David Barton (Author)

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David Barton

David Barton (born January 28, 1954 in Austin , Texas ) is an American evangelical preacher, author and political activist from Texas. The Time magazine counted him in 2005 to the 25 most influential evangelicals in the US. He sees himself as a Christian revisionist "historian" and pursues the thesis that the USA was founded by the founding fathers as a "Christian nation". The separation of church and state , however, is not in the sense of the United States Constitution . Barton primarily disseminates his views through WallBuilders, an association founded in 1989 with his wife Cheryl, through which he distributes publications, videos, CDs, posters and a variety of other products. In the wake of the American tea party movement, it received a lot of support from representatives of the political right in the USA, such as Newt Gingrich , Mike Huckabee , Michele Bachmann and Glenn Beck .

biography

After graduating from Aledo High School in Aledo , a suburb of Fort Worth , Barton studied at Christian Oral Roberts University in Tulsa , Oklahoma , and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in religious education in 1976 . He then worked as a church youth leader and taught math and science, most recently as director, at the private Aledo Christian School, which is part of the Aledo Christian Center, which was founded by Barton's parents, Pastors Grady and Rose Barton. In 1987 he founded Specialty Research Associates, which offers research on American history.

Barton's most important organization, however, are the "WallBuilders", also based in Aledo, who have set themselves the goal of influencing the public in their favor. The name refers to the second chapter in the book of Nehemiah , which speaks of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem . Barton's critics often point to the irony that Thomas Jefferson's metaphor of the wall, which in the USA must separate the church from the state, is currently the most powerful doctrine of American constitutional doctrine to the 1st Amendment to the United States' Constitution . Barton, on the other hand, argues that the goal of the constitutional separation of church and state was to protect the church from the state, not the establishment of a secular state. The separation of church and state is a "myth". The "WallBuilders" see themselves as a documentation center and research facility to prove and disseminate Barton's thesis, whose videos and books are also sold on this platform.

Barton, who was Vice-Chairman of the Texas Republicans between 1997 and 2006, also positions himself against abortion and same-sex marriages and against the rights of homosexuals , advocates creationism , doubts global warming and argues for progressive taxation , statutory minimum wages and unionism Organization did not belong to Christianity . During the controversial revision of the Texan textbooks , which were revised from 2007 in line with religious rights , he acted as an advisor. Barton has his own national radio show, was hired by the Republican National Committee to campaign for George W. Bush's presidential election in 2004 , took part in Glenn Beck's American Revival tour of the United States in 2010 and is a faculty member at its web-based “university” . As a representative of the "civil gospel" of the Christian right in the USA, Barton provides politicians of the American Christian right with a legitimation why American politics should be determined by Christian values.

Barton's early support is believed to be one reason for Ted Cruz's surprising electoral success in the 2012 US Senate election . Activists of the Texas Tea Party movement tried to get Barton to run against Senator John Cornyn in 2013 . At the end of 2015, Barton took over the management of the Keep the Promise PAC . This Super-PAC had raised at least $ 38 million in donations as of September 2015 in support of Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who ran for Republican candidacy in the 2016 US presidential election .

Although Barton appears as a "historian" - the Pensacola Christian College has awarded him an honorary doctorate . His publications are sharply criticized by historians and constitutional lawyers. Barton, who always tries to substantiate his theses with an abundance of "original quotes", was not only accused of reading the Bible and the American Constitution in isolation from their political and historical context, but also of errors, one-sided interpretations, manipulations and forgeries proven by sources. As early as the mid-1990s, Barton saw himself compelled to admit in the article "Unconfirmed Quotations" that eleven of the quotes that he attributed to the founding fathers in his book The Myth of Separation (1989) and those of the Christian right were popular had not been verified in the sources.

In his book The Jefferson Lies (2012), Barton attempted to portray founding father Thomas Jefferson as a Christian-oriented statesman. A number of Christian conservative historians have criticized Barton's work as decontextualizing, simplifying, and untenable. His publisher withdrew the book from trading because they had lost confidence in the correctness of the historical details.

Publications

  • The Myth of Separation (1989)
  • Bulletproof George Washington: An Account of God's Providential Care (2003)
  • Celebrate Liberty !: Famous Patriotic Speeches & Sermons (2004)
  • The Second Amendment: Preserving the Inalienable Right of Individual Self-Protection (2004)
  • Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black & White (2004)
  • The Role of Pastors and Christians in Civil Government (2004)
  • Separation of Church & State: What the Founders Meant (2007)
  • Original Intent: Courts, the Constitution, and Religion (2008)
  • The Jefferson Lies: Exposing the Myths You've Always Believed about Thomas Jefferson (2012)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Charles David Barton
  2. ↑ 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America , Time
  3. ^ A b Andrea Smith: American way and the good red road. American Indians, the Christian Right, and the (de) construction of American religion. In: Vincent L. Wimbush (Ed.): The Bible and the American Myth. A Symposium on the Bible and Constructions of Meaning . Macon 1999, pp. 16-21.
  4. ↑ Stephanie Simon: Texas tea party seeks Cruz 2.0 . In: Politico , November 3, 2013.
  5. ↑ Zachary Mider: mega-donor Gets Evangelical Leader. David Barton will lead a political conglomerate that has already raised at least $ 38 million. In: Bloomberg Politics , September 9, 2015.
  6. ↑ Rob Boston: Sects, Lies and Videotape. David Barton's Distorted History . In: Church and State . April 1993, pp. 8-11; Rob Boston: Consumer Alert !. Wallbuilders' Shoddy Workmanship . Church & State 49, No. 7, (July / August 1996), pp. 11-13.
  7. ↑ David Barton: Unconfirmed Quotations ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Version 1/2000) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wallbuilders.com
  8. ^ Thomas Kidd: The David Barton Controversy. In: World , August 7, 2012.
  9. ↑ Bob Smietana: Thomas Nelson drops 'Jefferson Lies' book over historical errors . In: The Tennessean , August 10, 2012.
personal data
SURNAME Barton, David
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American preacher, author, and political activist
DATE OF BIRTH January 28, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Austin , Texas