If you doubt me, consider that in his 2000 book Original Intent: The Courts, The Constitution, and Religion, Barton explains that the religious faith of the Founders has been deliberately obscured by a sinister godless cabal of historians. As one item of evidence, he cites the musical comedy 1776, which shows Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin dancing around the stage and singing silly songs about the Declaration of Independence. "There is absolutely no evidence to support any of these exchanges," Barton sniffs. If that's not crazy enough for you, consider that he once claimed that John Randolph of Roanoke, one of the most influential Jeffersonians during the early Republic, was a secret Muslim.

In a sane era, Barton would be peddling hand-typed manifestos on a street corner in his hometown of Aledo, Texas. But in our time, his deviant "history" has been assiduously mainstreamed by politicians eager to use religion as a divisive force. Barton has been an adviser to both Michelle Bachmann and New Gingrich, has been praised by Mike Huckabee, and is called by Glenn Beck "the Library of Congress in shoes." In 2005, Time called him one of "the 25 most influential evangelicals in America."

The truly good news about Barton's recent setback is that it has come from his own side. The Jefferson Lies portrays America's third president as an orthodox Christian who favored religious support for Protestantism, and as an early hero of the struggle against racism and slavery. It's more than just a whitewash of this fascinating, complex figure; it's invented out of whole cloth. And though it was challenged by the media -- History News Network's readers last month voted it "the least credible history book in print" -- its downfall occurred not because of secular opposition but because genuine Evangelical intellectuals took it on.



In May, Warren Throckmorton and Michael Coulter published an ebook called Getting Jefferson Right: Fact Checking Claims about Our Third President. They are hardly pointy-headed secular humanists: Both teach at Grove City College, a Christian college in Pennsylvania. Throckmorton was formerly a proponent of "conversion" therapy for gay people; now he espouses "Sexual Identity Therapy," which encourages clients to evaluate and adjust to their sexual identity along with their religious commitments, even when their religious values condemn homosexuality; Coulter is the co-editor of The Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought, Social Science, and Social Policy. Getting Jefferson Right was endorsed by a number of Evangelical intellectuals, including John Fea, a genuine historian at conservative Messiah College, whose Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? A Historical Introduction is an invaluable resource for anyone wanting a sophisticated understanding of the debate Barton has fouled for so long.