David Barton (born January 28, 1954) is an evangelical author and political activist for Christian nationalist causes. He is the founder of WallBuilders, LLC, a Texas-based organization that promotes pseudohistory about the religious basis of the United States.
Barton's work is devoted to advancing the discredited idea that the United States was founded as an explicitly Christian nation and rejecting the notion that the United States Constitution calls for separation of church and state. Scholars of history and law have described his research as highly flawed, "pseudoscholarship" and spreading "outright falsehoods".
Barton is a former vice chair of the Republican Party of Texas and served as director of Keep the Promise PAC, a political action committee that supported the unsuccessful Ted Cruz 2016 presidential campaign.
Early life, education, and family
Barton is a lifelong resident of Aledo, Texas, a suburb of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. He graduated from Aledo High School in 1972. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in religious education from Oral Roberts University in 1976.
Barton is married and has three grown children, including a daughter who performs minority outreach for the Republican Party of Texas.
Career
After graduating from college, Barton served as a youth pastor at churches in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was employed as a teacher of math and science and eventually became principal at Aledo Christian School, a ministry of the charismatic church started by Barton's parents.
In 1987, Barton formed Specialty Research Associates, Inc., a company which said it focused on historical research "relating to America's constitutional, moral, and religious heritage". Specialty Research Associates submitted amicus curiae briefs in court cases. In 1988, the company became WallBuilders.
Barton is the founder and president of WallBuilders. WallBuilders publishes and sells most of Barton's books and videos, some of which present Barton's position that the modern view of separation of church and state is not consistent with the views of the Founding Fathers. Barton has argued that the religion clauses of the First Amendment were intended only for monotheistic religions, and perhaps solely Christianity. A 2005 Time magazine article entitled "The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals" called Barton "a major voice in the debate over church–state separation" who, despite the fact that "many historians dismiss his thinking ... [is] a hero to millions—including some powerful politicians." Barton has appeared on television and radio programs, including those of Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and Glenn Beck. Beck has praised Barton as "the Library of Congress in shoes". In September 2013, he returned to the political arena and advised state legislators on how to fight the Common Core academic standards promoted by the Obama administration.
Barton was the vice chairman of the Texas Republican Party from 1997 to 2006 under state chairman Susan Weddington. He has also acted as a political consultant to the Republican National Committee on outreach to evangelicals. There was a Tea Party movement to get him to run against Senator John Cornyn in the 2014 Senate election from Texas. However, Barton announced on November 6, 2013, that he would not run for the seat. Barton headed the Keep the Promise PAC, a political action committee supporting Ted Cruz during his campaign for election as U.S. President in 2016. Cruz failed to receive the Republican nomination. Barton has also advised Newt Gingrich.
Barton's first non-self-published work was a 2003 article in the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy, (Volume XVII Issue No. 2, 2003, p. 399), a survey of Jefferson's writings about the First Amendment.
Barton is the initial funder of Patriot Academy, a right-wing organization that says it gives participants “the physical training you need to be able to defend your family” and “intellectual ammunition to defend the Constitution."
Affiliations
Barton has served on the board of advisors of the Providence Foundation. In an article discussing Barton, The Nation described the Providence Foundation as "a Christian Reconstructionist group that promotes the idea that biblical law should be instituted in America."