'Christian nation' guru promoted Bush and GOP in 'below radar' scheme.

The Republican National Committee hired David Barton, a prominent "Christian nation" advocate, to travel the country and speak at fundamentalist Christian churches prior to the election.

Barton, who became famous in Religious Right circles by rewriting American history to "prove" that separation of church and state is a myth and that America was designed to be an officially Christian nation, worked under the radar through a series of low-profile visits.

The website www.beliefnet.com reported in October that Barton, who serves as vice chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, was hired by the GOP as a consultant to speak in evangelical churches. (One record indicated that Barton had been paid $12,000.)

Barton traveled the country for about a year prior to the election, showing pastors a slideshow designed to prove that the United Stales was meant to be Christian. He told Beliefnet that his efforts were meant to be "below the radar.... We work our tails off to stay out of the news."

Pastors were informed that the meetings were non-partisan. But during the events, which were coordinated by the Republican Party's evangelical outreach arm, Barton advised religious leaders that they could endorse candidates from the pulpit as long as they say it's their personal opinion. The Internal Revenue Service, in fact, has warned against pulpit endorsements.

Barton told Beliefnet it is legal for a pastor to stand up in church and say, "Now look, I'm going to tell you something--and the church didn't vote on this, and the elder board hasn't gotten together on it--but I'm telling you, John Kerry is not fit to be president."

Added Barton, "He can do that, that's fine. The pastor has the right of free speech, but he cannot bring the corporate machinery to bear."

Barton's retelling of American history has been extensively reviewed and debunked. In 1996, the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs said that a Barton documentary called "America's Godly Heritage" is "laced with exaggerations, half-truths and misstatements of fact."

Barton's book The Myth of Separation contained a number of quotes attributed to Founding Fathers that turned out to be bogus. Barton later withdrew the book, rewrote it and issued it again under the title Original Intent.

***** the Madison County Democratic Executive Committee, for sending youngsters out on a "scavenger hunt." According to the Religion News Service, Kerry-Edwards signs were among items on the list. Eight signs were reportedly taken from area yards and brought back to the church where they were burned.

Ponder-Twardy and Storey issued a written apology to Dermody in which they maintained the scavenger hunt was not meant as a political statement. The church officials also sent a written statement to the Huntsville district superintendent of the United Methodist Church apologizing for instructing students to remove signs from private property, which is a misdemeanor.

"I truly regret the actions of my staff and myself regarding the taking and destroying of these signs," Ponder-Twardy said in the letter to the Methodist superintendent. "It was a gross error in judgment. We believe lessons have been learned, and we believe similar actions will never happen again."