One thing that you can count on when it comes to David Barton is that once he has adopted a talking point, he is going to continue to endlessly repeat it regardless of how false or misleading it may be.
Last month, Barton and Glenn Beck unveiled the results of a survey that they had commissioned Christian pollster George Barna to conduct for the purpose of finding out what sorts of issues average churchgoing Christians wanted to hear their pastors preach about from the pulpits.
Or at least, that is how Barton has been presenting it.
In reality, Barna’s survey was heavily biased since a whopping 92 percent of those surveyed were “spiritually active Christians who hold politically conservative views.” In other words, Barna’s survey represents only the views of Religious Right and conservative Christian activists, but Barton has misleadingly presented it time and again as representing the views of all Christians.
Last month, Barton spoke at a conference on “Religious Liberty in 21st Century America” at a church in Hartland, Michigan, where yet again he falsely portrayed this survey as representing the views of Christians as a whole.
“Christians, in particular, are saying , ‘We need some clarity for ourselves and for our kids, we need to know what the Bible says on certain issues,'” Barton stated. “Well, what issues do Christians want to know about? And so we commissioned a poll, George Barna, national pollster, went to the field and asked Christians, ‘What is it you want clear guidance on from the Bible? What do you want to hear from your religious leaders?'”
“It came back,” he continued, “that of those who said it is critically important or very important for me and my family to hear a biblical perspective … The number one issue is abortion. Ninety-one percent of Christians said, ‘I need to hear about abortion from church leaders.'”
