The Jefferson Lies: David Barton’s New Collection Of Whoppers

April 13, 2012 by Rob Boston in Wall of Separation

I have obtained a copy of David Barton’s new book The Jefferson Lies: Exposing the Myths You’ve Always Believed About Thomas Jefferson. I haven’t read the entire tome yet but did spend some time leafing through it last night. Within half an hour I had noticed several outrageous distortions of the truth.

That’s not surprising since Barton, a Texas-based “Christian nation” propagandist, has been spreading fundamentalist misinformation about the nation’s founding for years. He’s no historian; his only earned degree is in Christian education from Oral Roberts University. But that hasn’t stopped his WallBuilders outfit from convincing many evangelical Christians that the Religious Right’s version of America was intended by the Founders from the start.

Today is Jefferson’s birthday, so it’s an appropriate occasion to rise to his defense against people like Barton who are trying to covert our third president into an 18th-century Religious Right zealot. With that thought in mind, here are some of the lies Barton is spreading about Jefferson:

http://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/the-jefferson-lies-david-barton%E2%80%99s-new-collection-of-whoppers
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Barton's writings are consistently shredded by professional historians yet he continues to be quite popular in some Christian circles. Confirmation bias founded on misinterpretations and outright lies.

Italics and emphasis added.