aided by the growing belief in Evangelical quarters that, as one Evangelical quoted in Sharlett's article put it,"The idea of separation of church and state. ... There's this whole idea in America that it's in the Constitution, but it's not."9 That whole rejection of the idea that part of one's loyalty to the Constitution (to which American military personnel swear their oath of ultimate allegiance) includes defense of rigorous support for separation of church and state receives powerful support in the Evangelical world by alternative "histories" of the American founding. Most notable of these is propagated by David Barton and his organization Wallbuilders, which wrongly claims that the Founders intended the US to be an overtly Christian country.10 Indeed, in July 2012, the History News Network voted Barton's recent book, The Jefferson Lies, "the least credible history book in print."11 His publisher, Thomas Nelson (an Evangelical publishing house) has elected to stop publishing and distributing it as a result of criticism from many quarters of its factual inaccuracy.12

Although there are obviously ways of squaring the idea of serving as a missionary while in military service that are consistent with the US Constitution, the emphasis on evangelism inevitably invites the kinds of abuses of authority that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and other groups routinely document. And indeed, if one's core conviction is that one's colleagues, no matter how otherwise professional and disciplined as military personnel, are (as General Wurster expressed it) in an alliance with evil, I suppose distrusting them and trying to change them is virtually inevitable. As Sharlett puts it, "Today, fundamentalism, based as it is on a vigorous assertion of narrow and exclusive claims to truth, can no longer justify common cause with secularism."13

9 Sharlett, Jesus Killed Mohammed, 34. 10 See www.wallbuilders.org for a sampling of Barton's books, videos, etc., which are distributed widely in Evangelical circles in support of this completely distorted view of US history. A useful factual critique of such claims can be found in Chris Rodda, Liars for Jesus: The Religious Right's Alternative Version of American History, vol. 1 (2006), available at www.amazon.com/Liars-Jesus-Religious-Alternate-American/dp/1419644386?SubscriptionId=0TBPMRS 0W3G0CB5F0902&tag=afncaie-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative= 165953&creativeASIN=1419644386#. 11 See "Hard Truth for Author: Publisher Pulls 'The Jefferson Lies.' artsbeat.blogs. nytimes.com/2012/08/14/hard-truth-for-author-publisher-pulls-the-jeffersonlies/ See also "Publisher Pulls Controversial Thomas Jefferson Book, Citing Loss of Confidence." www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/08/09/158510648/ publisher-pulls-controversial-thomas-jefferson-book-citing-loss-of-confidence 12 artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/14/hard-truth-for-author-publisher-pullsthe-jefferson-lies/. 13 Sharlett, Jesus Killed Mohammed, 42.

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