The title is very low-key and misleading until the hard a punch this post has. I have to admit, I am jealous I can not write this well and put such emotion with detail into a post. The author is an accomplished writer who can lead a reader down a path and then deliver the real message. Please read and enjoy. Hugs. Scottie
Can we not see the abuse of the legal system to target and cause harm to your opponent? In many ways it is terrorism. This is a deliberate attempt to remove a group of people, a segment of the public from schools and other media, so only they can be seen or represented. Calling any book with and LGBTQIA character in it pornography is ridiculous but resonates with people who don’t know how innocent these books are. They surely are cleaner and safer than the bible they claim is so moral. But their fire is dying down as more people see them for what they are. They are now like Marge Greene playing to a maga base for views and clicks in the media. As more of us get the word out about what they are doing, they have lost momentum and support. This is a deliberate attempt to whitewash an entire society to install a white religious over class, just as Russia did. Change the removal of books with LGBTQIA to the removal of books with black or brown people in then because it is pornographic, now who does it seem? Wouldn’t it be racist? Notice also how she claims that people like her fighting to censor and remove books are the good people using their rights, but she claims it is illegal for any groups or people to oppose or try to form groups against what her group is doing. WTF! Hugs. Scottie Also there is videos at the link above I am unable to repost here.
Two members of Moms for Liberty, a right-wing activist group, have reported several Florida school librarians to law enforcement. They claimed they had evidence that librarians were distributing “pornography” to minors and requested that law enforcement officers be dispatched. This represents a serious escalation of the tactics deployed by members of Moms for Liberty against school librarians.
On October 25, Jennifer Tapley, a member of the Santa Rosa County chapter of Moms for Liberty and a candidate for school board, contacted the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office. “I’ve got some evidence a crime was committed,” Tapley said in an audio recording of the call obtained by Popular Information through a public records request. “Pornography given to a minor in a school. And I would like to make a report with somebody and turn over the evidence.” Tapley made the call from the lobby of the main office of the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office in Milton, Florida.
She told the dispatcher that she did not want to provide her name because she was “afraid of people getting mad at me for doing this.” Tapley said that she would tell the Deputy Sheriff her name, but she didn’t want “any public records with her name on it because then people could look it up.”
In an interview with Popular Information, Tapley said she was “scrolling through Facebook” this summer and saw “a video of a mom reading a book” that was “really disgusting.” She later learned that there was a Moms for Liberty chapter in her area addressing the issue and joined the group. As a member of the group, she learned that local schools had “some really shocking pornographic books in our libraries.”
Tapley was accompanied at the Sheriff’s Office by Tom Gurski, who is also active in the local Moms for Liberty chapter. Soon, Deputy Sheriff Tyler Mabire and another officer arrived and interviewed the pair.
“The only reason we are here: A crime is being committed. It’s a 3rd-degree felony. And we’ve got the evidence,” Gurski said in a body cam video of the interview obtained by Popular Information. “The governor says this is child pornography. It’s a serious crime,” Tapley added. “It’s just as serious as if I handed a playboy to [my child] right now, right here, in front of you. It’s just as serious, according to the law.” The video has been edited to protect the identity of a minor:
The “pornography” at issue is actually a popular young adult novel, Storm and Fury, by Jennifer L. Armentrout. The book, which is 512 pages, is mostly about humans and gargoyles fighting demons. The main character of the novel, Trinity, is 18 years old. There are some passages with sexual themes, including a few makeout sessions, and one where the main character almost has sex. In the 2020-21 academic year, the Florida Association of Media in Education (FAME), a professional association of Florida librarians, recommendedStorm and Fury on its “Teen Reads” list. FAME says books on the list “engage” teens and “provide a spur to critical thinking.” Barnes and Noble recommends the book for readers 14 to 18. It was also recommended for students by the School Library Journal.
Armentrout told Popular Information that it was surprising to learn we are “living in an era where, apparently, some adults find it appropriate to contact the police over a fictional book involving gargoyles.” She said Storm and Fury “is very close to my heart, as the main character has the same degenerative eye disease, retinitis pigmentosa, as I do.” Armentrout said she wrote the book “to educate people on a little-known disease in a fun, suspenseful, and adventurous way.” The purpose of the book, Armentrout said, was not to “incite sexual excitement.”
Tapley told Popular Information that any book that has a “sex scene” is pornography and not “appropriate for minors.” She did acknowledge that there may be exceptions for “extreme classics.” But the books Moms for Liberty is targeting, Tapley says, are “without significant literary value.”
Florida law, however, only bans distributing a book or other material with sexual content if it is “harmful to minors,” a standard established by Supreme Court precedent. Under Florida law, a book is only “harmful to minors” if it “[p]redominantly appeals to a prurient, shameful, or morbid interest” and is “patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material or conduct for minors.” Storm and Fury, a book that is predominantly about fighting demons, is routinely recommended by adults for high school students.
Gurski told the officer that Storm and Fury was checked out from Jay High School “by a 17-year-old, which is important because she is a minor.” Tapley showed the officers the book, with the offending passages marked with orange sticky notes.
In Santa Rosa County schools, once a book is challenged for sexual content, the policy is to take it out of circulation within five days, pending a review. Tapley alleged, “we have already turned in this book,” but the Jay High School librarian did not remove it. That allegation appears to be incorrect. Storm and Fury does not appear on lists of challenged books in Santa Rosa County maintained by the school district and Tapley.
In addition to the librarian at Jay High School, Tapley points the finger at Ruth Witter, the head librarian for the county. Tapley presents the officers with a printout of Witter’s Facebook page and claims it is proof that “she [has been a] member of Santa Rosa County Stop Moms for Liberty since May.” She explains that “Moms for Liberty is trying to… get rid of these books” and “fights for parents’ rights.” Meanwhile, Tapley alleges, Stop Moms for Liberty “are the people who are against Moms for Liberty.”
Tapley claims that, by following the Santa Rosa County Stop Moms for Liberty group, Witter is “fighting us actively.” She also connects this to alleged “death threats” against
Moms for Liberty members, without elaborating. Tapley does not mention that Witter also follows several conservative pages on Facebook, including Fox Nation and a Republican candidate for local office.
The librarian at Milton High School is also singled out by Tapley for posting in a Facebook group called Emerald Coast SWEEP, a local chapter of the group Red, Wine, and Blue. Tapley describes Red, Wine, and Blue as “a very liberal activist group of people fighting for abortion rights” that opposes the removal of books from public school libraries. Tapley says the Milton librarian is seeking “liberals” to join the school’s book review committee, which Tapley claims is “illegal.”
Asked if she would like to see librarians criminally charged, Tapley told Popular Information that it “depends on if there’s an intent.” She said her hope was that the Sheriff would tell the librarians, “you can’t do this,” and “if you continue to do this, then there would be charges.” Tapley added that she “didn’t really want to see anybody have their life ruined.”
In an interview, Tapley downplayed her role at the Sheriff’s Office, claiming she was not “seeking out any books and trying to go to the police with it or anything.” She described her role “as a helper.” She only put her name on the report “so that somebody else could be protected.” In an email, Tapley said she “had no interactions with the Sheriff’s Office beyond accompanying a citizen there” and “any reporting that states otherwise would be unfactual.”
Popular Information has posted the full video from the Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office on YouTube.
“To see the orchestrated campaign to remove books from schools escalate to a police station is shocking,” Kasey Meehan, a Director at PEN America, a non-profit dedicated to free expression, told Popular Information. “Professional librarians apply sensible measures to curate their collections for diverse audiences of readers, and they should not be punished for making knowledge accessible to students that falls well short of the well-established legal standards for obscene materials.” Stephana Ferrell of the Florida Freedom to Read Project described the tactics of Moms for Liberty members in Santa Rosa County as an effort to “bully the district into sacrificing access to protected speech.”
Popular Information contacted Mariya Cakins, the chair of Santa Rosa Moms for Liberty, for comment. Cakins said that she would be happy to speak, but the request needed to be routed through the national Moms for Liberty organization. The group never responded to that request. Popular Information was unable to identify reliable contact information for Gurski.
The efforts of Tapley and Gurski to initiate an investigation by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office appear to be unsuccessful. According to a document obtained through a public records request, the Sheriff’s Office quickly referred the report to Daniel Hahn, the director of safety at Santa Rosa County Florida School District. The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office then closed the case.
Gurski, however, is having better luck with other law enforcement agencies.
Florida police department has open criminal investigation of Florida librarians
“Approximately ten days ago, I had a book in my hand that was issued by the Milton school library, which is not your jurisdiction,” Gurski told Deputy Mabire at the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office. “I went to the Milton police station. Submitted an affidavit and the evidence of that particular book. And they have that now for investigation.” Gurski said he considered the book pornography.
Tapley says the book reported by Gurski to the Milton police was another young adult novel, Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. The book is a romantic comedy and has some sexual situations and discussions. It also includes LGBTQ characters. It is recommended by Common Sense Media, an independent non-profit that evaluates media for parents, and Publishers Weekly for readers 14 and older.
In response to a public records request, the Milton Police Department said it could not release any information regarding Gurski’s complaint about the book because there is an “open and active investigation pending State Attorney review.”
The Vicki Baggett connection
Tapley told Popular Information that Vicki Baggett, an English teacher in Escambia County, has been “helping us.” Baggett, who Popular Information interviewed earlier this year, has challenged hundreds of books in public school libraries, including many that have LGBTQ characters or address racism. Baggett told Popular Information that she challenged When Wilma Rudolph Played Basketball — the inspirational story of a Black woman who overcame racial prejudice to become an Olympic champion — because it would make white students “feel uncomfortable” as “they are being white-shamed.” In a follow-up report, Baggett’s current and former students alleged that Baggett openly promoted racist and homophobic beliefs in class. Nevertheless, Baggett has been successful in getting numerous books removed from Escambia public schools. The Escambia school district is now facing a federal lawsuit from a group of authors and First Amendment advocates.
Tapley described Baggett as “a valiant warrior for the kids, an amazing English teacher, and a wonderful Christian woman.” According to Tapley, Baggett has come to Santa Rosa County and “has been helping us see what’s in our libraries.” Many of the challenges in Santa Rosa County are duplicates of those Baggett submitted in Escambia County. “She’s been the catalyst really for a lot of this,” Tapley said. “She taught me how to do it.” Baggett initially submitted the challenges in Santa Rosa County herself, but those were rejected because she is not a resident. Many of those challenges have been resubmitted with Baggett’s name alongside a Santa Rosa County resident.
I have followed this young man for a while. He is easy to watch, for those of my viewers who like trimmed up well groomed people this young man fits the bill. His eyes are clear, his hair is nice and short, and his face hair is very well groomed and short. Personally I find him cute. But hey I am a 60-year-old gay guy crippled and today using a walker, a lot of young people are cute to me. Of both genders, young people just have an energy about / around them that somehow we lose as we age.
While this is a wonderfully great break down of the falsehoods of Christian nationalism and those who push it, complete with the background behind it. I caution that while the video has very high production values, is very well cc’d, the young man talks rather fast with a lot of information in each sentence. He puts thought into his presentations and the script he uses. But maybe I have been in slower talking territory too long, or I simply am getting older but I find that to get the full benefit of what he is saying I have to pay complete attention to the video, not doing other things while watching it like I normally do with other YouTubers. Most of the time I listen / watch a YouTube video on one screen while blogging on the other and I catch almost everything from each. I don’t know if it is my medications, my pain level, or what but today I had to stop everything else and just watch the 28:45 minute video. I was glad I did. If you wonder at the roots of Christian nationalism and the goal of it, please watch this 30-minute video. Hugs. Scottie
It’s been called “the greatest threat to religious freedom” in the country’s history. We have elected officials openly calling themselves christian nationalists. So…what exactly is it?
Earlier this month, we published a piece exposing how religious-right pseudo-historian David Barton routinely misrepresents history and scripture to support his Christian nationalist political agenda.
In that case, we examined how Barton distorted a speech delivered by Benjamin Franklin during the Constitutional Convention to claim that it was filled with Bible verses.
As we have explained before, one of Barton’s favorite techniques for convincing his audience that America was founded as a Christian nation is to assert that Americans of the founding era were so deeply knowledgeable about the Bible that they referenced it continuously in their writings and speeches. If people today are incapable of recognizing all of those Bible verses, Barton asserts, that is just because they are “biblically illiterate.”
Even though we debunked Barton’s claim about Franklin’s speech, he continues to make this false claim in his presentations to churches around the country. On top of that, he recently started citing additional historical speeches and documents that he claims are overflowing with biblical citations.
Here are just a few of his misleading and grossly exaggerated claims.
When Barton spoke at the Truth & Liberty Coalition conference in Colorado earlier this month, he claimed that Patrick Henry’s famous “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech contained multiple Bible quotations, as did a letter written by President George Washington to a synagogue in Rhode Island.
We don’t know the Bible even as much as our least religious Founding Fathers used to know the Bible. And by the way, other examples, if I take you, for example Patrick Henry, you may be familiar with his famous speech, “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death.” That speech that he gave in the legislature of Virginia—which by the way, the legislature of Virginia met at St. John’s Church in Richmond. So the legislature is meeting in the church? What happened to the separation of church and state stuff we’re told the Founding Fathers wanted? Yeah, the legislature met at the church, and [Henry] gave a passionate speech that day, and in that speech that he gave if you want to read it, it’s 14 sentences long. But the same question [is] how many Bible verses? There were 11 Bible verses. He’s just rattling off the cuff. He is so frustrated with what the other legislators are doing that he just got up and said, ‘Guys, you’re wrong.’ And he just goes into a speech. This is just off the cuff.
By the way, these are the verses. And notice these verses; I’m not sure about you, but I’m going to bet that most people have not memorized Ecclesiastes 9:11 as a favorite Bible verse or Deuteronomy 32. See these verses here? These aren’t the ones that we typically memorize, but this is what they had in their heart, this is what they had memorized, and this is what came out when the time was right and they needed this.
You go to George Washington. In 1789, he becomes president, and in 1790, he decides, “I need to visit every state in the United States because we’ve been separate nations, we need to know that we’re a nation, so I’m going to everywhere, every state.” And in 1790, he had plans to go into Rhode Island, and as he was going into Rhode Island, plans were announced that President Washington is going to visit Rhode Island. There’s a Hebrew congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, that wrote Washington a letter, and it was just an effusive letter, it said, “We so thank God for what you’ve done, what you’ve done for religious liberty, what you’ve done for our freedoms, we think God has raised you up,” and they just gushed all over him. It was just a really nice letter. And so Washington replied back to them, and in reply back—it was a cordial letter, kind of a presidential letter—he said, “Thank you. That’s really nice.” And the letter that he replied back to them in had a total of two sentences. In two sentences, he quoted 10 Bible verses. His letter to the Hebrew congregation is just about Bible phrase after Bible phrase after Bible phrase. That’s what he used to craft that reply.
So when you look back at Founding Fathers, you find that they knew the Bible, they knew it very well, they studied it well.
The first thing worth noting regarding Barton’s claim about Henry’s speech is that the legislature of Virginia did not meet in a church. Henry delivered his famous speech during the Second Virginia Convention, which was only held in St. John’s Church because the colony’s royal governor, Lord Dunmore, had dissolved the state’s House of Burgesses near the start of what eventually became the American Revolution. Secondly, Henry’s speech was not written down or transcribed at the time, and the version of the speech known today was reconstructed from the recollections of witnesses years after Henry had died. Thus, nobody really knows exactly what Henry said that day.
No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.
Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.
I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free—if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending—if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained—we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!
They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable—and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace—but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
And here are the Bible verses that Barton claims Henry quoted, as displayed in a slide in his presentation.
As with Barton’s claims about Franklin’s speech at the Constitutional Convention, there are some obvious biblical allusions in Henry’s speech, such as his assertion that “Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace—but there is no peace,” which is a reference to both Jeremiah 6:14 and Jeremiah 8:11 where the phrase appears. However, it is hard to understand how Henry’s use of this phrase can count as two biblical citations.
While Henry’s language that “the battle, sir, is not to the strong alone” finds an echo in Ecclesiastes 9:11, it is hard to determine where the other Bible verses Barton cites supposedly appear in Henry’s speech:
Jeremiah 50:22: The noise of battle is in the land, and great destruction!
2 Chronicles 32:8: With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles. And the people took confidence from the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
Daniel 4:17: The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.
Psalm 75:7: but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.
Joshua 24:15: And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
2 Thessalonians 1:6: since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you.
Deuteronomy 32:4: The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
Matthew 20:6: And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?
The same goes for Washington’s letter to the Touro Synagogue in Rhode Island which, contrary to Barton’s assertion, is much longer than just two sentences:
To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island
[Newport, R.I., 18 August 1790]
Gentlemen.
While I receive, with much satisfaction, your Address replete with expressions of affection and esteem; I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you, that I shall always retain a grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced in my visit to Newport, from all classes of Citizens.
The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet, from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security. If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good Government, to become a great and a happy people.
The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my Administration, and fervent wishes for my felicity. May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy.
Go: Washington
Here are the Bible verses Barton claims are cited in Washington’s letter, as seen in his slide presentation:
Once again, there are a few Biblical allusions in Washington’s letter, such as his line about “every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree,” which is a reference to language found in 1 Kings 4:25 and Micha 4:4, which Barton yet again inexplicably counts as two citations.
Washington’s language about “the father of mercies” does echo 2 Corinthians 1:3 and the line about “the Stock of Abraham” mirrors Acts 13:26, but the remainder of the Bible verses cited by Barton are difficult to place:
Isaiah 35:10: And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Proverbs 4:18: But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
Psalm 119:105: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Ecclesiastes 3:11: He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
Ephesians 4:1: I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
Deuteronomy 12:10: But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety.
As with his claims about Franklin’s speech, there are nowhere near as many Bible citations in Henry’s speech or Washington’s letter as Barton claims there are. In fact, most of what Barton claims are quotes from Bible verses amount to little more than vague similarities in language.
What’s more is that rather declare this to be an explicitly or exclusively Christian nation, Washington assured his Jewish recipients that “All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship,” and that “happily the Government of the United States … gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.”
The irony of Barton’s complaint about modern Christians being so “biblically illiterate” that they can’t recognize all of the Bible verses allegedly contained in documents from the founding era is that it is precisely the biblical illiteracy that Barton decries that allows him to get away with routinely misleading his audiences, confident in his knowledge that they are largely incapable of detecting his lies and misrepresentations and will never bother to investigate the baseless assertions that he makes.
These false claims have a political purpose. In 2022, Barton traveled around the country on behalf of an organization called Faith Wins, working to mobilize Christian voters heading into the midterm elections by telling them that, according to the Bible, they were responsible for choosing our elected leaders.
An example of the sort of disinformation Barton peddled was on display when he spoke at Radiant Church in Colorado last September. During his presentation, Barton falsely asserted that jurist James Kent set up federal circuit courts and that the concept of circuit courts was rooted in 1 Samuel 7:15-16. That passages reads, “Samuel continued as Israel’s leader all the days of his life. From year to year he went on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah, judging Israel.”
“James Kent, he’s known as the father of American jurisprudence,” Barton said. “He’s one of the two guys who helped set up the American judicial system. And when he set it up, he set it up with circuit courts. … Back at the beginning, when we had the original Supreme Court justices, they got on their horse, and they rode from town to town and from state to state to have court meetings.”
“And so we have this concept of circuit judges set up, and the guy who set it up said, ‘Well, we got it out of 1 Samuel 7:15-16,’” Barton continued. “It says that Samuel judged Israel, and Samuel rode the circuit. [Kent] said that if that’s the way the Bible does judges, then that’s a good way for us to do judges too.”
We had heard Barton make this claim multiple times before, but didn’t realize how wrong Barton was until we recently read the book, “John Jay: Founding Father,” by Walter Stahr. Jay served as the very first chief justice of the Supreme Court, a position to which he was nominated by President George Washington in 1789 on the same day that Washington signed the Judiciary Act of 1789, which created the federal court system.
As explicitly laid out in the Judiciary Act of 1789, Jay and his colleagues were required to travel among the 13 circuit courts established throughout the nation and hear cases in conjunction with local district judges.
While Kent was an acclaimed jurist in the Founding Era, he played no role in crafting this legislation, establishing circuit courts, or in helping to “set up the American judicial system.” In fact, Kent never even served in Congress, and the Judiciary Act of 1789, which laid out the concept of circuit courts, was drafted by Sen. Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut.
Barton, of course, provided no evidence to support his claim regarding Kent’s supposed biblical inspiration for creating circuit courts during his presentation. But when Barton made this same false claim in his 2012 book, “The Founder’s Bible,” he cited “The Memoirs and Letters of James Kent.” Predictably, if one actually checks Kent’s memoirs, all that is found is an undated passage in Kent’s diary noting that “the Jewish judges rode the circuits” along with the quote from 1 Samuel.
This is, once again, an example of Barton exploiting the biblical and historical ignorance of his own audiences to feed them a false narrative regarding the founding of this nation that serves primarily to promote his own modern-day right-wing political agenda.
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When the Family Research Council held its annual “Pray, Vote, Stand” summit last week, Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton was given a prime speaking slot, along with dozens of right-wing pastors, activists, commentators, and members of Congress.
While introducing Barton, FRC’s president Tony Perkins declared that what critics deride as Christian nationalism is simply true American history, and he credited Barton for having “done more than anyone else to help Americans, and Christians in particular, to know their history”—a history that Perkins claimed has intentionally been “hidden” by mainstream historians.
Perkins is correct in noting that nobody has been as influential as Barton in convincing millions of Americans that the United States was founded to be an explicitly Christian nation. And that is a problem, given that Barton’s misuse and misrepresentation of both American history and theBiblehave beenwell-documented.
Barton’s willingness to misrepresent history and scripture to promote his right-wing political agenda was on display when he spoke at Calvary Church in Moline, Illinois, last Wednesday as part of the Faith Wins voter mobilization effort.
One of Barton’s favorite methods of convincing his audience that America was founded as a Christian nation is to assert that Americans of the founding era were so deeply knowledgeable about the Bible that they referenced it continuously in their writings and speeches. The problem today, Barton insists, is that modern Christians are ignorant of both history and scripture and are thus incapable of recognizing the fact that our founding documents are chock-full of Bible quotes.
The irony of this assertion is that it relies on the very ignorance Barton decries in order to be effective, as anyone willing to look into the claims Barton makes will inevitably find that he is lying.
While speaking at Calvary Church, Barton trotted out a new example of this technique, when he claimed that first- and second-grade students attending public schools in New Jersey in the early 1800s were required to memorize large portions of the Bible as part of their curriculum.
It’s interesting to go back in those early records and see what was being taught in the schools. For example, let me take you to some early schools. I want to take in New Jersey. And in this case, I’m just going to choose 1816 [in] New Jersey. They’re going to show you what happens with first- and second-graders in New Jersey. Here’s what they say. It says, ‘All the scholars of the first and second classes commit to memory portions of the New Testament or Psalms, a lesson of the Catechism, several hymns, and the text of the preceding Sabbath.’ Everybody in public school in New Jersey, if you’re in first and second grade, this is what you’re getting memorize. And by the way, what are the texts of the preceding Sabbath? That means whatever Pastor Tim talked about on Sunday, we’re going to memorize those Bible verses; so whatever verses he referenced, we’re going to memorize. A public school is doing this? Yes, absolutely. This is what public schools did.
As we all know, some kids are sharper than other kids, and they talked about one of the kids that was really sharp. They said, ‘One of the scholars has committed to memory the Book of John, and the first 30 Psalms, together with 119th Psalm.’ A [student] in first and second grade memorized the Gospel of John, 30 Psalms, and Psalm 119. He was really sharp. The rest of the kids weren’t quite so sharp. Here’s what it said about the rest of them, ‘The majority have committed to memory the Gospel of John.’ The average kid has memorized the Gospel of John. Everybody does that in first and second grade, but we got one kid that added 30 chapters out of Psalms and Psalm 119. Really? Common for first and second grade is everybody memorizes the Gospel of John? Maybe one in 1,000 Christians today has memorized the Gospel of John, and that was first and second grade stuff back then.
Thanks to the quotations Barton cited, we were able to track down the document he used in making this claim. It was a report from the board of directors of the Free School Association of Elizabeth-Town published in a periodical called The Christian Herald and, predictably, Barton was blatantly misrepresenting it.
The first thing one notices upon reading the report is that the reference to “the scholars of the first and second classes” does not refer to what today would be called first and second graders. The report explicitly states students are “divided into seven classes” based upon their reading and writing abilities and that “most of the children in the fifth class were unable to read when they entered school.”
It is unlikely that first- and second-graders were memorizing entire books of the Bible, as Barton claimed, while fifth-graders were unable to read.
But more importantly, the document further reveals that this was not a public school at all, as Barton claimed, but rather a Sunday school.
As it notes, the students were “taught on the Lord’s day, immediately after the conclusion of public worship in the afternoon.”
In fact, the document itself confirms that these students were enrolled in Sunday school when it notes the existence of “two other Sunday schools” that were not under the board’s control.
As author James J. Gigantino II explained in his book, “The Ragged Road to Abolition: Slavery and Freedom in New Jersey, 1775-1865,” the Free School Association of Elizabeth-Town grew out of the so-called “Sabbath school” movement, in which “schools sponsored by churches and private donors took over black education and continued white paternalistic control over it. These schools were led by white teachers and administrators, focused primarily on reading, writing, and basic mathematics, and taught biblical reading knowledge and prayer to instill religious and moral lessons in their students.”
From “Church of the Founding Fathers of New Jersey: A History,” a book chronicling the history of the First Presbyterian Church Elizabeth, it is clear that these were indeed Sunday schools set up by Rev. John McDowell, the author of the document that Barton cited.
One of the great and enduring achievements of the church during John McDowell’s ministry was the founding of the Sunday School. The first Sunday Schools in America were founded about 1805 in Boston and Philadelphia. The movement spread rapidly to other cities of the country, but not always with success. In many places, the schools were virtually forced upon the church members and the communities, and after a brief trial period, they were abandoned.
Reverend McDowell decided that the idea of founding a Sunday School was good, and used a very cautious approach in establishing the first school in this area. He enlisted the support of his Session, and then contacted Reverend John Churchill Rudd, Rector of St. John’s Church, and Reverend Thomas Morrell, minister of the Methodist Church, to ask their support. Both men became convinced that the purpose of the proposed Sunday School was good, and the three clergymen began to “sound out” their congregations on the idea. The groundwork was laid in 1812 and 1813.
By the spring of 1814, enough parents were convinced that religious training for their children was a desirable thing, so the school was opened, meeting in the Public Academy located on the north-east corner of the church property. Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Methodist children met together, and were taught by the three ministers, at the first sessions. At once the school was a success, and at the end of the first month, it was necessary to open a second school for the Negro children of the town. The colored Sunday School was taught by a student who was studying theology with Reverend McDowell. An organization calling itself the Free School Association of Elizabethtown was set up to handle the administration of the Sunday Schools, with Miss Maria Smith as superintendent.
According to professor John Fea, chair of the History Department at Messiah University and author of “Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?,” a search of American newspapers and periodicals published in the early 1800s “clearly show that this is a Sunday School.”
“This once again shows that Barton fails to understand the larger context of the periods from which he cherry-picks his facts,” Fea told Right Wing Watch. “It would have taken Barton less than an hour, with the historical databases available to professional historians, or even just a search on Google Books, for him to dig up multiple primary sources showing that the ‘Free School Association of Elizabeth-Town’ was, in fact, a Sunday School. In fact, ‘public schools’ as we know them today did not exist in the early decades of the 19th century. This is the kind of sloppy work—void of any concept of context or change over time—that has characterized Barton’s entire career as a Christian Right activist who raids the past for something useful to help him advance his political agenda in the present.”
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
Read the full article. There so much more. No paywall. As Right Wing Watch has exhaustively documented for years, Barton tours the country, telling avid Christian audiences that virtually every line of the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence was taken verbatim from the bible. Barton is such a notorious liar that even his own Christian publishing house retracted his book. And now he’s advising the Speaker of the House.
Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton claims that Patrick Henry and George Washington quoted numerous Bible verses in their speeches and writings. We decided to take a look at Barton's "evidence" and—surprise, surprise—he was lying. https://t.co/6U0sfA5eHdpic.twitter.com/fetyq3BxqF
We hate to sound like a broken record, but if Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton is going to keep making false claims, we're going to keep pointing it out: No, James Kent did not create the federal circuit court system based on the Bible. https://t.co/xG7v7bD7zjpic.twitter.com/SzmWlynPiQ
Pseudo-historian David Barton is constantly finding new "proof" the US was founded as a Christian nation. Lately, he's been claiming that 1st & 2nd grade public schools students in 1816 were required to memorize large portions of the Bible. They weren't. https://t.co/4fWoDnQL0mpic.twitter.com/iam7YY4h7x
the founding fathers knew of the massacres that happened in europe over whether you were protestant or catholic so, of course, they did not want that to happen here, and thus we have freedom of religion. Stupid republicans.
“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.”
Jay W. Richards, senior fellow at the Christian conservative Discovery Institute, said in 2012 that Barton’s books and videos are full of “embarrassing factual errors, suspiciously selective quotes, and highly misleading claims.”
Same as Creationists who are all lying amateurs who cherry picks quotes, articles, and outdated materials from the Bible, history, and especially science.
so true,some nutcase politician from NC runs bible classes on sunday..tells the kids that satan created ALL the fossil evidence,just to confuse us and ,that the earth is truly only 6k years old (sigh)..Bartons got plenty of company in the b/s dept.
It was noted that Jefferson felt that the inclusion of any Christian language must be excluded, as he felt that in the future, that enlightened Americans would move away from Christianity, but such any Christian language included in the Constitution might invalidate or complicate its interpretation by a more enlightened America.
…And look where we are with theocrats at the gates, claiming gawd is in the Constitution…somewhere.
Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man. -Thomas Jefferson, letter to his nephew “The United States is in no way founded upon the Christian religion.” — George Washington & John Adams in a diplomatic message to Malta “This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.” — John Adams in a letter to Thomas Jefferson “I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature.” — Thomas Jefferson “Lighthouses are more useful than churches” — Benjamin Franklin “The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva from the brain of Jupiter.” -Thomas Jefferson, letter to Adams
It’s fascinating watching a major country turn into an extremist theocracy in real-time. Historians are gonna have a field-day. Foreign historians, you understand. Only bible history will be allowed in the USA.
By Kyle Mantyla | September 29, 2022 4:11 pm
Scottie's Playtime 