Barton is full of shit, of course.
http://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/the-jefferson-lies-david-barton%E2%80%99s-new-collection-of-whoppers
The Jefferson Lies: David Barton’s New Collection Of Whoppers
April 13, 2012 by Rob Boston in Wall of Separation
Barton is no historian; his only earned degree is in Christian education from Oral Roberts University.
I have obtained a copy of David Barton’s new book The Jefferson Lies: Exposing the Myths You’ve Always Believed About Thomas Jefferson. I haven’t read the entire tome yet but did spend some time leafing through it last night. Within half an hour I had noticed several outrageous distortions of the truth.
That’s not surprising since Barton, a Texas-based “Christian nation” propagandist, has been spreading fundamentalist misinformation about the nation’s founding for years. He’s no historian; his only earned degree is in Christian education from Oral Roberts University. But that hasn’t stopped his WallBuilders outfit from convincing many evangelical Christians that the Religious Right’s version of America was intended by the Founders from the start.
Today is Jefferson’s birthday, so it’s an appropriate occasion to rise to his defense against people like Barton who are trying to covert our third president into an 18th-century Religious Right zealot. With that thought in mind, here are some of the lies Barton is spreading about Jefferson:
Jefferson arranged to have a Bible printed by the federal government. Barton writes that Jefferson “personally helped finance the printing of one of America’s groundbreaking editions of the Bible.” He mentions that John Adams was also involved in the project. The clear implication is that these government leaders wanted to see the Bible printed and promoted at public expense.
What really happened is much more mundane:
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