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The claim that the Declaration of Independence was based on the Bible is common among those who believe America was founded as a Christian nation. Recently, Tim and David Barton are promoting the idea that the exact wording of parts of the Declaration was taken from sermons delivered in the early 1700s by Congregationalist preacher John Wise. They add that Cornell University history professor Clinton Rossiter taught that Wise influenced the American struggle for independence. This is supposed to bolster their argument about the Christian basis for the Declaration of Independence.

In this segment, I assert that the exact language of the Declaration is not in Wise's essays, nor does Rossiter say Wise was critical to American independence. A review of the primary sources shows that the Bartons' claims are false. This leads to a discussion of why the Bartons assert such easily disproved falsehoods.

Produced, written, and hosted by Warren Throckmorton

Music by Netop, Jonas Fair, and Dustin Blatnik

For more information about the book, The Christian Past That Wasn't, go to www.christianpast.com.

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Randall Balmer joins me for remarks about why he believes America is not a Christian nation and why separation of church and state is the American way. This is the topic of chapter 6 in my new book The Christian Past That Wasn't. In the book, I cover the topics in this segment as well as the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists, The Church of the Holy Trinity v. the United States, and the views of James Madison. Christian nationalists have significantly distorted the history in this area to reframe and redefine separation of church and state. I go to the primary sources to show readers what the framers said about this important principle.

To purchase or learn more about The Christian Past That Wasn't, go to www.christianpast.com.

Written, produced, and hosted by Warren Throckmorton

Music provided by Roman Candle, Jonathan Swaim, and Netop.

For a playlist of music used on the podcast, see this link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6jP94UmS5sCwoB4Ex3ini9?si=0C7Woza2QRaKrIsvvJ_l7g

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During the America 250 celebration, the Trump administration has partnered with Hillsdale College to produce various educational resources to promote a view of America's founding which is slanted toward Christian nationalism. In this segment, I take on Mark David Hall's video on the faith of the founders. You can watch it on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5J4S5LPeWM.

This segment thematically corresponds to chapter 5 in my book The Christian Past That Wasn't (christianpast.com). There is material in the podcast not in the book and much more material in the book than in the podcast.

In today's segment I have help from Gregg Frazer, Dean of humanities at The Master's University, Greg Forster, professor of theology at Trinity Divinity School and Michael Coulter, professor of political science and humanities at Grove City College.

In the video, it is important to point out that Hall speaks about the time of the founding as if African slaves and Indigenous people were not in the United States. I don't mention it either in the podcast episode, but I plan to do so when I get to the relavant chapter in the book.

The music today is provided by Netop. You can stream these tracks in full by going to https://artists.landr.com/991043708780.

Written, produced, and hosted by Warren Throckmorton