So whose hatred is more venomous — the “God Hates Fags” crowd from Fred Phelps’ extremist congregation or David Barton, the Texas-based religious-right propagandist who thinks God is punishing gay people with AIDS? Tough call.
Speaking recently at Charis Bible College in Colorado, Barton told his audience that there will never be a vaccine for AIDS pretty much because God doesn’t want one. Our friends at Right Wing Watch quote Barton as explaining that Romans 1 in the Bible says people who have sex with others of the same gender will suffer a “penalty they deserved”:
“Anything the Bible says is right. There is scientific basis for it now. The federal government, in the last several years, has spent tens of billions of dollars looking for a vaccine for AIDS, and I don’t think they will ever find a vaccine for HIV/AIDS. And I say that based on a particular Bible verse … Notice this, homosexuals receive in their bodies the penalty due them. The Bible says if you engage in homosexuality, your body will do things that will penalize you. So if you can have a vaccine for AIDS, then you’re keeping your body from penalizing you. I don’t think they’ll ever find a vaccine for AIDS.”
This isn’t the first time Barton has made the same vile argument. The Southern Poverty Law Center also documents Barton’s anti-gay screeds. In any case, each time he says something like that, we’re reminded of Pat Buchanan’s sneering attack on gay people as AIDS killed thousands in the 1980s:
”The poor homosexuals — they have declared war upon nature, and now nature is extracting an awful retribution.”
That was in 1983. Barton is still making essentially the same argument more than three decades later. And keep this in mind: Barton is influential with right-wing Republican lawmakers who vote on things like funding for AIDS research.
for f**k sake….God help us from this ignorant ass.
Perhaps someone needs to invent a vaccine to protect people from David Barton.
“Anything the Bible says is right. There is scientific basis for it now.”
Now there’s an interesting statement. Seriously doubt he could get away w/ saying such a thing to scientists. But wait! Mr. B & his ilk reject science as a matter of course. Ooops! He painted himself into a corner.
AIDS began in Africa; it had nothing to do with homosexuality. The unfortunate truth that in the United States and some other countries, AIDS was spread by homosexuals, but at NO TIME was AIDS a “gay disease.”
Barton’s brand of Xianity has nothing to do with the religion of Christianity. His absurd “bible” has some ancient preacher saying, “Hate all who are not like you.” “Despise those you don’t know.”
If Barton was of any importance, I’d pay attention to his blatherings, but he is of NO importance, why does TFN have anything to do with him?
You never hear of the Christian Right, just the “religious” right…their religion is based on hatred, bigotry, and are kissing cousins to the Nazis. They WANT a fascist, totalitarian state where ONLY their brand of hate could be the law of the land.
Just as I despised the Nazis (yes, I’m that old) I abhor whatever it is that Barton and his ilk want. Thank God this is America and his kind of bigotry and hate will never be the law of the land.
Beverly,
Unfortunately, Barton is influential on the far right. Moreover, as insane as it sounds, he was appointed as a so-called “expert” adviser when the State Board of Education rewote the public school curriculum standards for social studies in Texas. He’s one of the reasons why, for example, the new textbooks in this state will teach students that Moses was a major influence on the writing of the Constitution and that our form of government has roots in the Bible. It could have been worse if we hadn’t exposed what he was trying to do. At one point, for example, he insisted that students shouldn’t learn about Cesar Chavez because he didn’t like his politics! Barton lost on that one after we raised the alarm.
Dan
I suggest folks go to the SPLC’s page about the braggart’s claims. If he WERE a historian, he would KNOW that two thousand years ago that the books were NOT written by who he thinks.
The people who supposedly wrote those books would have been over 100 years old. People averaged around 40 to 50 years although there were, as even now, exceptions.
Let’s consider that the apostles were in their 30s if we assume that they were in fact following Jesus, they would have been long dead because they would have had to live to be between 120 to 150 years old to have actually written those books–needless to say, they didn’t.
The latest suggestion is that Paul wrote much, if not ALL, of the so-called “New Testament.”
There can BE no “new” covenant as God had made an ETERNAL covenant with Abraham and as far as I can tell, eternity is not over with.
So essentially, Barton has a very serious mental disease. Isn’t that we we call people when they believe what isn’t true? Let’s face it, Barton is what I call a funny-mentalist, there is something wrong in his head if he can’t even figure THAT fact out.
Also, blanket hatred for others also shows a very, very SERIOUS MENTAL DISEASE, there’s no getting around it, David Barton is a mental case. He hates EVERYONE who isn’t exactly like him.
He really wants there to be a fascist state so everyone will have to do what he wants them to do.
One thing that tickles the dickens out of me is that he thinks like so many other mentally ill people in that he thinks that this is a Christian nation. President John Adams, in the Treaty of Tripoli said, “As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion…” how could it possibly be true that this is a Christian nation in direct opposition to what President Adams, one of the founders of this nation, said in 1797. The CONSTITUTION was ratified on September 17, 1787 before President Adams made that statement.
So not only is David Barton a liar, but he is mentally ill by denying the truth–the United States is NOT Christian, it is, in fact, a secular nation and always has been and will be.
David Barton needs to be taken into custody for a sanity hearing.
David Barton should be safe as long as no one comes up with a vaccine against stupidity. That would deprive Barton of his entire audience.