David Barton, the phony historian who heads the right-wing, North Texas-based organization WallBuilders, is pitching his theory for why we see floods, storms and other devastating weather. It’s all those abortions:
“Another one I’ll throw out is weather. It’s interesting in the Bible, weather patterns are often predicated on whether the people doing the right thing or the wrong thing. And if people sin against God, then you get floods, and you get storms, you get lightning, you get all your crops get destroyed, you get all sorts of things…
…
… today 52 percent of Christians think that God does a really lousy job with the weather. Maybe it’s not his choice that is doing it. Maybe it’s our own sin or our own unrighteous policies. Maybe it’s because we love killing unborn kids, 60 million of them. Maybe God says, “I’m not going to bless your land when you’re doing it.”
(Hat tip: Patheos)
This isn’t the first time Barton has suggested that people deserve the terrible things that happen to us. A couple of years ago, for example, he said God doesn’t want a vaccine for AIDS because the disease is a penalty imposed on gay people. He also calls separation of church and state a “myth” and has even (indirectly) lectured Pope Francis on climate change.
Needless to say, the former vice chair of the Texas Republican Party is a favorite among conservative evangelicals and politicians. In fact, he headed up a super-PAC supporting Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s failed bid for president in 2016.
Texas State Board of Education member Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands, has hilariously called Barton “a leading historian of our state, if not the nation.” Cargill’s state board even appointed him as an “expert” adviser when it revised the social studies curriculum standards for Texas public schools in 2009-10. In that role Barton took a number of controversial stands, such as criticizing the inclusion of labor and civil rights icon César Chavez in the curriculum standards. He and a fellow “expert” adviser (who was also anything but an “expert”) argued that Chavez was a leftist and inappropriate role model for students. (By the way, that is one big reason why the Texas Legislature was foolish, in this year’s legislative session, to give board members authority to censor textbook content they consider “unsuitable” for students.)
Not surprisingly, Barton’s propaganda is often filled with errors and distortions. Even a prominent evangelical publisher pulled his book on Thomas Jefferson from the shelves after real historians found that it was riddled with mistruths.
But Barton carries on as one of the most prominent right-wing propagandists in America today. And now he wants you to know what causes the bad weather out there.
