Off the shelf

David Barton is what I call a “faux historian.” With only a B.A. in religious education from Oral Roberts University, Barton has written widely on American history, remaking it into his own image. He’s been called upon as an “expert” by the Texas Board of Education, the Republican Party and the likes of right-wing talking head Glenn Beck.

Many conservatives love Barton’s historical revisionism, particularly his arguments that the United States was founded as a Christian nation and that the founders did not share our notions about the separation between church and state. Mike Huckabee said he wished every American had to listen to a simultaneous telecast of David Barton lecturing—even if at gunpoint.

Barton’s latest book, The Jefferson Lies, has drawn criticism from a wider group than the usual liberals and professional historians. A group of black and white evangelical pastors from Cincinnati called for a boycott of Barton’s publisher, Thomas Nelson, because the book justifies Thomas Jefferson’s ownership of slaves and glosses over his racism and his unorthodox theological views. “You can’t be serious about racial unity in the church,” said one of the Cincinnati pastors, “while holding up Jefferson as a hero and champion of freedom.”