As we have noted time and again, David Barton has this absurd tendency to simply assert that major parts of our system of government have been plucked directly out of the Bible while never bothering to provide any explanation or evidence whatsoever.

And he did it again while speaking at First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia where is asserted that the free market system came directly out of five specific Bible passages:

Of course, if you bother to actually look up the verses Barton just rattles off, you might be left scratching your head trying to understand how the entire concept of free markets came from these short passages:

1 Timothy 5:8 Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”

As for Matthew 20 and 25 and Luke 19, they are parables in which Jesus is talking about Judgment Day and the Kingdom of Heaven.

In Matthew 25 and Luke 19, the parable is meant to illustrate that every person will be judged by God for how they have used the gifts He has given them while Matthew 20 reveals that all those who accept Christ will receive the same eternal reward.

In each case, it is clear that the parables Jesus tells are designed to teach about spiritual issues, but Barton blindly asserts that they are about economic issues and that our entire economic system is based upon them.

It is a good thing for Barton that the audiences to which he spreads his pseudo-historical nonsense never seem to take a few minutes to actually research any of his assertions. Because, if they did, his reputation as America’s greatest historian might not survive.