Today's New York Times profile of Christian right propagandist David Barton reports on how the self-styled historian wields a great deal of influence in conservative and Christian nationalist circles, spreading his gospel that the U.S. was founded on Christian principles.

The Times' Erik Eckholm reports that "many historians call his research flawed" and that "liberal organizations are raising the alarm over what they say are Mr. Barton's dangerous distortions," and he quotes Baylor University critic Derek H. Davis, who says that Barton's work includes "a lot of distortions, half-truths and twisted history."

So Eckholm tells us that Barton has critics who say he generally mangles history, but what is true? This is where journalism and the professional judgment it entails  should intervene, but Eckholm is content to act the court stenographer, simply recording what the various parties say, rather than informing readers about the evidence for the conflicting views.

Nor is any mention made of Barton's controversial role in the creation of public school history curricula and text books, or past links with extremist groups, including the Christian Reconstructionist movement and the racist and anti-Semitic Christian Identity sect (Church & State, 4/93).

It's not that there's a shortage of critical work on Barton. Online reports about his links to extremists are widely available, as are any number of solid factual debunkings of his historical claims. Indeed, you can even read about how Barton himself conceded that a dozen quotes he'd attributed to U.S.  founders and other prominent political figures were either false or unverifiable. For instance, the Constitution's co-author and deist James Madison never said, as Barton claimed:

We have staked the whole future of American civilization, nor [sic] upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves ... according to the Ten Commandments of God.

Wouldn't Times readers be better served to know not just that Barton's detractors exist, but that their charges are backed by abundant evidence? And wouldn't it also be important for Americans to know that such a careless and extreme "historian" is playing an influential role in creating public school history curricula and text books that their children are using in school?

By reporting on a conservative icon without ferreting out the facts, the Times can say they covered the issue without incurring the right's anger. It's a Times formula last noted by Julie Hollar about the Times profile of anti-immigrant activist John Tanton.

Corrected version, 5/11/11--providing fuller version of Barton's "Madison" quote.

Glenn Beck says progressives are trying to "fundamentally transform the country" by rendering the Constitution "irrelevant" ("In 1920, they stopped studying the Constitution in law school and started studying case law!"), and by expunging from history the role "religion and morals" played in our founding.

On his April 28 show, Beck announced the launch of Founders Fridays segment, a special feature by which Beck intends to counter these progressive lies with...the truth:

Every Friday is going to be Founders' Fridays on the program, at least for the next month. And if nobody watches, well, then, we'll keep doing it anyway. We are going to try to repair some of the damage that is being done by truth. Truth. Truth is like fire. It will burn. It will burn everything that is impure. It will set on fire all lies. But it will not consume the truth. So we'll set a few fires by spewing the truth.

Don't think that Beck will have to do all this truth-spewing and fire-setting by himself; he'll have help from guests who "have history":

We're going to have some people in here who have history, who know the Founders better than anybody else on Earth. One of the guys who's going to be joining us for some of these is David Barton, author of Original Intent and founder of Wall Builders, an organization dedicated to presenting America's forgotten history and heroes.

In "The Right's Library of Fake Quotes," Extra! (4/10) documents many instances where conservatives have promoted fabricated historical quotes, religious and otherwise:

One of the most prolific purveyors of bogus founder quotes is Christian theocrat David Barton. Though not a household name, Barton's tireless efforts to construct a Christian origin story for the United States have been praised by the likes of Pat Robertson and Newt Gingrich (Church & State, 7-8/96). His 1989 book The Myth of Separation attributed bogus quotes to Washington (''It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible''), Jefferson ("I have always said and always will say that the studious perusal of the Sacred Volume will make us better citizens") and Patrick Henry ("It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ"). Barton has also misattributed the "Ten Commandments" quote to Madison.

In 1996 Barton admitted that these and nine other quotes he'd been circulating in his writings, videotapes and live appearances were either false or unverifiable (Church & State, 7-8/96). But Barton's reputation suffered little from the fraud, according to Rob Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church & State. "He's doing better than ever," Boston told Extra!, noting that since 1996 Barton has served as vice-chair of the Texas GOP, and now sits on the Texas state committee advising the state's board of education on history and social studies curriculum, "despite no history credentials."

But Barton is no stranger to the show, having appeared several times with Beck in the recent past (e.g. 4/30/10, 4/8/10, 3/15/10.) And Barton has apparently had a real impact on Beck, who repeated one of the spurious George Washington quotes he is famous for promoting on his March 5 show: "It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible."

Beck and Barton should thank God that truth doesn't really burn lies.