David Barton thinks slavery in the United States was alright. Or at least if it wasn't ok, this wasn't because slavery in itself is immoral, it is because the Southerners didn't conform more strictly to "biblical slavery," the rules and guidelines for slave-owning as laid out in the Bible.
http://www.politicususa.com/en/david-barton%E2%80%99s-plan-for-biblical-slavery-for-america
In fairness, the original article embedded in the link was not written by the uber-revisionist Barton, known for being a favorite of the far Right because he tells them the history that they want to hear, all patriotism and light with none of the flaws, but by Stephen McDowell. However, the article has remained on Barton's website since 2003, so one may reasonably assume that Barton endorses this viewpoint.
This is an attempt to "rehabilitate" the Founding Fathers that goes beyond any reason. The author believes that many dismiss the Founders entirely because they espoused freedom on one hand while many, including Washington and Jefferson, owned slaves. He asserts that they were not hypocrites, because they were Christians and the Bible never condemns slavery, instead outlining the proper practices. If anything, the slave owners are not to be condemned for owning slaves but for not fully following biblical law, he asserts. Funny how this all sounds so much like the Southern apologists who vociferously defended slavery leading up to, and after, the Civil War.
But it goes further than that. McDowell believes that all unbelievers are slaves, i.e. permanently, and thus according to the law of Leviticus there is no obligation to ever release them. He sees slavery as part of the "fallen Creation", that will not end until all the world is Christian (he might be no doubt interested to know that this was the view of Mohammad and his early followers in Islam). Only through internal liberation of oneself from "sin" does one merit freedom.
Most sane people should find this repugnant. But apparently David Barton does not, nor did the Dominionist R.J. Rushdoony, whose Institutes of Biblical Law outlined a theocracy for America in which slavery was permitted and homosexuals were stoned to death; Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson are heirs to his thinking. If one's own religion, supposedly the source of all good and without which there can be no morality, not only prevents one from condemning the barbarism of slavery but leads one to condone slavery, then of what use is it?
Further, McDowell makes the statement that the United States, during the Revolution, made great strides toward abolition. Indeed, but only in the Northern states; in the South it was strengthened and re-formed. He asserts that the United States led the way in the struggle for abolition, a statement as laughable as it is incorrect. The U.S. was one of the last countries to abolish slavery in the Western Hemisphere and was dragged kicking and screaming towards the end of slavery. The only countries in the Americas where slavery remained after the U.S. Civil War were Cuba and Brazil. Across the world, most other nations (with the exception of numerous sub-Saharan African countries) had already abolished slavery. Morocco ended slavery fairly early, as did Egypt (though it reopened later), and even Russia freed its serfs a full four years before the U.S. freed its slaves.
We are ill-served by the purveyors of this historical rubbish. If the past is to provide any lesson to us, we will learn nothing by a white-washed narrative devoid of any of the flaws.
http://www.politicususa.com/en/david-barton%E2%80%99s-plan-for-biblical-slavery-for-america
In fairness, the original article embedded in the link was not written by the uber-revisionist Barton, known for being a favorite of the far Right because he tells them the history that they want to hear, all patriotism and light with none of the flaws, but by Stephen McDowell. However, the article has remained on Barton's website since 2003, so one may reasonably assume that Barton endorses this viewpoint.
This is an attempt to "rehabilitate" the Founding Fathers that goes beyond any reason. The author believes that many dismiss the Founders entirely because they espoused freedom on one hand while many, including Washington and Jefferson, owned slaves. He asserts that they were not hypocrites, because they were Christians and the Bible never condemns slavery, instead outlining the proper practices. If anything, the slave owners are not to be condemned for owning slaves but for not fully following biblical law, he asserts. Funny how this all sounds so much like the Southern apologists who vociferously defended slavery leading up to, and after, the Civil War.
But it goes further than that. McDowell believes that all unbelievers are slaves, i.e. permanently, and thus according to the law of Leviticus there is no obligation to ever release them. He sees slavery as part of the "fallen Creation", that will not end until all the world is Christian (he might be no doubt interested to know that this was the view of Mohammad and his early followers in Islam). Only through internal liberation of oneself from "sin" does one merit freedom.
Most sane people should find this repugnant. But apparently David Barton does not, nor did the Dominionist R.J. Rushdoony, whose Institutes of Biblical Law outlined a theocracy for America in which slavery was permitted and homosexuals were stoned to death; Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson are heirs to his thinking. If one's own religion, supposedly the source of all good and without which there can be no morality, not only prevents one from condemning the barbarism of slavery but leads one to condone slavery, then of what use is it?
Further, McDowell makes the statement that the United States, during the Revolution, made great strides toward abolition. Indeed, but only in the Northern states; in the South it was strengthened and re-formed. He asserts that the United States led the way in the struggle for abolition, a statement as laughable as it is incorrect. The U.S. was one of the last countries to abolish slavery in the Western Hemisphere and was dragged kicking and screaming towards the end of slavery. The only countries in the Americas where slavery remained after the U.S. Civil War were Cuba and Brazil. Across the world, most other nations (with the exception of numerous sub-Saharan African countries) had already abolished slavery. Morocco ended slavery fairly early, as did Egypt (though it reopened later), and even Russia freed its serfs a full four years before the U.S. freed its slaves.
We are ill-served by the purveyors of this historical rubbish. If the past is to provide any lesson to us, we will learn nothing by a white-washed narrative devoid of any of the flaws.
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