Recently cited by a spokesman for Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich as “one of the most knowledgeable teachers on American History”, David Barton’s work as a historian has been openly referenced by Michelle Bachman, Glen Beck, Mike Huckabee and others. At the other end of the political spectrum, he was a welcome guest on a recent The Daily Show and made a very strong case for his beliefs and research.

It was while watching his appearance on the Daily Show that I first became aware of his incredible influence. In addition to operating a very large website devoted to what he has determined to be historical fact (Wall Builders), Barton has been an official curriculum guide to the Great States of State of Texas and California as they determined the content of their schoolbooks. According to what he told Stewart he has also quietly helped out a few other states on the same subject.

As I watched this guy he fascinated me. He was amazing. For the first time ever I went to Stewart’s site so I could see the follow up interviews that weren’t part of the regular half hour show. It was an amazing view into a very powerful man’s mind.  From that first introduction to Barton’s work I was moved to find out what this guy was really about.

Quick disclaimer, I am not a real political person. So I can't say that I investigated this guy because of those who endorsed him. Both sides of our political system have idiots. Like most of the people that I know, I am at the center trying to get to work and back home again. What I do love is history and its application to life. 

Barton claims to be a professional historian and has clearly made his way into the political and publishing world by portraying himself as one. But what he is doing is not backed up by any real training or education.  A graduate of Oral Roberts University, the man simply decided he was going to be a historian and he became one. In addition to his claim of being a professional historian he is also an Evangelical Minister who preaches to his flock as well as large groups of other Evangelicals.

Still, he is a very solid success and more power to him as an individual. He has argued in front of the Supreme Court, he writes curriculum and he is sought out by publishers. But this success is the reason for his power and the reason for his power is his success. Which strikes me as odd.  Which came first?

This man’s self-proclaimed status as a professional historian is like taking one of the Housewives of Orange County and having them tackle Death of a Salesman on Broadway. Sure, in your mind you are a star, but why?

Barton’s approach to history creates many auxiliary arguments. Among them are the concepts of Barton’s status as a professional or amateur historian. There is also the idea that America, as he argues, is a Christian Country. Included in that idea is his main tenant, that according to the tens of thousands of documents he has found, we were supposed to be a Christian Country governed by Christian tenants, beliefs and ideas.  

These concerns are separate from my main argument, which is that Barton is not a professional historian and should not in any terms be given the same credibility as someone who has worked and studied hard to become one.  To accept him as such is the exact same thing as accepting a creationist, which Barton also is, as a real scientist.

Removing these other arguments allows me to address the one big hole that sits so squarely at the center of what Barton is so convincingly selling to anyone who will listen. That hole is his research.  

Barton’s greatest claim to fame, and the general resource for much of his research, is the website Wallbuilders. The site leads with the banner headline that it is “Presenting America’s forgotten history and heroes with an emphasis on our moral, religious and constitutional heritage”.

The essence of Barton’s argument is that there are literally tens of thousands of documents that support the idea that America is a Christian Country.  This is true in both senses, we are a Christian Country and there are a truckload of documents that support this.

It can easily be said that all historically important documents from the Bible on up, have other documents surrounding them that were part of the thought process leading up to their creation.

But to the best of my knowledge, whether it is the Bible or the Constitution or the Magna Carter or a charter for the local Kiwanis, all documents that serve as a behavioral (and I include the concept of law into behavior, because what does Law cover?)  guideline for a society or a group of people eventually coalesces into a final form.

In other words these documents assume a final, agreed upon shape. That final document becomes law and all who live under that document can usually challenge it and question it as they desire, but the document has a final shape.  

To use the the papers, letters, books, opinions and all other ephemera that went into the creation of the final document after these disallowed or unattended ideas have long been removed from the final document is simply revisionism for a new generation.

 In every case that I am aware of where a group of people decided to follow the same course of events in unison; to live together under a code of beliefs or laws, there were plenty of people on the sidelines screaming that they were not being heard. In most instances that group of disappointed screamers eventually went along with what was eventually decided.  

Or they split from the larger group. Look at the Essenes. An early sect unhappy with the than current view of Judaic beliefs, this group of true believers went out into the desert and formed their own group away from those they disagreed with. Unable to change the beliefs held true by a larger section of Jewish culture, they essentially left the society of their time.

It is generally agreed that they spanned about three hundred years, from 200 BCE to 100 AD.  Eventually they buried the documents they held to be true in large jars in the desert. We end up with the Dead Sea Scrolls.

(Some believe that the Essenes weren’t the only ones responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls. My point is that a group of people split from the main group over belief differences. Call them what you want).

Or like the Pilgrims of our own American history. Out of favor in their homeland due to what they saw as religious persecution, they went across an ocean and started a country of their own.

Sometimes trying to split from a larger group works out for all. Sometimes, like the Civil War for instance, attempting to break away from the larger group doesn’t work out as planned.

The point is that once the dominate document assumes a final, agreed upon shape and we all live by it.

Listening to what Barton had to say, and from what I have read over the last few weeks, let’s compare two documents that Barton appears to believe in the most, the Bible and The Constitution.

The Bible, as we know it in 2011, took shape over thousands of years. The final version of the Bible is generally agreed upon by those who follow it to be the authentic word of God.

It may well be. But the book itself, the physical assembly of what books actually became the Bible (document) was undertaken by a group of people working in the name of, and under the inspiration of, God. Many books were considered but few were called. 

The assembly of the Bible is a lifetime of study, but in general, historians agree on many of the physical facts when it comes to its development.

Assembling the books that are in the Bible today took time. Much of that assembly time, especially since the fourth century, is held as historical and documented fact. Thanks to Kings like Constantine and James who demanded some continuity in their religious beliefs, the Bible exists as we know it today.  In its earliest days it was, in it’s simplest definition, essentially a loose collection of books as each sect of the new religion attempted to gain some sort of power over the new believers. 

Before the Bible assumed its final shape, the need for a definite version of what Christianity’s beliefs actually were needed to be addressed. In order to do this groups of experts gathered under one roof and determined what Christianity actually was.

Start with the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. Ordered by Constantine to clear up the argument of “Is Jesus God?” the Council went a long way to settling this uncomfortable idea for new religion. In 385 the Council of Constantinople addressed the failures of the first Council and worked towards clearing up a few more theological matters.

In essence, a lot of established bishops from around the known Christian world gathered in one place and began to draft the beliefs of the new religion, Christianity. These were the accepted professionals of the day. At the same time, the Bible was starting to assume a cohesive shape as a document, so that it could support the evolving Theology.

In building this amazing work of love and literature, there were hundreds of people screaming that their books should be included. That is where verifiable and documented events such as Constantine’s request in 331 AD for fifty copies of a Bible led to the creation of a final Bible.

And when it was done there were lot of people standing on the sidelines looking for their favorite books. The books left out went on to become the Gnostic Gospels.

Over the years that Bible does get altered, often unintentionally. Scribes who copy it slightly alter the meaning of passages through their choice of words. A few take it to Ireland and do their best to protect it form others. Guttenberg decides to print it in English. The most important change occurs with Luther, who not only decided to leave the one true church also decided to move the good book into German.

For many the Bible is the word of God, But still, its contents were debated and torn apart and finally, they were assembled by Man.

Remember the Essenes? They buried their documents/books in big jars across a desert. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the mid-fifties, did the Bible change? Did our belief in the beauty of the Bible change? Were the Gnostic Gospels reinstated or was the story of Thecla suddenly brought into mainstream Christianity for all to see?

No.

As the government and direction of America took shape, our Founding Fathers were beset by special interest groups. Life in 1725 was no different than it is today. People are people. They just dressed different, and bathed with less frequency. But, being people, they were still pushy and had their own agendas.

In their infinite wisdom the leaders of the day listened to every one they could and than finally gave us the most important things we have in America, The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and The Bill of Rights. After much deliberation and having seen what a state-wide sanctioned religion can do to a country, they made sure to draw a definite line separating Church and State.

Of course Barton has tens of thousands of documents to support his ideas, his beliefs and his own history. That’s what it took to make this country.  But what is he really missing? Why is he an amateur?

Throwing around a knowledge and awareness of the discounted ephemera that surrounded the creation of such import document as The Bible and The Constitution is, for lack of a better word, trivia.

From the Gnostic Gospels to Barton’s use of what he has found among the hidden corners of American history, these documents enlighten us and educate us on how we became what we are. But they are not what we are.

Barton’s inability to understand this is why he is an amateur. He lacks insight. The evangelical Christian beliefs that drive him are too strong for him to be truly objective, as any real historian should be.  He is promoting his theology through a thin veil of historical fact.

Quoting a preacher from 1765 that was than quoted by John Adams is simply repeating the news of the day. It isn’t law nor was it ever meant to be.

For all Barton knows Adams may have been pandering to a group of people for a political reason when he agreed with the preacher. Adams may have had a half dozen other ideas in his head at the time. Barton has no insight into what Adams was thinking nor does he offer his followers any details when he quotes the good man’s words.

For a logical person, too many questions are left open when Barton uses history out of context. Was this a single time when Adams agreed with the man whom Barton quotes? Did Adams actually hear the guy or was he writing something for a friend? (In this instance Barton was talking about the inheritance tax).

During the recent presidential campaign Obama ran into real problem with his friend, the controversial Preacher Jeremiah Wright. Will an amateur historian 200 years from now return to those sound clips and claim that Obama’s relationship with the man gives credence to his personal belief that Obama was really against the Country he serves as leader?

All our political candidates do what they can to get elected. And than they do what they can to stay elected. That is their job. They want to get elected and in order to do that they say what they can within the acceptable limits of their political affiliation. Look at Newt back peddling on Health Care. This may sound cynical, but it is true.

A comment on a Preacher’s sermon by Adams is not a great find. It was part of Adams everyday political life. What really matters is the laws that Adams left behind to govern us. The rest is just politics.

For me, and from what I have read in the last few weeks, Barton’s work is more about being human. We, in our humanity, in our life, in our experience, all want power in some way. The drive to power is in all of us, but most of us aren’t willing to corrupt or manipulate truth or play circular word games on a simple talk show to get our way. Barton is.

 It isn’t a matter of disagreeing with him. His approach to history is personally motivated. He has a very open agenda.

This is another reason that Barton is not a true professional historian.

The Founding Fathers, in their drive to create the best country possible elected to not use many of the documents that Barton references. Many of the Founders who shaped this land were probably aware of these documents and speeches. Being the men that they were, I would imagine many of the framers of our laws certainly considered as many points of view as possible before deliberately crafting every single word in the documents that govern our land.

 If you respect the decisions of the Founding Fathers on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, you cannot suddenly throw the documents they left out or ignored to begin with to justify the needs of your special interest group, no matter how large that group may be.

What religious discussion in America really comes down to is “My God can kick your God’s ass and as much as I respect your God, mine is right. Yours is wrong.”  Or as more commonly applied, “Today our sports team won because our own personal God gave us the victory”.

In Barton’s case he has powerful people around him, makes a lot of money doing what he does and right now, his God is powerful.

And that idea all comes back to the simple human desire for power, which is exactly what Barton has.  His organization doesn’t answer to anyone. In the legal world his website, which is run by his wife and mother, is tax-exempt.

Barton may not be accepted in the world of Academia, but by repeatedly claiming to be a professional historian, he has convinced enough people that he is one. That’s what really matters. Since he ignored Academia to begin with, and has succeeded admirably with that tactic, he doesn’t need their approval. And when he is attacked he can simply say that they are jealous or have their own agenda.

Here is an example of one of the ways Barton quietly gains power.

One of the best ways to get power is to create paranoia by not mentioning names. When questioned about Republican and Democratic leaders who have come to him for help Barton refuses to do so. Defending this decision Barton nobly refuses to name these people unless they have publicly declared their support for him.

So they exist, but he can’t tell us because he is protecting them from us.

 In addition Barton continues to foster the current idea that Christians are persecuted in modern day America. Getting sued over prayer day doesn’t make you victim. Go ahead and pray. No one cares; In fact we want you to do it. Just don’t stop driving a bus in order to pray. As an American we are all part of something bigger and an occasional stupid lawsuit is par for the course.

In short, he is building power based on fear.

Despite his denials and practiced gestures towards all religions and people, Barton’s agenda is clearly religious. He makes no bones about that and he acknowledges this very clearly. He is a Christian and he firmly believes that this country was meant to be a Christian country as well. To back his claims that we are a religious nation, he uses documents that have long ago drifted into the side drawer of historical research.

What he really wants is for his organization to run the country. Which the Founding Fathers in their wisdom, have blocked him from doing.  

This man is about power, not truth. And any real historian moves towards the truth, regardless of what it does to his own personal belief system.