The Devil and Dan Vojir: Jul 31, 2010

Saturday, July 31, 2010

And This Is Who They Listen To

Labels: David Barton, Family Research Council, Glenn Beck, Hitler, Joseph Nicolosi, Kill the gays bill, Scott Lively, Tony Perkins, Uganda

Scott Lively May Trump Beck As Prince Of Fools

But The Christian Right Still Insists On Quackery

People listen to Glenn Beck. Yes, they do. And because they do, the rest of the country has to suffer the slings and arrows of unreasoned hatred fueled by an insipid lust for power. But who does Glenn Beck listen to? Does he listen to anyone? Do the writings of some pseudo-historian drive Beck's history and blackboard shenanigans?

They do.

Beck introduced David Barton as the "historian" who is "The Library of Congress In Shoes." Unfortunately, those shoes only hold a "career upon his claim that United States government was founded on Biblical precepts."

wikipedia:

Barton is a collector of early American documents, and his official biography describes him as "an expert in historical and constitutional issues." Barton holds no formal credentials in history or law, and critics dispute the accuracy and integrity of his assertions about history, accusing him of practicing misleading historical revisionism and "pseudoscholarship."

Barton's claim that ours is a Christian Nation is specious at best. His discourses on slavery dodge the bullet when he skirts around the subject by citing his friend, Stephen McDowell, whose close relationship with R.J. Rushdoony (THE Reconstructionist) shines through in his explanation: America's slavery was not BIBLICAL Slavery! In other words, "Southern Slavery Wrong - Biblical slavery Right!"

Reconstructionism has long been a taboo subject for American Christians because it advocates "reconstructing" government to conform strictly to Biblical law. For years, pastors, churches and denominations were quick to disassociate themselves from the Chalcedon Foundation, founded by Rushdoony. But today, unreason has taken hold and Reconstructionism is hiding in plain sight: in the teachings of people like David Barton.

Barton is a fraud. Beck knows it. Groups like Tony Perkins' Family Research Council know it. But neither of them care, because they need people like Barton.

FRC and Scott Lively

It took the "kill the gays bill" in Uganda to bring Scott Lively to the forefront of influential "historians." His book, The Pink Swastika, was debunked by legitimate historians condescending to talk about such idiocies: Hitler was gay, he surrounded himself with gay men because they had no conscience and were the most vicious, therefore Nazism was founded by gays. Lively brought forth his precepts in Kampala, Uganda last year, along with the principle that the criminalization of homosexuality was the best way to eradicate it:

[from a statement made in 2007 in a letter to Russia]

However, homosexuality is destructive to individuals and to society and it should never [be] publicly promoted. The easiest way to discourage gay pride parades and other homosexual advocacy is to make such activity illegal in the interest of public health and morality.

Wikipedia:

Scott holds a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Trinity Law School, and a Certificate in Human Rights from the International Institute of Human Rights.

Whoa! Such credentials! But with a little investigation comes a great big disappointment. For one, Trinity Law School has had an abysmal rate of its students passing the bar (only 22% pass the first time and some almuni have wound up taking it as many as six times - without success). Nowhere is Lively's bios does it say that he was a ceritifed attorney. For another thing, a Certificate in Human Rights is rather dubious, considering that the IIHR's founder was key in drafting the Declaration of Human Rights:

Article 9:

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

The proposed "kill the gays bill" of Uganda is nothing if not arbitrary. And one more thing about Mr. Lively's credentials, his letters are all signed with "J.D., Th.D." but no other documents reference a doctorate in theology or any accredited institution that would have awarded him one - even an honorary one. Additionally, a doctorate in theology is not the same as a Master or Doctor of Divinity which Lively would have to use in labeling himself as "pastor."

And his other books, Seven Steps to Recruit-Proof Your Child: A Parent's Guide to Protecting Children from Homosexuality and the "Gay" Movement (1998) and Why and How to Defeat the "Gay" Movement (2000) cite no professional expertise, Lively being neither a professional child psychologist nor a psychologist specializing in gender "disorders."

Lively is a silly fraud. But Family Research Council will support Lively, distributing his works as manna from heaven - especially in Uganda.


O.K, so I've mentioned Paul Cameron and Joseph Nicolosi before, but it's worth repeating that Family Research Council depends heavily on the writings of these two for the "research" in its name. Along with Perkins and Lively, I've called them the Four Horsemen of the Homosexual Agenda.

Let's face it: it's so easy Jon Daily to poke fun at the idiocies of someone like Lively, but the likes of the Christian Right - aka Tony Perkins, James Dobson and Rick Warren - HAVE to listen and repeat.