally) combined with:
... more than 150 articles (averaging 4 pages each) by our
Signature Historian David Barton covering everything from the founding of the
first American colony in Jamestown, Virginia, on May 14 of 1607, forward to the
present day. It deals with virtually every political hot button including
Radical Islam's current Jihad against America.
And if
the articles are at all like Barton's public rants for his organization
Wallbuilders (considered a hate group), The Founders Bible is sure to find its
way into the homes of every homophobic, anti-feminist, Islamophobic, and
Dominionist believer in the country. He will be signing copies of the Bible at
Glen Beck's Restoring Love rally in Dallas on July 26th.
Before
that event, however, Barton might have to do some serious backpeddling, since
this piece just came out:
William Throckmorton :
Founders' Bible Cites Pro-Slavery Leader as Proponent of America as a
Christian Nation
William
Throckmorton's piece is worth reading and his subsequent articles will
definitely be interesting. What caught my eye (and the eyes of many others) was
a comment citing the wikipedia entry for man in question, James Henry Hammond:
he was THE most ardent advocate for slavery on RELIGIOUS grounds and constantly
opined in Congress and as Governor of South Carolina that even as inferior as
they were, black slaves had it better than the poor industrial workers of the
North. He was the politician who coined the term "Cotton is King."
And if this isn't enough to make people wince about David Barton's hero, like a
Popeil product commercial, we can say "Wait! There's more!!":
His Secret and Sacred Diaries reveal that his appetites did not
end there. He describes, without embarrassment, his 'familiarities and
dalliances' with four teenage nieces - the daughters of Wade Hampton II.
Blaming the seductiveness of the "extremely affectionate" young women, his
political career was crushed for a decade to come, and the girls with their
tarnished social reputations never married.
AND...
As a young man, Hammond had a homosexual relationship with a college friend, Thomas Jefferson Withers , which is attested by
two sexually explicit letters sent from Withers to Hammond in 1826. The
letters, which are housed among the Hammond Papers at the South Carolina Library , were first published
by researcher Martin Duberman in 1981, and are remarkable for being rare
documentary evidence of same-sex relationships in the antebellum United States.
In The Founders Bible, Barton gushes with admiration about how
Hammond so eloquently supported one of John Adams' pro-Christian statements and
practically puts Hammond on a saint's pedestal. But now people like
Throckmorton are gushing with disgust about Hammond's pro-slavery
pronouncements. And other people (like me) are gushing laughter at the ardent
"Christian Nation" politician's incest and homosexual dalliance.
Don't
Think - Believe
- inscription
at the entrance of the Creation Museum
Vetting
is a process examination and evaluation: a process which always seems to elude
those like David Barton and his followers. And the inclusion of St. Hammond
into The Founders Bible is yet another piece of hilarity in the world of the
Right's non-vetting process: we saw it in the VP pick of Sarah Palin, but it
was evident back in 2007 when the Creation Museum discovered (6 weeks after its
opening) that the beautiful "Adam" for their creation video was a gay
actor with a website selling soft-core porn.
Then
again, the process of vetting involves some deep thinking, and when searching
for just the right quote from a distant, relatively obscure (to the American
public), blind belief takes hold and the thought process is cast aside.
David
Barton's work has been based upon blind belief - a belief that the United
States of America was actually founded as a totally Christian nation. His
"proof" has been laughed at by true historians the world over. Would
that this latest gaff might get even more people laughing.
