The other day we noted that the Arkansas Family Council is going to be bringing David Barton in to lead a two-day seminar for state legislators and government officials and explain to them that “helping the poor … is primarily a function of the church,” not government.

And indeed, the idea that it is not the government’s responsibility to help the poor seems as if it is going to be one of the main points Barton intends to impart, as the AFC’s Jerry Cox explained to Arkansas News columnist John Brummett:

Cox told me that Barton will not be lecturing these legislators on imposing Christianity on the government. Instead, he said, this highly polarizing Texan of dubious academic credentials will explain that some responsibilities belong to government, some to families and some to the church. Quoting Barton from a recent lecture in Garland County, Cox said: —Justice belongs to the government because a system of church punishment might bear alarming comparisons to inquisitions. —Child rearing belongs to the family. —Services for the poor and needy are the rightful responsibility of the church.

Interesting, isn’t it, how Barton isn’t going to churches with the message that it is their responsility to help the poor but is instead going to legislators with the the message that it is not their responsibility to help the poor?