Telling Jefferson Lies
Watch for information about Season Two coming in 2025! Season one of the series was active from January-April, 2024. Bonus episodes were periodically posted throughout the remainder of 2024. Please subscribe so you will be notified about Season Two in 2025.
Telling Jefferson Lies chronicles how history can be hijacked for ideological and political purposes, as well as a much broader story about the surge of Christian nationalism and the misuse of history which often goes along with it. The series begins with an in-depth consideration of the methods of Christian nationalist story teller David Barton. Then I tell the story of how his book on Jefferson was pulled from publication in 2012 and the response of evangelicals to that rare event. From there, I broaden the scope to examine the varieties of Christian nationalism and the negative consequences of this way of thinking about church and state. The last segment examines the reasons why the separation of church and state is good history, good civics, and good religion.
For more information, go to http://www.gettingjeffersonright.com.
Telling Jefferson Lies
Telling Jefferson Lies Season Two Preview - January 6 Edition
Although the dates have not been set, new episodes of Telling Jefferson Lies are coming this Spring. I want to go deeper into the faulty history of Christian nationalism but also examine the psychology behind it as well.
Christian nationalism as an ideology is much more complex than fake quotes and false stories. The way history has been written from the beginning of the arrival of the Europeans must be examined as well.
This trailer focuses on January 6 with a clip from David and Tim Barton doing their Christian nationalist duty to distract from the reality of the insurrection at the Capitol. Immediately after the insurrection, Christian nationalists blamed antifa but Trump supporters who were on the ground said that conspiracy theory was wrong.
Thanks to Katherine Stewart for her commentary in this brief segment.