To the editor:

Carl Burkhead’s letter in the Public Forum (March 24) made me wary of what we will be hearing in this year’s presidential election. Using biblical quotes to support one’s position on a myriad of problems seems quite common, but I find it offensive when it is used to support a political viewpoint in bizarre and untrue ways.

Burkhead failed to name the person who forwarded this message that claimed, “Obama is the most biblically hostile president,” nor did he tell us who wrote it, which always helps in the true-false evaluation. According to the web link he provided, the author is David Barton. According to Wikipedia, Barton is an evangelical preacher, former vice chairman of the Texas Republican Party and political consultant to the Republican National Committee as outreach to evangelicals.

Wikipedia continues: “Barton’s position that the modern view of separation of church and state is not consistent with the views of our Founders. His official biography describes him as ‘an expert in historical and constitutional issues.’ Barton holds no formal credentials in history or law and scholars dispute the accuracy and integrity of his assertions about history, accusing him of practicing misleading historical revisionism, ‘pseudo scholarship’ and ‘outright falsehoods.’ His research has been described as flawed by many historians, who dismiss his work as that of “a biased amateur who cherry-picks quotes from history and the Bible.”

Perhaps, we all need to be kindly reminded what a false prophet really is, not only in Christianity but in other religions and ways of life.