Like Michele Bachmann, David Barton also sat down for an interview with George Barna to discuss "Faith In Politics" a few months back. During the discussion, Barna asked Barton how America would be different if people actually followed the teaching of Jesus, to which Barton explained that everything from our economic to our foreign policy would be drastically different and that public schools would start the day off with prayer because "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" and the government would stop helping the poor:
Barna: How do you think the political and governmental system in our country if Christians actually followed the teaching of Christ?
Barton: Everything from foreign policy to economics - I mean, if we apply biblical teachings, we would stay out of debt ... Debt is bad in the Bible ... Our economic system would be totally different. We would have a different educational system. We believe the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Just something as simple as a prayer at the beginning of the day and, as you and other document, we're looking at about 75-80% of the nation still wants prayer to start a school day. I mean, it's not that our values are weak, it's just that we don't have the opportunity to express what most of the nation wants.
So education would be different, economics would be different, social policy would be different, the role of the church in what's called "social justice." I mean there are 205 verses in the Bible that talk about helping the poor, the government is only told to do one thing and that is when the poor come into court, make sure they get justice. Every other verse tells the church and tells individuals to take care of the poor. We would have a whole different look at so many things and be so much more effective.
