D. James Kennedy

"Christian nationalists believe in a revisionist history, which holds that the founders were devout Christians who never intended to create a secular republic; separation of church and state, according to this history, is a fraud perpetrated by God-hating subversives. One of the foremost Christian revisionist historians is David Barton, who , in addition to running an organization called Wallbuilders that disseminates Christian nationalist books, tracts and videos, is also the vice-chairman of the Texas Republican Party.

"The notion that America was founded as a Christian nation is a central animating element of the ideology of the Christian Right. It touches every aspect of life and culture in this, one of the most successful and powerful political movements in American history. The idea that America's supposed Christian identity has somehow been wrongly taken, and must somehow be restored, permeates the psychology and vision of the entire movement. No understanding of the Christian Right is remotely adequate without this foundational concept.

"For those who missed the previous installments of this series, it is an item by item debunking of a list of claims from D. James Kennedy's sermon on "The Real Thomas Jefferson," a sermon repeated by Kennedy on a number of occasions between 2002 and 2007. (Watch the Coral Ridge Hour video from March 2006 here.) I refer to this list as the D.

"Even though the book and videos are riddled with factual errors, half truths and distortions, they have become the weapons of choice for Religious Right activists in their ongoing war against separation of church and state. In recent months, Americans United members from around the country have discovered letters to the editor in their local newspapers repeating Barton's charges. The videos have aired on public access and religious stations from coast to coast, and crates of the books have been shipped to evangelical churches for distribution."

"Some years ago I felt the term “religious right” was accurate enough for describing a large segment of the church world’s involvement in American “conservative” politics, but it seemed inadequate as a term when one struggled to understand the theological underpinnings that were driving the movement. Questions kept surfacing such as, “Why were so many religious conservatives becoming so politically militant?” It seemed like a contradiction in terms.

"Reconstructionism's decentralist ideas have led to the creation of a network of churches, across a number of denominations, all building for the Kingdom. One Reconstructionist pastor writes that the leadership of the movement is passing to hundreds of small local churches that are "starting to grow, both numerically and theologically. Their people are being trained in the Reconstruction army. And at least in Presbyterian circles. . .we're Baptizing and catechizing a whole generation of Gary Norths, R. J. Rushdoonys and David Chiltons."