David Barton’s Unreal Appearance on Family Research Council’s Washington Watch

David Barton was on Family Research Council’s Washington Watch Live yesterday to talk about his version of America’s founding. The host sitting in for Tony Perkins was Craig James.

As I was listening to Barton rattle off some of his usual distortions, it occurred to me again how far apart Barton and the Family Research Council are from Christian academia and the real world of scholarship. For instance, James introduced Barton as “one of the most respected historians in America.”

In what universe does Craig James’ America exist? James works for the same Family Research Council that once entered the real world and removed one of David Barton’s Capitol Tour videos from view because they acknowledged numerous historical errors. Now FRC hires Barton to give the tour again and James lauded the tour.

Respected historians don’t have their books removed from publication by their Christian publisher; nor do they have the same book voted least credible by other historians.

Barton again botches the Donald Lutz study of quotes from the Founding era. Barton made it seem as though Lutz studied the founders’ quotes when that was not the case (see this post for what the study actually did). Barton never tells his listeners that the Federalists didn’t cite the Bible in their defense of the Constitution.

Something that struck me was Professor Throckmorton's response to the credibility of FRC, a question posed in the comments:

Do you see FRC as a credible organization in any way? You point to distortions here. We know they use serious distortions regarding people who are gay to "fight the normalization of homosexuality". Their ostensible raison d'être may be noble (i.e., to encourage the flourishing of families), their strategies and tactics are insidious. They completely lack integrity and use "the sanctity of the family" as an excuse to advance specific narrow religious beliefs.

They are incredible. They are professional fear-mongerers. Is the fact that they give Barton a platform really the only thing that gives you pause?

To which Throckmorton replied:

No, not at all. But it is the thing that this post is about. I don't pay any attention to FRC anymore as a source of information or advice or credibility for many reasons, not just Barton. However, in this case, it just struck me how out of touch this interview was. And the amazing thing to me from a social psychological perspective is that I think Craig James really things he is right. He is in such an echo chamber; social reality has been so controlled and shaped that he believes Barton really is a respected historian.

And that sums up the feeling I got out of listening to the 10 minutes of said interview.  Although to be blunt, it was more of a WTF moment for me.

David Barton’s Unreal Appearance on Family Research Council’s Washington Watch