The problem is that his writing has exerted profound influence over the Texas Board of Education and other radically religious curriculum builders. And of course, his ideological commitments ensure that he can say virtually whatever he wants without being called out by his allies.
Keeping up with Barton's lying, quote-mining and fact-twisting would be a full-time job. He seems, however, to have deteriorated to the point where he doesn't even seem to care to hide it. He knows he has no credibility among those who actually know anything, and he knows that his fan based on the extreme right is willing to accept whatever shit falls out of his mouth. I recommend this deconstruction of Barton's Stewart appearance in several parts: One, Two, Three, Four, Five.
Further:
• Hooy. He seems to be kicking it up yet another notch...Oh fucking dear.
• See David Barton "argue" that schools force children to be gay. A good primer on Barton's fraudulent revisions of history can be found here.
• Oh, hell. I can't leave him be. Here is Barton claiming that there is a "spiritual" solution to abortion and poverty because people of faith do not "choose to live in poverty." He claims that once poor people change their humanistic attitude that tolerates abortion, poverty will end. Seriously. Ok. To clinch it, Barton is claiming that actual demonic powers are literally running rampant in the current government. There isn't really much left to say. Barton has fully embraced the crazy of Bryan Fischer and Tony Perkins, but is an even more hardcore religious fundamentalist than either (Barton, for instance, is more or less explicitly a dominionist). And that takes some work.
• Ok. One more.
• As mentioned, we are not going to keep track of Barton's antics. That would be a full time job (in fact, Chris Rhodda is thankfully taking on herself that task), to say the least. Barton is nothing if no productive, and just in the course of two days did he manage to spill at least this and this example of insanity, as well as some breathtaking displays of dishonesty. Here's an example of why he is so dangerous.
• ... and from the department of alternative realities, we bring you this.
• ... and one more: Barton spectacularly commits a naturalistic fallacy.
• ...and this must be something of a record, even for Barton. At least he gets slamdunked here, though he'll of course never admit as much.
• And in yet another breathtaking display of wingnut stupid Barton blames the theory of evolution for the (state level) separation of church and state.
It is interesting that Barton doesn't even seem to care about hiding it anymore: He has come out as a pure Biblical literalist who rejects any scientific result that can be remotely interpreted as conflicting with a literal reading of any part of the Bible - and he rejects it precisely because it conflicts with a literal (that is "literal" - meaning reading the Bible so that it fully conforms to Barton's preconceptions about what it ought to say) of the Bible.
• Now, this must surely count as among the most ridiculous things Barton has ever said. At least he does not have the faintest clue about American history, and he props up his ignorance with the most ridiculous glassy-eyed, evangelical explanatory attempt we have yet to see. More of the usual stuff. Here's Barton claiming that secular law leads to sharia, because he doesn't know how words work, what expressions mean, what distinguishes reasoning from delusional ranting, or (even cursorily) how reality is put together. Chris Rodda has started a new series debunking Barton's newest book. You can read the first entry here.
• And here is Barton claiming that schools don't teach his version of history because of evolution. Which would, of course, be an argument against him if it were true, but Barton doesn't quite manage to see it that way.
• Barton is known to try to claim that it's not the religious right who is trying to institute a theocracy, but the liberals. His evidence, however, is more abysmally insane than you'd thought possible.
• This illustrates fairly well the danger a complete loon like Barton pose to civilization.
• A small sample of falsehoods from Barton's most recent book.
• Barton continues his battle against reality, as expected.
• Well, this man sure continues to astound us.
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Diagnosis: Liar and fraud, dishonest quack and zealot, and also a victim of severe confirmation bias. He has had a lot of influence however (Texas Board of Education, for instance) and must be ranked among the most dangerous, destructively influential forces of lunacy out there.
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