Liars For Jesus: The Religious Right's Alternate Version of American History, Vol. 1

by Chris Rodda, William N. Esborn (Foreword)

Liars for Jesus debunks many of the historical lies invented and used by the Christian nationalist history revisionists in their efforts to further their far right political agenda and destroy the wall of separation between church and state in America. Liars for Jesus is not a book about religion. It is a history book, presenting and fully documenting the true stories and historical facts that are distorted in the "Christian nation" pseudo-history promoted by the religious right.

Genres: Religion, History, Nonfiction, Politics, Atheism, American History, Sociology

Paperback

First published August 10, 2006

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

PLEASE read this book and learn something about our government and history. This is an excellent book that eviscerates with meticulous attention to detail (author may have OCD) the claims that the founders aimed to establish the United States as a Christian nation. If you want the ability to understand the batshit crazy comments you hear coming from the religious right. This is the antidote you want. Great book, that I am comforted by the knowing it merely exists.

http://www.liarsforjesus.com/download...

[Art · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I hate the title of this book, I love the content. There has been a concerted effort recently to rewrite American history. Many "historians" from the religious right have been expending a lot of time and energy trying to falsely "prove" that the Founding Fathers were overwhelmingly devout Christians who planned for this to be a Christian nation. To do so they use selected quotes (out of context), misquotes, and outright lies to make this seem true.

Rocca in her book explodes these lies. She has meticulously assembled the lies, then even more meticulously (sometimes to the point of overkill) provides the quotes in context. The sheer amount of research required for this is mindboggling. Rocca makes sure there are no selected quotes here. And, at her website she provides links to copies of the documents themselves.

I love American history. I have hated seeing it twisted. These liars are using Jesus and Christianity in a ploy to gain power. In my mind this has nothing to do with Jesus. That's why I hate the title. The clarity of the content is why I love the book itself.

[Jim]

Rodda shows conclusively that pseudo-historians like David Barton, D. James Kennedy, William Federer, Tim LaHaye, Mark Beliles, and John Eidsmoe have intentionally distorted facts about early American history to try to make a case against the separation of church and state, often relying on secondary sources from the early 19th century that engaged in similar distortions. Unlike those authors, Rodda goes back to the original documents, quotes them at length and in context, and even provides images of hard-to-find documents on her website. In the process, she also finds a few cases where Supreme Court justices Rehnquist, Thomas, and Burger have erred in their reliance upon secondary sources and gotten the historical facts wrong in Supreme Court decisions such as Walz v Tax Commission of NY, Rosenberger v U. of Virginia, and Wallace v Jaffree.

In the process, Rodda also shows that early American history is more nuanced and interesting than we're taught in high school U.S. History classes.

[Helene · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author accomplished her mission! 5 Stars.

[нєνєℓ ¢ανα · Rating 5 out of 5]

Complex but assertive... a tour of force... a revelation...

[Marfita · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the Kindle edition, which had some glitches (I've seen worse, though) where sentences ended in mid-air or sentence fragments drifted.
Rodda does a terrific job laying what the religious right says about US history and the Founding Fathers up against primary source documents. Even if people are a bit put off by the title, I really don't see how they can argue with the accuracy of it. These lobbyists for the christianization of the US are prooftexting in historical material the same way people prooftext in the Bible. They cut off ends of sentences if that last little bit negates their point. It would be one thing if it were just a point else where in a multi-page document, but they are clearly including only the fragments that support their view. They assign the wrong author to material to make them look more religious. And Rodda is just getting started.
Where she really shines is when she has to pause and set the scene for us. Her background material on historical events is really quite vivid and compelling and turned what I thought was going to be just a point-by-point refutation (and it is for the most part) into a stroll through the past with a seasoned docent. If there were more of that fleshing out, I'd have given it that last star, but that isn't the point of this book. It's for those of us who need quick access to just the facts, ma'am, to arm ourselves against The Liars.

[Robu-sensei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful as a reference for refuting Religious Right false history, but a real slog to read as a book. Chris Rodda provides a wealth of evidence against popular right-wing historical falsehoods, and the devil really is in the details. I suppose that non-scientists feel the same way about scientific arguments refuting "Intelligent Design" creationism (ID); a few ID proponents make sophisticated enough pseudoscientific theories that considerable knowledge of evolutionary theory and evidence is required to debunk them. And so it is, I found through Liars for Jesus, with right-wing fake history.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chris Rodda did double duty: she read all the Jesus freak historical revisionists, then went and dug out primary source material to reveal their BS and, in many cases, outright lies for what they are. A bit tedious, which I can forgive because you need to be a bit tedious refuting popular pseudo-history. A very nice reference work on the included topics.

[Suzanne Cloud · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended for folks who have been mostly oblivious to the Christian Nationalists and Federalist Society's march to control our government over the last 40 years. This is a great study on how a nation's creed and character can be undermined by a very sneaky group of people who are racists, fascists, anti-feminists, and anti-immigrant (if the immigrants are people of color). Their religiosity bends toward power and control and has nothing to do with Jesus or his teachings.

[Donald Kratt · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK, trust me, I was sympathetic to the content of this book, and wanted to like it. However, the writer -- having done quite a bit of homework -- is in need of an editor. Quite often, in order perhaps to prove his thoroughness beyond any doubt in comparison to those he is trying to discredit, the author follows each useless branch of a story and recounts redundant versions of documentation.
In the end, this is a painful read.

[Erik Sapp · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of very good, very well researched information in this book. However, because of all of the research, the book is very quote-heavy. This is not a book to read for relaxation. It is a book to read in order to get a grasp on what many Founding Fathers felt about blending government and religion.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great, but desperately needs an editor

Very densely cited arguments abound. They're fascinating and well-argued, but whole paragraphs trail off into nothing, undermining the message that Barton, eh also, are liars. They are, but I promise you they would not publish unfinished sentences. Please hire an editor. This message is too important to be undermined by formatting errors.

[Jasmine]

While it would be useful as a reference book or for soeone going through religious deconstruction, it's not a book for a casual reader unless they are very interested in the minutae of American history.

[Jeff Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good informational source.

Though it was a bit slow and sometimes
repetitive, it makes up for it with what looks to be well researched information.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the information is occasionally dry, Chris Rodda does a good job of providing the factual antidote, derived from primary sources, to the Religious Right's attempt to "Christianize" American history. She directly cites claims by several home-school history text writers, and lays bare the historical revisionism that makes these books untrustworthy.

[Jason S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meticulously researched, this book is incredibly specific in the "lies" it is trying to debunk. Mostly attacking home school textbooks in a very polemical way, it is an interesting book to glance at and would be very useful if you ever had to debunk any of these myths, which in a regular classroom would probably be very rare. Thankfully.

[Marsha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rodda does decent research and proves her points well. I am troubled that I can find no information on her academic background, and the fact the book is self-published. Glad to see someone tackle Barton and other revisionists who distort history.

[Ben Tousey · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I like about this book is how she points out the lies, and provides historical documentation. What I would like to see added to the book is more. There are so many lies left unchallenged, and I'd like to see her pick those up too.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is very well researched book on how the Extreme Right seeks to rewrite the history of the Republic by trying to prove that religious values were the driving force in shaping our past, and how they are trying to force the views of a small minority on the rest of us.

[Count Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was surprised to see so many misquotes and outright bungling by SCOTUS in opinions from a few decades. Less surprised to see the particular justices involved.

Can't wait to see vol. II.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reveals how christians are re-writing history and quote-mining to push their agenda

[Linda F Meyer Abbott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review

A solid resource for deep analysis, but needs short bullet points for quick overview. Overall, a good beginning that focuses on how the Christian Right truly distorts truth.