Americans Consider “Fake News” A Bigger Problem Than Terrorism- Good News Friday

Americans Consider “Fake News” A Bigger Problem Than Terrorism: We call it, “Good News Friday” because it’s a chance for David and Tim to share some good news from across the nation and around the world. We don”t often hear good news from major media, however, here on WallBuilders Live, we love sharing news worthy of celebration! Tune in now to learn more!

Air Date: 09/13/2019

On-air Personalities: David Barton, Rick Green, and Tim Barton

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Transcription note: Â As a courtesy for our listeners’ enjoyment, we are providing a transcription of this podcast. Transcription will be released shortly. However, as this is transcribed from a live talk show, words and sentence structure were not altered to fit grammatical, written norms in order to preserve the integrity of the actual dialogue between the speakers. Additionally, names may be misspelled or we might use an asterisk to indicate a missing word because of the difficulty in understanding the speaker at times. We apologize in advance.

Faith and the Culture

Rick:

Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. This is WallBuilders Live! Where we”re talking about today”s hottest topics on policy, faith, and the culture, always doing that from a Biblical, historical, and Constitutional perspective.

We’re here with David Barton, America’s premier historian and the founder of WallBuilders. Also, Tim Barton, national speaker and President of WallBuilders, and my name is Rick Green, I’m a former Texas state legislator, national speaker, and author.

Visit Us Online

You can find out more about us at our two websites: WallBuildersLive.com, our radio site. And then, go over to WallBuilders.com, our main site, where we have some great resources. You can take a constitution class or find all kinds of curriculum for your family to study, get into your Sunday school class, or even just for your own learning.

At the radio site, WallBuildersLive.com, you’ll get a list of all our stations. You’ll be able to get into the archives of the program over the last few weeks, where you”ll find interesting interviews, Good News Friday programs, and more. And, you can also make a donation there.

So, be sure to click on that “donate” button if you like what you hear today and you want more of this education and want to help equip and inspire folks all over the nation to get involved and be a part of the solution for preserving freedom. Donate to WallBuilders Live! It’s what makes this possible.

More Good News

There are all kinds of ways for you to get involved, take action, and be part of the solution to restore America’s constitutional republic and to restore the morality in our nation that we so desperately need. So, we’re always going to be asking you to take action steps here on the program. But, today we’re actually just going to be talking about a lot of other people that have taken action steps, some of the positive good news that has happened out there in the culture.

All right, David, Tim, looking forward to some good news today. Cheer me up; tell me some good news from somewhere in the country.

DAVID:

I’ve got plenty for you today. And, it’s a lot of fun. Obviously, I am older than you two guys.

TIM:

Obviously.

DAVID:

I don’t know if I’m older than the two of you put together; but, I’m older than you two guys. Now, Tim, I’m sure, said “obviously” because of the difference in the wealth of wisdom that comes through your microphone. I’m sure that’s what he was thinking.

TIM:

Well, I mean, proverbs talks about the wisdom or “the glory of the old is their gray hair.” And, he has gray hair. I’m thinking We’ve got to be old for the glory to be there.Â

So, I just–it was a Bible reference; and, I guess the only reason I would think–

RICK:

“Biblical, historical, constitutional prospective,” and that was biblical perspective. Yep, I got it.

A Cross in the Center

DAVID:

Well, given the fact that I am older than the two of you, considerably older, we have an occurrence that happened this past week that has never before happened in my lifetime, which covers a few years. And, that occurrence is that we had a Federal Court of Appeals uphold a city seal with a cross in the city seal. It comes out of Lehigh, Pennsylvania, the county of Lehigh.

And, I counted I think, nine items on the on that city seal. There’s agriculture, industry, education, and other things. But, the center of the seal is a large cross, and all the other items are arranged around that cross.

Now, I will tell you that I’ve been involved in a lot of cases with city seals in the “80s, “90s, et cetera. And, we won none of them. Not a single one of them did we win, at all.

But now, we end up winning this case with a cross on a city seal or on a county seal.

And, it’s not a tiny little cross tucked away in the corner, like it was in Los Angeles and other cases that that we got to be part of. This one is really pretty big and pretty prominent. And, the reason we won this case is because two months ago, the Bladensburg case was decided the U.S. Supreme Court.

And, we talked about at the time. It was the case where the court said, “Hey, we’re going to uphold the World War 1 Memorial Cross, even though lower courts have ordered that it be torn down. Also, even though according to the standards we’ve been giving you from the Supreme Court it {should} be torn down, we think our standards have been wrong.

Moving Back, Closer to a Constitutional Standard

“So, we’re changing our standards.” And, they rolled back things some 50 years and went back, really, a lot closer to a constitutional standard.

And so, the position was in 1973, the court essentially said, “Look; if there is something religious in public, we’re going to assume that is unconstitutional, unless you can prove otherwise.” Well, with the Bladensburg decision a couple months ago, they said, “We’re now going to assume that if it’s been there for a while, it’s constitutional, unless you can prove that it isn’t.” Well, guess what.

This county seal Cross has been there for a good while. We’re talking seven, eight decades. And so, the court said. “You know what?”

The Supreme Court said, “If it’s been there for a while, we’re going to assume that it is constitutional, unless you can prove otherwise. And, you didn’t, so the county seal stays.” That is a huge, huge, huge decision.

Again, it’s never happened in my lifetime, that we’ve had a court of appeals uphold a cross in a county seal. I kept saying “city seal;” but city, county seal, whatever it is, a government seal. And, in all these city-seal cases, every time there’s been a cross, it has not been upheld.

Now, we’ve won other cross cases, as we just talked about. The Bladensburg case is a cross case that we won just a couple of months ago.

RICK:

That”s where a big cross is out there in the park or in a cemetery, that’s where.

DAVID:

That”s right.

RICK:

You talking about something that”s inside the city seal that’s on their letterhead, on the sign when you come into town, that kind of–that’s what you mean by “seal.”

DAVID:

That’s right, the seal that goes on their stationery, on the sides of their vehicles, whatever it is. Even though you have some towns, like towns named Zion. And, you can’t even have a religious symbol in the city seal of a town of Zion, which is clearly named after Biblical city, biblical reference.

A Real Turnaround

So, that’s a real turnaround for them to say, “Yeah, that is an overtly Christian symbol that is in the middle of the seal, and it’s going to stay.” Again, this goes back to the Bladensburg case. Now, along with that, here’s another one that has been really unusual.

Since the 1960s, we’ve been losing these type of cases. But, it also deals with the state of Pennsylvania. In this case, it’s with the Pennsylvania legislature.

And, the Pennsylvania legislature has a policy that says: “Hey, you can’t open the legislature in prayer unless you believe in God.” Well, I mean, that kind of makes sense; atheists don’t have prayer. So, how do you open something with prayer if you don’t believe in God?

But, since the 1960s, the courts have taken a position of No, you can’t have a requirement of a belief in God to be involved or do anything with the city, state, or whatever. And so, they’ve said, “That was a religious test.” Well, no; a religious test, under Article 6 of the Constitution, was to require that you belong to a certain denomination chosen by the State and approved by the State.

But, to have a belief in God, that hasn’t been. But, in this case, the policy said: “No, you cannot open with prayer unless you believe in God.” Atheist challenged that; it went to court.

And, the court said, “No, the legislature of Pennsylvania has had this policy for many years. Again, we’re going to assume that when it comes to religious expression, if it’s been going on for a long time, it’s constitutional, unless you can prove otherwise.” So once more, citing this Bladensburg decision, the court says, “It’s okay to say that people who believe in God open with prayer at the Pennsylvania legislature.”

Sea-Change in Religious Liberty Cases

So, two months ago when we talked about this case, I said at the time, “Hey, you guys are going to see religious liberty expressions upheld that you’ve never seen in your lifetime.” And, we’re starting to see that now. We are seeing a turnaround in what we’re legitimately able to say and do in public with religious expressions, things that we’ve not seen in our lifetime, even in my lifetime.

Again, I’ve got much more white hair than you two guys put together was.

RICK:

And, that was the case. Was it you or Shackleford that said “sea-change;” I think was the phrase that you guys said. Because of this case, there’s a massive sea-change in religious liberty cases coming forward.

DAVID:

Yes, sea-change. Another phrase we used was “seismic shift.”

RICK:

That was it: seismic shift. I was trying to remember. So, we just felt the first tremor.

DAVID:

It’s the first tremor of many that have happened and many more that are coming.

RICK:

Well, I love it. Good news. All right, guys, quick break. We’ll be right back.

Tim Barton’s got the next piece of good news. So, don’t go away. Stay with us here on WallBuilders Live!

Moment From American History

This is Tim Barton with another moment from American history. The Second Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees to every individual the right to keep and bear arms, has been targeted for years now by those who are determined to dismantle the individual right to self protection.

Opponents argue that, “Only the militia, the military, and law enforcement are to have and use firearms.” But, those who wrote the Second Amendment strenuously disagreed, including Founding Father Richard Henry Lee, a signer of the declaration, a president of the Continental Congress, and one of those who actually framed the Second Amendment.

He declared, “To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.”

For more information about Richard Henry Lee and the history of the Second Amendment go to WallBuilders.com.

In God We TrustÂ

RICK:

We”re back here on WallBuilders Live! It’s Good News Friday today, and Tim Barton’s up next.

TIM:

All right, guys, this one’s going to Louisiana and is something happening now. But, it’s something that is happening now because of last year. So, last year in Louisiana, there was a Senate bill, 244, that was suggesting that In God We Trust needed to be displayed in every single public school in Louisiana.

That passed. And, Governor Edwards from Louisiana signed that into law on May of 2018. But, it was going to take effect in the school year of 2019 and 2020. That is this school year.

So, right now in Louisiana, in every single public school, the national motto is displayed somewhere in the school. And, each school is allowed to choose how they want to display it: whether it’s going to be on a cardboard sign, on paper, or whether they want to have some big monument or statue. They have total flexibility inside the school.

And, there’s actually principals that have come out and said, “We want to put this all over the school and for it to be very visible.” Some are people of faith who said, “We understand the significance of acknowledging that America does recognize God, and we do trust in God.” There’s actually one principal who said, “We understand there’s probably gonna be some pushback because there are: people of all different beliefs in our community, many different Christians, a lot of denominations, other faiths, people of no faith.

An Essential Realization for Kids

“I understand that it might offend some people; but, it doesn’t change the fact we are going to display this in our school.” So, it is something that’s encouraging. We saw Arkansas, one of the first states to take this move one to three years ago, whatever it was. And, there have been several states now moving in that direction, saying, “We’re gonna to put In God We Trust up in our school buildings.”

And, we’ve talked on the program before about how significant it is for kids to recognize there is something beyond them, that they’re not just kids. Americans in general, but it”s important for all of humanity to recognize there is more to life than just who you are,Â how you feel, and where you live. But, as we think about all that we’ve seen going on around us: gun violence situations, mass shootings, major cities over weekends with violent crimes.

When you start looking at things where there is a disregard for human life, it reminds me of the significance of reminding young people, students, and all Americans, “Nope, there is a God,” because just acknowledging there is a God, is something that leads you to recognize there’s more than just you in this universe. And hopefully, for people of faith, remembering Now, wait a second; there is a God Who has called us to something.

And, this is one of the things that, even when you look at the Declaration, is one of the first acknowledgements in the Declaration: We believe that there is a Creator. And, this Divine Creator, Who we would call “God,” right? God was a Creator; we know that from Genesis.

Acknowledging There Is a God Is that First Step

But, He gave rights to man. And, government”s job is to protect those rights. Acknowledging there is a God is that first step, along with what the Founding Fathers explained, even leads to the reason we have government.

Because it was God Who gave us rights of life, liberty, and property, or pursuit of happiness; government now exists to protect that. And, having kids just recognizing this first step, that there is a God in Whom we trust–we’re not telling kids, “You have to be a Christian.” We’re not telling you, necessarily, what faith you have to believe.

But, in America, we recognize–and that’s why it’s our national motto–In God We Trust. So, it is really encouraging, especially seeing this in every single public school in Louisiana. Again, Louisiana is just one, now, of several states that have made this move.

And so, it’s something that I think is incredibly encouraging, as we are hoping to see our nation change its moral compass and go back toward something: that we do value life, people, humanity. Part of the way you get there, a really good first step, is acknowledging there is a God. And now, every single public school in Louisiana is doing that.

Great news. The national motto is going up in public schools in Louisiana.

It Starts With a God-Consciousness

RICK:

You know, most people from every side agree that we do need more consciousness of right and wrong and that we have had a major drop in just respect for each other and moral values. You are 100 percent right there, Tim. I mean, it starts with a God-consciousness: that you’re not an end unto yourself;Â there is Someone you’re going to answer to.

And so, just having In God We Trust put back in front of our young people as we educate them, is a great step. I hope more states do it. We’ve got many that have but many that aren’t doing it.

Then, even in those states where that’s the law, you on the local level, call up your school district and ask them, “Do you need help getting some posters with the national motto?” You could be the one in your community to get that on the campuses in your school and help make that happen.

And, if it’s not a law in your state, you can be the one to take it to a legislator. So, great action steps for you right there at home. Stay with us, folks.

We”ve got some more good news for you when we come back. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live!Â

Patriot Academy

Have you noticed the vacuum of leadership in America? It”s not just that we have a few bad leaders taking us away from our founding principles and leading us down a road of destruction. The real challenge is that we’re looking around for leaders of principle to step up and too often no one is there.

This is a generational challenge.Â And, we must have a generational solution.Â God is raising up a generation of young leaders with a passion for impacting the world around them. They’re crying out for the mentorship and leadership training they need. And, we need to equip them for the purpose God has laid on their hearts.

Patriot Academy was created to meet that need. You, the listeners of Wallbuilders Live, have supported Patriot Academy over the years.Â You have sent your children and grandchildren to the program and the results have been remarkable.

Patriot Academy graduates now serve in state capitals around America, in the halls of Congress, in business, in the film industry, in the pulpit, in every area of the culture. They’re leading effectively and impacting the world around them.

Patriot Academy is now expanding across the nation and now is your chance to experience this life changing week that trains champions to change the world. Visit PatriotAcademy.com for dates and locations. Our core program is still for young leaders 16 to 25 years old, but we also now have a citizen track for adults. So, visit the website today to learn more. Help us fill the void of leadership in America. Join us in training champions to change the world at PatriotAcademy.com.

RICK:

We’re back to WallBuilders Live! Thanks for staying with us. We”ve got a lot more good news before the day is out.

Already, we had some from David and Tim both. That means David’s up next.

A Display Honoring Missing Men

DAVID:

We’re going to New Hampshire. At the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Manchester, New Hampshire, in the foyer, they have a display honoring missing men in the military, those that did not return or were killed but we don’t know where they might have died. We just know they didn’t come back.

And, as part of that display, they have several items there, several historical artifacts. One is a Bible that was carried by a prisoner of war in World War 2. So, on the table they have set, there are, again, several things, and the Bible”s part of it.

What happened was, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation–which sounds like a group for religious freedom but it”s run by an atheist who sues anywhere he sees religious expression in the military. And, Mikey Weinstein, who has been, I’ve got to say that in the three years of the Trump Administration, he certainly has not been the significant figure he was in the previous administration.

I mean, he would brag that he could call the Pentagon and within an hour, have religious activity shut down in the military. And, we’ve not seen that from {him} at all; but, he did file a lawsuit over over this Bible on display at the Veterans Center. So, they took the Bible down and said, “They’re not going to have that.”

Well, going back to the Bladensburg Cross Decision that happened two months ago that we talked about in the first segment, the Veterans Administration came out and said, “Oh, having Bibles in military is a longstanding practice that’s been there for decades. No, we’re going to allow Bibles in veterans” hospitals, Veterans Administration facilities, etc. And, not only can you display them but you can even give them, because that’s what we’ve done for decades and centuries.”

In World War I and World War II, we gave Bibles to soldiers. So, the Veterans Administration came out and said, “No, based on this Supreme Court decision, we are not taking this Bible down. As a matter of fact, it’s okay to have Bibles in these government facilities, even to give Bibles in these government facilities.”

Another Downstream Effect

So, Vice President Mike Pence was at the American Legion convention in Indianapolis and he announced this, saying, “We’re not taking the Bible out.” And, there was a thunderous ovation from the vets.

This was really well supported by them. But again, here is another downstream effect of this Supreme Court decision from just two months ago. And, this is the kind of stuff that would have been tied up in court.

Even ten years ago, we would have been tied up in court for the next three, four, or five years. Now, this thing is settled so quickly and in an expansive direction that says, “Not only will we have the display, but you can even give Bibles out at veterans centers.”

What an amazing change, and again, because of this one case. And, this is not all we’re going to be seeing in the coming weeks. I guarantee you we’re going to see more decisions coming down like this, more and more religious liberties being returned.

What a phenomenal result that’s happening in America right now as a result of this win from two months ago.

RICK:

Well, we”ve got one more segment coming up with a little bit more good news. Stay with us. We’ll be right back.

Front Sight Handgun Training Course

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RICK:

Welcome back. Thanks for staying with us here on WallBuilders Live! One more segment of good news from Tim Barton is going to close us out today. Tim, what”s our last piece of good news?

The Biggest Problem: Fake News

TIM:

Guys this is coming from the Pew Research Center. And, the title of this article is what caught my attention. It says: “Americans Consider Fake News a Bigger Problem than Terrorism, Climate Change, and Illegal Immigration: A New Survey.”

So, the Pew Center went and did this survey with more than more than 6,000 respondents. And, among the respondents, what they discovered was that the respondents–

DAVID:

And by the way, let me point out: 6,000 respondents in a survey is a very high number. That’s what drives your statistical margin of error down really low. That’s a big survey.

TIM:

Yes, a lot of surveys are about 1,500 or 3,000. Six thousand is a very, very big number. By the way, having 1,500 is considered a very well-done survey. You”d think It’s probably very respectable; at least they got to enough people, as long as they kept the right demographic etc.

So, yes, having 6,000 is significant. Well, among these respondents, they said that fake news is a bigger problem than climate change, racism, terrorism, illegal immigration, and violent crime in the United States.

DAVID:

Now, wait a minute. You’re saying that they thought CNN was a problem more than than climate change and more than–

DAVID:

Well, here’s what’s interesting. They have the breakdown between even Republicans and Democrat. And, both sides see it as a major problem.

DAVID:

Oh wow.

TIM:

But, they both see it as a major problem from the other side.

{Laughter}

You Can’t Believe Everything You Hear

Which is very interesting because in a culture where My side is right and needs to win, if we’re hearing a different narrative, then it must be you that is wrong. And so, among this, the majority of Democrats said that it is political leaders and activists who are promoting fake news. Whereas, on the Republican side, they said that it was primarily journalists who were promoting fake news.

And so, you do see this breakdown. But, here’s what’s significant: you are seeing people who are are at least recognizing that you can no longer believe everything you see on TV.

DAVID:

That’s good.

TIM:

You can’t believe everything you hear. And, this really is good news, because if people know that not everything you hear is true, it means they will be curious and looking for what is truth.

DAVID:

That”s right.

TIM:

And, this is where it gives us a lot of opportunities to share truth. Strategically, we need to do it in a well-thought-out manner.Â We can ask questions: What do you think about this? Have you seen this or looked at this?

So, we want to hold our position well but not be so aggressive that we’re driving people away who are looking for truth, because what we know is that the majority of Americans have very similar views on most issues. It’s just a lot of times, these solutions to those issues is what drives us apart.

Every American can look at one of these mass shootings and say, “That was wrong, evil, and should never happen again.” Now, we might disagree on the best way to keep it from ever happening again. Where some people say, “Well, take all guns away; no magazines that hold any bullets.”

Most Americans Share Common Ground

Well, that’s not the way I would suggest we do it because I don”t think that”s going to be very effective. We can have that conversation. But, when we recognize that we often start from a similar position and are strategic in how we present information, again, looking back, the fact that majority of Americans recognize that fake news is a problem–again, some people say it’s one; some people say it’s the other; that’s fine.

But, it’s good news that we’re not just blindly believing and receiving everything we are hearing. It gives us an opportunity to share truth with people who are looking for truth. RICK:

Well, friends, we are out of time for today. That means that’s all the good news that you get today. But, there is more on our website.

Go to WallBuildersLive.com, click on the archives section, look for those previous Friday programs. There’s a wealth of good news there from the past few months that we can share with you from our previous Friday programs. So, check that out there at WallBuilderslive.com.

Of course, while you’re there, if you missed any of our other programs from Foundations of Freedom Thursday, to the interviews Monday through Wednesday, and some of our Constitution programming that will air periodically here as well, all that’s available there at WallBuildersLive.com.

Join Us!

As always, I would like to encourage and remind you to please hover over then click on the “donate” button there at the website. That does a lot of things, folks. I know this is typically where you might tune me out, because you know I’m closing out the program.

But, I’m asking you to listen just for this last 20 seconds or so. When you donate to WallBuilders Live!, you’re literally helping to save the country. I know that sounds like an exaggeration.

But, what it does is allow us to equip more citizens with truth and inspire them to go take action in their communities. And, that impacts your life. It impacts my life.

So, when you donate to WallBuilders Live!, you’re helping to restore America’s Constitution republic. I encourage you to do that today.

Right there at WallBuildersLive.com, click on the “donate” button to make a one-time contribution. Or, it could be something you do on a monthly basis. We greatly appreciate your support.

Thanks so much for listening today. You’ve been to WallBuilders Live!

Americans Consider “Fake News” A Bigger Problem Than Terrorism- Good News Friday

You Can’t Believe Everything You Hear

Most Americans Share Common Ground

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