The book turned out to be riddled with errors and came under sustained attacked from real historians, some of whom were themselves evangelicals. Thomas Nelson withdrew the book, and Barton suffered a serious blow. That should have been the end of him, right?

Nope. Like Freddy Krueger in a bad horror movie, Barton won't stay down. Just when you think you're finally done with him, he leeringly pops up again.

Paul Harvey, a professor of history at the University of Colorado, discussed Barton's resilience recently in a column at the site Religion & Politics. Harvey wrote that Barton finally appeared to be falling from grace after the debacle over The Jefferson Lies, but he quickly bounced back. Conservative candidates still flock to Barton. In fact, he has just formed a super PAC designed to boost the presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Through his group WallBuilders, Barton continues cranking out faux-history.

What accounts for Barton's staying power?

I don't claim to be a psychologist or a sociologist, but from my years of attending Religious Right gatherings, I have perhaps gleaned some insight into the mindset that motivates many of these ideologues.

The first thing we must understand is that facts are utterly irrelevant to them.

This is important. One of the biggest mistakes activists on our side make, I think, is believing that facts will have a bearing on this debate. All we need to do, well-meaning people often say to me, is show people who follow Barton the real history of our secular Constitution and explain the actual views of men like Jefferson, James Madison and George Washington, and surely they will come around.

Would that it were so.

Most of Barton's flock is data proof. I have sat in meetings of the Religious Right and heard people insist, against all evidence, that President Barack Obama is a Muslim. I've heard them assert that he was not born in the United States. I've listened to them insist that the United States was founded to be a "Christian nation." When it is pointed out to them that the Constitution does not say this, they patiently explain that it doesn't need to because it's so obvious.

And I have heard them, over and over, state their insistence that our planet is very young, about 6,000 to 10,000 years old at most, even though literal mountains of evidence show this not to be the case.

They believe what they want--facts be damned. (Of course, this attitude is in no way limited to the Religious Right. There are still people today who argue that Joseph Stalin was not at all a bad guy.)

The good news is that reality has a way of winning out in the end. Remember those cranks who were certain that the polls in 2012 were "skewed" and that not only was Mitt Romney going to win the presidential election, but it would be landslide?

Similarly, evolution goes on, whether religious fundamentalists choose to acknowledge it or not, and new discoveries continue to amaze us. Creationists are certainly a nuisance, and they get way too much of their nonsense into some public schools, but real scientists trample them constantly and will triumph in the end.

The same fate awaits Barton - but I concede it may be some years off. Remember, Barton is not a historian. (His sole degree is in religious education from Oral Roberts University.) He is essentially a right-wing political operative masquerading as someone who is exposing our "true" history. As an amateur, Barton is only as good as his sources - and those sources are either non-existent or lousy. (Remember the time he confused a Louis L'Amour novel with reality?)

Real historians have debunked Barton over and over, and in the end they will carry the day. One hundred years from now, no one will know Barton's name, and his shoddy self-published books will have become dust.

By contrast, the work of real historians will still be read, still inspire new generations of students and, most importantly, still be believed.