WILL THE REAL THOMAS JEFFERSON PLEASE STAND UP?

In their new book out today, Getting Jefferson Right: Fact Checking Claims about Our Third President, two Christian college professors analyze popular Christian claims made about Thomas Jefferson. Professors Warren Throckmorton and Michael Coulter use Jefferson’s correspondence, contemporaneous accounts, and other primary sources to fact check key claims made in such recent Christian works as Kirk Camerons’ documentary, Monumental, and David Barton’s new book, The Jefferson Lies . “Unfortunately, there is often a wide gap between popular Christian speakers and writers and Christian social scientists on historical claims, particularly about early American history.

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MONUMENTAL CONFUSION: A REVIEW OF KIRK CAMERON'S DOCUMENTARY "MONUMENTAL"

"My premise as I start out this film is to approach this subject not as an actor or as a politician or not even as a Christian but to approach it as a father." (emphasis ours) This is how Kirk Cameron defined his documentary in a recent interview to a secular radio host and this is exactly what the film delivered having just watched it at the live screening. Before we even get into the review, it needs to be noted one of the most shocking parts of the live event was a very welcomed live feed from Glenn Beck on the set of GBTV studio. On the pre-show before Monumental starts, Kirk talks to the audience of viewers and introduces Beck as "one of our biggest supporters of the film and a friend." Beck then comes on the screen very excited to be partaking in this live event and says, "I am honored to be called your friend", and then goes on to say, "You were in Left...

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SHOULDN'T A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT HISTORY BE HISTORICALLY ACCURATE?

Actor Kirk Cameron’s documentary, Monumental, comes out this week. In the promotional material, he claims to retrace history “in search of America’s National Treasure.” A WORLD magazine article explains the treasure Cameron seeks: “Monumental tells the story of men and women who risked all for liberty, including the travails of the Pilgrims, and shares stories of faith that helped shape education, government and civic life in the United States.” I feel sure the movie will tell lots of stories, but based on what I have seen and heard so far, there is good reason to question their accuracy. Judging from the brief segments available at the website WingClips and Cameron’s press statements about the film, Monumental does not get off to a very accurate start, raising this question: Shouldn’t a documentary about history be historically accurate?

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BARTON'S NEW BOOK ON THOMAS JEFFERSON

David Barton's new release, The Jefferson Lies, is set to hit bookstore in the near future. According to Barton in a recent newsletter, "The need for this book was recently made evident by an atheist group's California billboard allegedly quoting Jefferson condemning Christianity." We have posted an ebook of the original book by Dr. Ashbel Green titled The Christian Advocate, written in 1830. Green knew the Founders better than most since his position was the Congressional Chaplain. In his book, he openly dispels any evidence of Jefferson being a Christian...

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NETWORK CANCELS DAVID BARTON'S RADIO SHOW WHILE ON THE AIR

The Moody Broadcast Network station in East Texas, KBJS-FM canceled David Barton’s Wallbuilders Live radio program during the show yesterday while Barton was discussing Glenn Beck’s religious beliefs. Randy Featherstone, KBJS manager, said the show was dropped due to Barton’s failure to distinguish between Mormon theology and Christianity. “When David Barton said it doesn’t matter whether you are a Mormon or a Baptist or a Methodist, we felt we had to do something,” Featherstone explained. On the Tuesday program, Barton played audio of Glenn Beck saying that “the Lord Jesus Christ is my Savior and my Redeemer.” Then Barton said he believed that Beck was a Christian based on...

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