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Gingrich Wants Ground Zero Declared a National Battlefiled Memorial to Stop Park 51

Submitted by Kyle on September 2, 2010 - 12:44pm

David Barton and Newt Gingrich have been working together for years now, but today was the first time Gingrich had ever appeared on Barton's "Wallbuilders Live" radio program.

Gingrich came on to discuss his recent column opposing the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" and did so did so with typical Gingrichian belligerence, but eventually the topic turned toward how to actually prevent it from being built and Gingrich's preferred solution is for Congress to declare Ground Zero to be a national battlefield memorial:

Well, there are a lot of places. I think the Congress has the ability to declare the area a national battlefield memorial because I think we should think of the World Trade Center as a battlefield site; this is a war.

The Attorney General of New York, Andrew Cuomo, could intervene because frankly he has the ability to slow it down for decades if he wants to.

I am surprised that Mayor Bloomberg said it was okay and I think that if he reconsiders it, he'll decide its not.

There are a number of different steps that could be taken. There's no reason this has to occur and whether it's city, state, or federal there are plenty of ways for America to stop it.

Elsewhere, Barton gushes over Gingrich's amazing genius and notes that he has been utterly forgiven by the Religious Right for his previous multiple marital failings:

And finally, Rick Green asked Gingrich if he was planning on running for president in 2012, to which Gingrich replied that if he does decide to do so, Barton and Wallbuilders will be asked to play a key role in the campaign:

Green: Mr. Speaker, my wife and I were really wanting to be able to vote for you for president two years ago. Are we going to get to do that in 2012?

Gingrich: All I can tell you is that sometime in February or March, Calista and I and our family will be making this decision. As you know, I'm a great admirer of your work and of all you've done to teach Americans about their history and the roots of American freedom. And I can assure you that if we do decide to run next year, we're promptly going to call you and say "we need your help, and we need your advice, and we need your counsel." It's more than a voting matter. If we decide to run, David, we're going to need you.

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Glenn Beck and God are ready to rock

Submitted by Peter on August 27, 2010 - 11:41pm

Right Wing Watch has been watching the recent morphing of Glenn Beck from political hatchet man into messianic religious figure. That self-transformation continued at America’s Divine Destiny, the Friday night warm-up to Beck’s Lincoln Memorial rally. The three-hour program at the Kennedy Center for the Arts combined gospel music, patriotic songs, and speeches about the need for spiritual renewal in America.

It is impossible to overstate Beck’s assessment of the importance of his events. Toward the beginning of Divine Destiny, he stated , “this is the beginning of the end of darkness. We have been in darkness a long time.”  Saturday’s rally, he said, would be a “defibrillator to the spiritual heart of America.” Near the end of the program, he emphatically declared, “We are 12 hours away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America. It has nothing to do with this city or politics, it has everything to do with God Almighty.”
 
Beck’s co-host for the evening event was David Barton, the Religious Right “historian” who has
made a career promoting his theory that America was founded as a “Christian nation.” Beck is clearly enamored of Barton, having recently called him “the most important man in America.” Beck introduced Barton to the Divine Destiny audience as “the best man I know.”
 
Barton’s primary role at tonight’s event was to tell stories and wave copies of old books and sermons to make the case that the nation’s founding documents were cribbed from Christian sermons, and that Jewish and Christian leaders have since the nation’s founding banded together to fight those who would secularize America.   Barton referred to the conflict with the Barbary pirates in the early 19th century as the first time “we had Muslims targeting us.”
 
For anyone who has followed Barton’s long career as a propagandist for the Republican Party in Texas and nationally, his Christian nation rhetoric was no surprise. But it was nothing short of breathtaking to hear Barton repeating “that’s right” when Beck said that “religion and politics must not mix.” 
 
Beck asserted more than once that the weekend was not a political event, no matter what his cynical critics said. That assertion is laughable given the relentlessly political nature of his television show and Barton’s entire career, not to mention Beck’s reliance on the Tea Party movement to turn out attendees for his rally.   Among the other speakers was Rabbi Daniel Lapin, a fixture at Religious Right political events, and college professor Dr. Patrick Lee, who argued that America has no right to alter the “objective” definition of marriage.
 
The closing prayer was given by Pastor John Hagee, whose accepted-and-then-rejected endorsement of John McCain became an embarrassment to the candidate in 2008. Among the nation’s sins for which Hagee asked forgivness was that “under the banner of pluralism we have embraced and worshipped the gods of this world.” Hagee said that scripture commands us to pray for the nation’s leaders, and he prayed that God would lead us “out of this politically correct moral fog” and back to the righteousness of our forefathers by lifting up godly leaders and removing the not-so-godly from office. A fitting send-off for this completely non-political event.
 
 
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Beck's Mormon Faith Raising Alarms Among The Religious Right

Submitted by Kyle on August 23, 2010 - 9:58am

Recently, Glenn Beck seems to have started undergoing a transformation from a Tea Party leader to a Religious Right leader as he increasingly sells his brand of right-wing conspiracy-theorizing in religious terms.

What started with his partnership with David Barton as rapidly expanded to include all sorts of Religious Right activists and now Beck has started claiming that his upcoming "Restoring Honor" rally is literally being orchestrated by God and that "the Spirit of the Lord is going to be unleashed like you've never felt it before" and miracles will take place at the event.

Beck's move to establish himself as a religious leader among conservatives is being met with alarm from some evangelical activists due to the fact that Beck is Mormon, forcing people like Barton to defend his associations with Beck by claiming that Beck shouldn't be judged by the label he wears but by the fruits that he produces. 

But it doesn't look like activists are buying that excuse, as Brannon Howse, president and founder of Worldview Weekend, dedicated his program on Friday to raising alarms about this new development:

Please remember Brannon started the website keepglennbeck.com to support Glenn when the radicals wanted his advertisers to stop advertising in his program. With that said, Brannon believes Glenn has now moved into an area where we must draw a clear line theologically and doctrinally. While Christians can join Glenn in opposing tyranny, socialism, cultural Marxism, and the like but we cannot join him spiritually. Glenn's website describes the event at the Kennedy Center as "Glenn Beck's Divine Destiny" and states that the event will include "uplifting music, nationally-known religious figures from all faith will unite…" Glenn's website also promotes Glenn's "Daily Spiritual Thought" and "join Glenn Beck live each weekday morning at 7:05a ET for prayer." Why must we respectfully and lovingly tell Glenn we cannot agree with him nor find common ground in the area of Biblical doctrine and theology?

Is Glenn now using his TV program to push his Mormon faith? Glenn has the right to push his Mormon faith on TV but Glenn needs to be upfront about it ... The point of today's program is that Christians need to be wise and not fall into the trap of compromising on the Gospel of Jesus Christ in an effort to be politically correct, tolerant and find religious unity with anti-Biblical beliefs and religions. We appreciate the strong and courageous stands that Glenn has taken but Christians understand that Glenn is now, by his own choice, promoting something that is not compatible with Biblical Christian doctrines. We can be co-belligerents on many moral issues with non-Christians but we cannot find common ground theologically and doctrinally. Christians must understand that the Jesus of the cults is not the Jesus of the Bible.

You may recall that, a few months back, Howse severed ties with Janet Porter due to her associations with the "kind of whacked out folks" who preach Dominionism. 

Similarly, Howse's Worldview Weekend has had a long relationship with David Barton, so it'll be interesting to see how Howse handles Barton's increasing involvement with, and defense of, Beck's Mormon faith.

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Barton: Beck May Be Mormon, But He's More Christian Than Wallis, Clinton, and Pelosi

Submitted by Kyle on August 19, 2010 - 9:50am

Earlier this week we posted audio of Glenn Beck appearing on David Barton's "Wallbuilders Live" radio program, where Barton and Beck discussed how the upcoming "Restoring Honor" rally was being orchestrated by God in order to unleash revival upon America.

This seemed an especially interesting development because Beck is a Mormon and evangelicals like Barton generally don't consider Mormons to be Christians or believe that Mormons and Christians worship the same god. 

As it turns out, Barton has apparently been getting lots of questions from concerned supporters about his endorsement of Beck, prompting him to write a defense, arguing that Beck is more of a true Christian than are self-proclaimed Christians like Nancy Pelosi and Bill Clinton: 

I have appeared numerous times on Glenn's program to talk about historical and political issues, particularly as related to faith and Biblical values. On those programs, I have had repeated opportunity to inform Americans about (as our WallBuilders' motto declares) "America's forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on our moral, religious, and constitutional heritage." I have also participated in several major arena rallies with Glenn.

As a result of these appearances, I have received numerous letters and calls from concerned Christians, some of whom respectfully inquire as to why I would appear with a Mormon, while others directly attack me for doing so. As far as I can tell, most of these concerns stem from judging Glenn based by the label of "Mormon" rather than by the fruits he produces.

For example, no one has yet been to point to any instance where Glenn has attacked or undermined Christ or Christianity on any of his programs. To the contrary, on repeated occasions it has been quite the opposite. (Recall his specific programs on individual salvation, atonement, and redemption through Christ.) Nevertheless, some of his critics refuse to take Glenn at his self-evident words but instead attempt to read into them some secret and hidden meaning, thereby judging him not by his fruits or words but rather by some conspiratorial and unseen meaning they seek to impute to him.

...

Christians concerned about Glenn's faith should judge the tree by its fruits, not its labels. After all, Nancy Pelosi and Bill Clinton openly call themselves Christians, as do Evangelical Christian ministers such as Jim Wallis and Joel Hunter. Although these individuals have the right labels, they have the wrong fruits; yet many Christians have a more visceral reaction to Glenn than to Pelosi, Clinton, or Wallis. This is wrong; it is not Biblical.

...

In conclusion, I have been with Glenn in numerous settings; I have watched him up close and can heartily endorse both his public and his private life. I have witnessed his tender heart, his love for God, and his passion to keep God in America. Glenn and I have prayed together on numerous occasions; he has sought God for specific guidance on numerous situations and I have personally not only seen God answer him but have also seen Glenn completely change his plans after feeling the Lord was leading him to move in a different direction or address a different subject. I judge Glenn by his fruits, not by his labels, and I am honored to call Glenn not only an ally and a fellow warrior (and a General) in the culture war, but especially to call him a good friend.

This ought to serve as a good reminder to Beck that his own religious views are seen as suspect by many, so maybe he ought to keep that in mind before he starts demonizing the religious views of others.

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Glenn Beck Is On A Mission From God

Submitted by Kyle on August 16, 2010 - 2:19pm

For months now, Glenn Beck has been regularly featuring David Barton of Wallbuilders on his program and so I guess it was only a matter of time that Beck showed up as a guest on Barton's radio program, which is what happened today.

Beck came on to discuss how his upcoming Restoring Honor rally is being orchestrated by God to unleash revival upon America:

Beck: I think this is an opportunity to gather God's people together and wake people up. And I just have this feeling that this is the beginning of something gigantic in this country, that it is spiritual awakening.

What's going to happen there will raise the hair on your arms. What's going to happen there you will never, ever forget and I promise you, then next day when you read about it - if the press covers it - you will say "oh my gosh, I wish I would have been there." This will go into the history book.

This is Divine Providence. This is the Lord's hand at work. This is a miracle.

Barton: And it really is. It's an intervention of God. And a lot of times when he shows up, it's not the way you thought he was going to show up, but man the results are always his and it's really good the way it works out.

Beck: And that's kind of the point of 8/28: you just have to stand where the Lord wants you to stand. He'll explain it to you when the time comes.

You can feel the presence of the Lord. I mean, the Spirit is so strong. When you two hundred, three hundred, five hundred thousand people on the Mall in that space right there between Washington and Lincoln with the Reflecting Poll - a spiritual space in our nation - the Spirit of the Lord is going to be unleashed like I think you've never felt it before.

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Will The Right Sacrifice California to Save Marriage Amendments Elsewhere?

Submitted by Kyle on August 12, 2010 - 2:07pm

Earlier today I posted audio of David Barton talking with Tim Wildmon and Marvin Sanders of the American Family Association about his relationship with Glenn Beck, but now I want to highlight a more important piece of that discussion that occurred later in the interview when they were discussing the Prop 8 ruling.

All three were convinced that the case was eventually going to end up before the Supreme Court and that when it does, Justice Anthony Kennedy was going to be the deciding vote in favor of allowing gay marriage.  As such, Barton revealed that there is some talk on the Right of not appealing or fighting the Prop 8 ruling and letting California have gay marriage in order to keep the case away from the Supreme Court and thereby saving the marriage amendments in all the other states:

Barton: Right now the damage is limited to California only, but if California appeals this to the US Supreme Court, the US Supreme Court with Kennedy will go for California, which means all 31 states will go down in flames, although right now this decision is limited only to California.

So there's an effort underway to say "California, please don't appeal this. I mean, if you appeal this, its bad for you guys but live with it, but don't cause the rest of us to have to go down your path."

Wildom: So you think the better situation here would be California not to appeal ...

Barton: Well, I'm telling you that that's what is being argued by a lot of folks now because the other Supreme Court attorney who watched this from afar said "on no, you left too many arguments on the table, you stayed technical." And now, knowing what Kennedy has already done in two similar cases to this and knowing that he's the deciding vote, the odds are 999 out of 1000 that they'll uphold the California decision.

If they do, there's not a marriage amendment in the country that can stand. And so the problem is that instead of California losing its amendment, now 31 states lose their amendment. And that won't happen if California doesn't appeal this decision. It's just California that loses its amendment.

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Barton On Beck, Bodyguards, and Bulletproof Vests

Submitted by Kyle on August 12, 2010 - 8:43am

David Barton was on "Today's Issues" on American Family Radio yesterday, which is a program hosted by American Family Association President Tim Wildmon and AFR General Manager Marvin Sanders, discussing a range of issues, including how he managed to get hooked up with Glenn Beck.

Barton explained that God brought them together, as Beck had been praying about who he should get to teach the faith aspect of his American history lessons when two different people approached him in church and told him to read Barton's books.  Barton also reveals that Glenn Beck has a massive security detail and has to wear a bulletproof vest when out in public:

Wildmon: How'd he get your name? How did you guys get hooked up?

Barton: He said that he had read books that I had written years ago and as he was at church, really the Sunday before he made the decision, that two people came up to him and both on that day gave him some of our books and said you really need to read this stuff. And he thought that was the Lord speaking to him, in the mouth of two or three witnesses He establishes it. So that was kind of the thing that was the spur; he was praying about who should I get to present the faith aspect of this and then two people walked up to him and made the same recommendation, not knowing he was praying about it and so that's how it kind of tied together.

Wildmon and Sanders: That guy is under siege. He has replaced Rush Limbaugh as the most hated man in America. Why do you think that is David?

Barton: Just to kind of affirm what you're saying before I get to why: he asked me to go over and do a Broadway event with him ... There we were on Broadway and I reached over, we prayed together, and I reached over to give him a hug and he's wearing a bulletproof vest. I find out that that is typical for him. He doesn't go anywhere without lots of security. I think that particular night the FBI had alerted him that they had a very credible threat than an attempt would be made on him and so it was much like being with the Secret Service and the President. I think there were like 15-17 bodyguards that night, there was one at every exit. As he was up on the stage speaking, there were guys down in the front of the stage doing nothing but watching the crowd, one from each side of the stage, I mean it looked exactly like a Presidential detail and that's the kind of he and his family have to live with.

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Gov. Perry Raffles Off Lunch With Rove, Capitol Tour With Barton

Submitted by Kyle on August 3, 2010 - 1:04pm

Texas Governor Rick Perry's re-election campaign has come up with a rather unique strategy for getting contact info for possible supporters by offering changes to win prizes to anyone who provides the names of at least eleven registered votes to the campaign.

Among the "prizes" being offered are lunch with Karl Rove and a tour of the US Capitol with David Barton:

The Perry campaign is offering supporters who submit 11 names of registered voters for the campaign to contact a chance to win prizes in a raffle. The gifts include a jogging lesson from RunTex founder Paul Carrozza and a shooting lesson from the paramilitary outfit LaRue Tactical.

Or how about a calf-roping demonstration by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst?

...

The 11 announced prizes, in addition to those above, include lunch with political guru Karl Rove, a tour of the U.S. Capitol with WallBuilders founder David Barton and a football clinic from former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach.

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WallBuilders: National Borders Were Drawn By God and Obama Is Out to Replace "Core Americans" With Illegals

Submitted by Kyle on July 26, 2010 - 2:58pm

It looks like we can now add David Barton and Rick Green of WallBuilders to the list of Religious Right activists who are opposing the effort by a handful of right-wing leaders to get conservatives to support immigration reform. 

And they are apparently taking a hard-line stance, as evidence by the fact that the guest on today's episode of "WallBuilders Live" was William Gheen of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, the viciously anti-immigrant activist who made news a few months back when he demanded that Sen. Lindsey Graham admit that he is gay, saying that his refusal to do so was allowing President Obama and others to blackmail him into supporting immigration reform.

Barton started off by saying that it was God who set the boundaries of all nations and so any violation of national borders is, in reality, a violation against God.  Then Rick Green talked with Gheen about how everyday thousands of American citizens are calling the Department of Homeland Security to report that they are being harmed by illegal immigrations while Obama administration refuses to respond because they are intent on "replacing us in our own country, [which is a] much smarter thing to do than fighting us in a war":

Barton: I think the first thing they have to understand, it is God and not man who establishes the borders of nations. National boundaries are set by God. If God didn't want boundaries, he would have put everyone in the same world and there would have been no nations; we would have all been living together as one group and one people. That didn't happen. From the Tower of Babel, he sent them out with different languages, different cultures. God's the one who drew up the lines for the nations, so to say open borders is to say "God, you goofed it all up and when you had borders, you shouldn't have done it ..."

Rick Green: We know better than you ...

Barton: And so, from a Christian standpoint, you cannot do that. God's the one who establishes the boundaries of nations.

...

William Gheen: All across America today, people are calling and saying "hey, illegal aliens are taking my job; hey, illegal aliens are hurting my wages; hey, illegal aliens stole my wife, stole my property, hey, illegal aliens are menacing my children in school with physical violence and I know they're illegal and come do your job."

And these call, probably hundreds, if not thousands, per day are going right to where they're suppose to be - Department of Homeland Security - and nothing is ever happening, they're not listening, they don't care about the death and suffering illegal immigration is causing the American public.

And when you look closer at who is up there and who's around them, you find power groups that actually advocate for this kind of stuff - they are protecting illegal aliens, they facilitated their importation into the United States and they seem to have some broader political/economic agenda of replacing many core Americans and American values and our jobs and our schools and everything else. That's what they're doing. They don't like Americans so they're replacing us in our own country. It's a much smarter thing to do if you're our enemies than fighting us in a war.

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Barton: Attacks on Tea Party Just Likes Attacks On Jesus

Submitted by Kyle on July 23, 2010 - 3:05pm

On his radio program today, Bryan Fischer interviewed David Barton about this op-ed he recently wrote explaining how today's Tea Party activists are the "represent much of what is right in America" because they are committed to the Constitution and  to "holding their elected officials accountable to its standards."

But not only are the Tea Party activist just like the Founding Fathers, they are also just like Jesus:

The Tea Party platform, despite all the negative ... the media has decided to take on the Tea Party and whack 'em because really, the Tea Party, if they have their way, the liberal left is going to be on the outside in this thing.

So the best you can do is try to villainize these guys. You know, when Jesus got a really big following, they started saying "oh, he's a wine-bibber, he's a glutton," they started all the name-calling and finger-pointing; you know, he's trying to install himself as king and he's going to kick out Caesar, trying to get the Romans stirred up.

So they used all these ridiculous charges and so this is nothing new.

 

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