THE "CLIFFS NOTES" TO BARTON'S MASTERPIECE

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AMERICA'S GODLY HERITAGE
by David Barton
copyright: 1993
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'AMERICA'S GODLY HERITAGE' is a 30-page booklet, the text of which is simply the lightly edited, transcribed soundtrack from David Barton's videotape presentation of the same name. Being fairly brief and inexpensive, this booklet would make a fine gift to give away to individuals (and interested groups) who seek to know a little bit about this aspect of America's history that has been swept under the rug of secular textbooks for close to half a century now. 
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Although slight in size, 'AMERICA'S GODLY HERITAGE' packs a wallop, and will make the head (that still believes "separation of church and state" is some principal plank of American government) spin!
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If you've spent any time browsing the Amazon website, you don't need me to tell you that there are MANY reviewers who exhibit much greater devotion to promoting and defending their chosen beliefs than to seeking the truth -- whatever that truth may turn out to be. A reviewer here (I'll call him "Mr. Smith") denounces 'AMERICA'S GODLY HERITAGE' as a misrepresentation of fact. In this case, however, I do not doubt the sincerity of "Mr. Smith" -- I think he genuinely believes what he expresses. But I also believe that he has been misguided and led astray.
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Yes, there are many publications out there that attempt to paint an untraditional and often unflattering portrait of America's Founders. Considering the age we live in, it's not the least bit surprising that the market has been flooded with revisionist history books that tell not just little fibs, but Tsunami Lies! In fact, this has become so prevalent in the last several decades that, as I understand it, the Olympic Committee is seriously considering making both Dog-Sledding and Founding Father-Spinning officially sanctioned events in the next Olympiad!
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I just don't think there are too many different ways a person can interpret this statement by JOHN ADAMS:
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"The general principles on which the Fathers achieved independence were... the general principles of Christianity... I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God."
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I think BENJAMIN RUSH (a signer of The Declaration Of Independence) meant exactly what he wrote in his autobiography:
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"My only hope of salvation is in the infinite transcendent love of God manifested to the world by the death of His Son upon the Cross. Nothing but His blood will wash away my sins. I rely exclusively upon it."
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And when JOHN JAY -- the original Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and one of the three men most responsible for the Constitution -- declares, "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty -- as well as the privilege and interest -- of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers", I have a hard time thinking he meant that in some "rhetorical" way. I don't know, call me a moron if you will, but I think I'm fairly bright as morons go. (When the Founding Fathers wrote that they were declaring their independence from England, I wonder if they meant that in a merely "rhetorical" way too, but King George III mistakenly took them seriously.)
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Make no mistake about it: nearly all of the 55 Founding Fathers who worked on the U.S. Constitution were members of ORTHODOX Christian churches, and many of them were evangelical Christians.
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As impressive as 'AMERICA'S GODLY HERITAGE' is, it can't be considered as anything more than the "Cliffs Notes" for Barton's REAL masterpiece, 'ORIGINAL INTENT: The Courts, The Constitution, & Religion'. 'ORIGINAL INTENT' is an exhaustive tome of stellar and scholarly research that covers the same ground, but buries six feet deep the efforts of secular revisionists.
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And while 'ORIGINAL INTENT' is the direction I would ultimately point you in, 'AMERICA'S GODLY HERITAGE' might be the best place for those people unprepared for the startling truth to begin an inquiry. Certainly it would be better to let this little booklet prep your mind and whet YOUR INTEREST, than to dive right into 'ORIGINAL INTENT' and perhaps short-circuit your mind and wet YOURSELF!
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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