Chris Rodda -- senior research director for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and author of Liars For Jesus: The Religious Right's Alternate Version of American History -- absolutely destroys Fox News host Glenn Beck's contention that “the first bible printed in English was printed by Congress” in the following video:
Rodda goes into even greater details in a post on the Talk 2 Action blog (emphasis added):
For anyone who has been following the unholy da_b_458515.html">new partnership between Glenn Beck and Christian nationalist history revisionist David Barton, no explanation for why I'm posting this is necessary. For anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of watching Beck and Barton in action, here's the background in a nutshell: David Barton, the pseudo-historian from Texas who's probably more responsible than any other individual for spreading the erroneous belief that America was founded as a Christian nation, has now teamed up with Glenn Beck. Barton, who appeared on the radar recently as one of the history “experts” in the Texas textbook massacre, is also a former vice-chair of the Texas Republican Party, and, in 2005, was named one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America by Time Magazine. Barton has now made several appearances on Beck's show, armed with his usual scholarly schtick and pile of impressive historical items from his extensive private collection.
One of the items in Barton's bag of historical tricks is a rare Bible printed in 1782 by Philadelphia printer Robert Aitken. This Bible has been a mainstay of Barton's presentations for years, and was, as expected, one of the featured pieces of Christian nation “evidence” whipped out on Beck's show. Barton's bogus claim about this Bible? It was printed by Congress for the use of schools -- proof that the founders never intended a separation between church and state. Needless to say, Beck and his audience are just eating this stuff up. Barton's appearances on Beck's show have propelled his fifteen-year-old book of historical hogwash, Original Intent, to bestseller status, reaching as high as #6 on Amazon. Right now, as I sit here writing this post, this masterpiece of historical revisionism is ludicrously, and alarmingly, holding the #1 spot in the category of “Constitutional Law.”
I highly recommend reading Rodda's post in its entirety.
Previously: