As the beloved anthem "I'm Proud to be an American" resounded in the Benson Auditorium at Harding University and Searcy-dwelling Harding alums wiped tears from their eyes at such evocative twang, a huge American flag hogged my visual attention so much that I think I will be seeing stars and stripes forever. In fact, as speaker David Barton (http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/David_Barton) walked up to the podium, it took me a while to distinguish him from the background of the American flag--I guess that moment was a revelation from God to let me know that Barton is an icon for everything America stands for: Christianity, Republicans, and people who are scared of homosexuals.
George Washington himself would agree; after all, he was uncomfortable with the idea of homosexuals in the military. And Thomas Jefferson the Deist actually went to church. And no one will believe this bit of revolutionary news: the Founding Fathers signed their letters with the phrase, "In the year of our Lord..."
The Founding Fathers also owned slaves. The Founding Fathers also believed women had no place in government. The Founding Fathers wore hose. The Founding Fathers were not, I repeat, were not emissaries from God, and the Constitution is not an inspired document, and America is not "God's Country." But David Barton crusades on in his leather jacket, certain that our nation is distinctly Christian, certain because the names of some of the people who helped write the Declaration of Independence started with "Reverend."
Even if we skip the historical debate over their religious affiliations, should the religious opinions of 200-year-old (aka dead) white guys dictate the current condition of America? Barton argues that the Christian faith was what uniquely inspired these men to revolt and put forth the principles that form the foundation of America. Granted, that may or may not be true (most likely not), but who cares?! "Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other sects?" (Well said, James Madison.)
Chuckling over Barton's jabs at atheists, the ACLU, and (he really said this) the four "bad guys" on the Supreme Court, the audience joined in Barton's indignancy over the terrible oppression of Christians in America. Now that the removal of public prayer in public schools has led to lower SAT scores and increased crime rates, among other things--according to Barton--the more recent removal of the Ten Commandments plaque from courthouses will certainly precede anarchy, or, even worse, an amendment protecting gay marriage. All I know is that "“You can protect your liberties in this world only by protecting the other man's freedom. You can be free only if I am free," in the words of Clarence Darrow. I don't want the Ten Commandments hanging up in a public school because I don't want the Book of Mormon hanging up in a public school, and I respect the Buddhist who doesn't want to have to pray to Jesus any more than I want to have to pray to Buddha.
The iconic leader for right-wing conservatism has a dark secret, one Harding University tolerates (ironically). But this one flaw, his fabrication and exaggeration of historical documents and the sunsequent retraction of these dubious claims, is overshadowed by the two Angel Awards he's won. Way to go, Dave!
One last indignation...
When Barton went off about how the Cornell profs who wrote the text "Our Godless Constitution" didn't cite their historical sources, when Barton said "These Ph. D. types" are flooding our education system with lies, I wanted to ask him to look deep inside. I wanted to ask him if it was time to let go of his resenting people who are actually educated, who have credentials in their fields of study, who went to a university people have heard of. But hey, the Founding Fathers only went to seminary, so who needs a real education?
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"I talk nonsense, therefore I'm human." Fyodor Dostoevsky
11 comments:
Great post!
*applauds*
Well written, big words, and very "liberal." I loved it!
As one of those PhD's is who teaches a version of American history and politics that we like to call "reality" I'd want to say "thanks" for your report on Mr. Barton's presentation.
Although I wasn't there, I am familiar with his work.
I appreciate Chris linking it to my blog; I hope your observations serve to generate some discussion amongst your fellow students. -me
"The Founding Fathers wore hose."
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
Haha, awesome. I'm glad you skipped the historical debate - that gets old and neither side can really make much traction against the other since both come into the argument with such strong presuppositions.
The real issue is, as you point out, what kind of nation we want today. A Christian nation? Oh God, no.
The praise keeps coming: Excellent take on the situation!
Some students (who may or may not have posted here) created some posters questioning Barton's authority over his subject matter only to have them taken down by "the poster fuzz". Fortunately, as your post proves, Barton wasn't preaching to the choir quite as much as the administration wanted him to think. I'm glad there are students here who will think for themselves. Keep up the good work.
A lovely piece indeed. It seems that Barton is a bit off his rocker, doesn't it? It's good to see some witty truth and deft insight applied to a quirky situation.
I didn't go (free pancakes called me away), but from what I've heard from a few other people, you're pretty close on. The other people that I heard who agreed with him, although I love them dearly, straight out said they just took him at his word about everything because what else could they do? He's the one that knew the stuff.
Also, props on creating a blog just to post this. ;-)
Are you going to make this a regular blog or was this a one-time only thing?
I'm assuming you made this blog mainly to meet the requirements of Mike James' mass comm. class. However, I hope you stick with it, as your first post was quite the grand slam (I should avoid baseball metaphors, since I really don't know what they mean).
Anyway, I enjoyed the post and have added your blog to the "blogroll" on my site. Happy blogging.
Well, since writing a blog has been a gratifying experience so far, I think I'm gonna try to stick with it. I don't really know if I actually have much more blog-worthy stuff to write about, however. We'll see! And thank you guys.
I expect new posts once Spring Sing is over...
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