| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
10 Apr 2005 11:48:26 AM |
| Object: |
Barton at it again |
Mis-Guided Tour: Senate Majority Leader Frist Promotes 'Christian Nation'
Propagandist
http://blog.au.org/religious_right_watch/index.html
http://blog.au.org/2005/04/misguided_tour_.html
The Wall of Separation
official weblog of AU.org
Growing Concern About Religious Right Power | Main
April 07, 2005
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's (R-Tenn.) promotion of a fringe
Religious Right activist's "tour" of the U.S. Capitol has sparked
controversy in Washington, D.C.
On March 31, Frist sent out letters inviting his colleagues to a "private
tour of the U.S. Capitol building with WallBuilders President David
Barton." Frist asked senators and their families to come enjoy a "Fresh
Perspective on Our Nation's Religious Heritage with a Special Tour of the
U.S. Capitol." Barton was described as "a historian noted for his detailed
research into the religious heritage of our nation."
But according to research by Americans United for Separation of Church and
State, Barton is actually a Texas-based Religious Right activist who thinks
America is a "Christian nation." Barton is an Oral Roberts University
graduate with no credentials as a historian. His self-proclaimed histories
have been riddled with errors and amount to nothing more than "Christian
nation" propaganda.
Frist's promotion of Barton quickly drew fire from civil liberties
supporters. On the Senate floor, Sen. Frank Lautenberg decried the majority
leader's move, noting that Barton "intends to prove that the separation of
church and state is a myth, and that America's Founders intended for the
United States to be a Christian nation."
Lautenberg also noted that Barton has become an increasingly prominent
"Christian nation" advocate and harsh critic of the federal courts. During
2004, the Republican National Committee hired Barton to travel the country
and speak to friendly congregations about the importance of the elections.
Barton, whose Aledo, Texas group is dedicated to promoting the "Godly
foundation of our country," also told Beliefnet.com that pastors can
legally endorse candidates for public office.
Lautenberg (D-N.J.) urged Frist to withdraw his invitation "to tour the
U.S. Capitol with this man who says this should be a Christian-only
country."
Launtenberg offered his comments in the overall context of the right-wing
effort to undermine the independence of the judiciary and to undo Senate
rules and make it easier for the majority to ram through the confirmation
process President George W. Bush's growing list of extreme judicial
nominees.
The media as well as other lawmakers have taken note of the outrageous
attacks on federal judges that have come recently from House Majority
Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). DeLay suggested
that the judges who refused to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case would at
some point have "to answer for their behavior" and Cornyn earlier in the
week connected recent violence against federal judges to an alleged growing
resentment over their "raw political or ideological decisions."
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) asked to have placed in the Congressional
Record an April 6 editorial from The New York Times lambasting Cornyn and
DeLay for their shrill rhetoric.
Barton has a long track record of attacking federal judges. He regularly
argues that the Supreme Court created the separation of church and state,
launching a campaign to secularize the nation. His book, Restraining
Judicial Activism, which is promoted on the WallBuilders web site, argues
that the federal courts are "out of control, dominating both the executive
and legislative branches."
Working for the RNC and leading a tour for Frist show how far Barton has
come. In the early days, Barton's lecture circuit included Christian
Coalition chapters, fundamentalist churches and other right-wing groups. In
1991, Barton even showed up at two events with anti-Semitic, white
supremacist overtones. When asked to explain Barton's speaking at
gatherings connected with Pete Peters' Scriptures for America, a
Wallbuilders aide said "we had absolutely no idea that [Peters] was 'part
of the Nazi movement.'"
Barton, however, is today a well-known and controversial figure of the
Religious Right, and it is surprising that more senators have not joined in
Launtenberg's dismay and disgust at Frist's decision to promote him.
-- Jeremy Leaming
Posted at 06:52 PM in Religious Right Watch | Permalink
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| User: "Mitchell Holman" |
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| Title: Re: Barton at it again |
12 Apr 2005 07:30:08 AM |
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wrote in news:25mi51taed3q82ro7gfqvpjaq9kaktiv2v@
4ax.com:
Mis-Guided Tour: Senate Majority Leader Frist Promotes 'Christian Nation'
Propagandist
http://blog.au.org/religious_right_watch/index.html
http://blog.au.org/2005/04/misguided_tour_.html
The Wall of Separation
official weblog of AU.org
Growing Concern About Religious Right Power | Main
April 07, 2005
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's (R-Tenn.) promotion of a fringe
Religious Right activist's "tour" of the U.S. Capitol has sparked
controversy in Washington, D.C.
On March 31, Frist sent out letters inviting his colleagues to a "private
tour of the U.S. Capitol building with WallBuilders President David
Barton." Frist asked senators and their families to come enjoy a "Fresh
Perspective on Our Nation's Religious Heritage with a Special Tour of the
U.S. Capitol." Barton was described as "a historian noted for his
detailed
research into the religious heritage of our nation."
But according to research by Americans United for Separation of Church
and
State, Barton is actually a Texas-based Religious Right activist who
thinks
America is a "Christian nation."
"The Government of the United States is not in
any sense founded on the Christian religion."
-- John Adams, second US president
.
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| User: "Gray Shockley" |
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| Title: Re: Barton at it again |
12 Apr 2005 11:57:30 AM |
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On Tue, 12 Apr 2005 07:30:08 -0500, Mitchell Holman wrote
buckeye-ELO@nospam.net wrote in news:25mi51taed3q82ro7gfqvpjaq9kaktiv2v@
4ax.com:
Mis-Guided Tour: Senate Majority Leader Frist Promotes 'Christian Nation'
Propagandist
http://blog.au.org/religious_right_watch/index.html
http://blog.au.org/2005/04/misguided_tour_.html
The Wall of Separation
official weblog of AU.org
Growing Concern About Religious Right Power | Main
April 07, 2005
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's (R-Tenn.) promotion of a fringe
Religious Right activist's "tour" of the U.S. Capitol has sparked
controversy in Washington, D.C.
On March 31, Frist sent out letters inviting his colleagues to a "private
tour of the U.S. Capitol building with WallBuilders President David
Barton." Frist asked senators and their families to come enjoy a "Fresh
Perspective on Our Nation's Religious Heritage with a Special Tour of the
U.S. Capitol." Barton was described as "a historian noted for his
detailed
research into the religious heritage of our nation."
But according to research by Americans United for Separation of Church
and
State, Barton is actually a Texas-based Religious Right activist who
thinks
America is a "Christian nation."
"The Government of the United States is not in
any sense founded on the Christian religion."
-- John Adams, second US president
And George Washington.
(Written during President Washington's administration,
signed under President Adams'.)
gray
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