By Don Byrd, BJC Blogger
This is a sidebar for the 2012 Year in Review story
Barton
While it’s surely not one of the most important stories, 2012 was the year everyone could watch pseudo-historian David Barton tangle with the truth. For years, Barton has been pushing false stories about America being founded as a “Christian nation,” among other whoppers. This year, it may have caught up with him as questions about his book, The Jefferson Lies, prompted publisher Thomas Nelson to pull it, having lost “confidence in the book’s details.”
One of the fun stories of the year was the March Madness run of the Beren Academy boys basketball team in Houston, Texas. They made it to the semis of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools State Championship before they realized the final games were on the Sabbath. To play on that day would have violated the religious beliefs of the school and many of the Jewish boys on the team. The association wouldn’t budge until public outcry, an appeal from the opposing team and threat of a lawsuit finally won the day, and the games were moved to allow Beren to participate! They made it to the final game, where they lost by four points.
