Because people who don't read the Bible cover to cover are Biblically illiterate idiots, and Barton thinks Obama is a Biblically illiterate idiot, he assumes, without any other information that he cites, that Obama has never read the Bible cover to cover. How he can magically assert his, aside from his magical thinking, I have no idea.
On the other hand, I, for one, have read the Bible cover to cover. In a couple of translations. Four times, I believe, over the years. I guess that qualifies me as Biblically liberate in David Barton's eyes. Which is one reason why I can say that his misreads of the Bible and American History are doltish.
Except it probably wasn't the One True Translation. Or I wasn't raised an evangelical, so I wasn't able to read it correctly. Or, um, some other reason I'm sure he'll make up out of whole cloth any time now.
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Barton: 'I Don't Think the President has Ever Read the Bible From Cover to Cover' |
As David Barton sees it, anyone who doesn't buy his absurd claim that the Constitution is chock-full of verbatim direct quotes from the Bible is simply "biblically illiterate." And, as Barton explaine…
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Is Barton the guy who maintains that Thomas Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers were evangelical Christians as we understand the term today? (Despite the fact that it takes a much shorter time to read Jefferson's Bible cover to cover.)
Yes, he is indeed that particular dolt. As well as the guy who says that the writers of the Constitution included "direct quotes" from the Bible, and that the Bible teaches us that God loves capitalism and hates the minimum wage. See also https://hill-kleerup.org/blog/?s=david+barton+dolt
The one time when Biblical knowledge was valuable from a political sense (as opposed to an ethical or religious sense) was when Jimmy Carter prepared for the Camp David negotiations. Knowledge of the Old Testament was essential when speaking with Menachem Begin.
As far as I know, Carter didn't have reason to consult the Quran to aid negotiations with Sadat. However, any modern President (potentially including Romney) should probably be somewhat familiar with it.
I think knowledge of the Bible would be useful to any President (or politician), both from a literary / metaphorical standpoint and as the holy book of the majority population of the US.
As you say, a basic knowledge of the Quran, the Talmud, and the other significant world religions would also serve him or her in good stead, regardless of personal beliefs.
I’m another who has read the Bible (aloud even) from cover to cover, and have read parts of several translations/versions, esp. the kind with footnotes talking about what the word in the original/found text meant, and in that time.
If only there was a parallel Bible that had four “real” versions, instead of KJV, NRV, and those two hokey “accesible” versions. The first tow fine, but get rid of those others, please!
Being a quotations guy, I find dealing with multiple transations of given passages to be interesting. But, then, I’m not anticipating finding out the canonical meaning (so to speak), let alone the Absolute Words of God Beyond Any Misunderstanding in there, either.