The May 4, New York Times introduced readers to David Barton, an amateur historian whose ideas about America being a "Christian Nation" founded by evangelicals are quite foreign to the readers of that publication. Described in the article as a "quirky history buff" and "self-taught historian," Barton has long been a powerful and influential figure with America's vast evangelical subculture. For many years he was co-chair of the Texas Republican party and his multimillion dollar media empire -- Wallbuilders -- churns out a steady supply of materials supporting his key message that America was founded as a Christian nation and needs to return to its roots to recover the favor it once received from God. Barton, who Glenn Beck describes as "an expert in historical and constitutional issues," is also a "professor" on Beck's new online university. Barton's formal education consists of a degree in religious education from Oral Roberts University.
Barton is a powerful symbol of an invigorated anti-intellectualism that has long flourished within American evangelicalism and has now taken over the Republican party. But, as historian Randall Stephens and I argue in our forthcoming book The Anointed: Evangelical Truth in a Secular Age Barton is far from unique. American evangelicals, Fox News, and now the Republican Party take their intellectual cues from a roster of remarkably similar populists who head media empires. These leaders, who we dub "The Anointed," wield an astonishing influence on America's main streets. But because this influence is felt primarily at the grass roots level -- and rarely discussed in the pages of the leading opinion journals -- it can seem invisible.
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