Willie McLaurin v. David Barton - What's the Difference?

Both claimed degrees they did not have.

Yesterday the Baptist Press reported that interim president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Executive Committee Willie McLaurin admitted that he misrepresented his educational credentials. In a previous public report, he represented that he had a masters of divinity “from the Duke University School of Divinity and an undergraduate degree from North Carolina Central University.” According to the Baptist Press report, he had none of the degrees listed on his resume. After these facts came to light, McLaurin resigned his position.

While this is tragic, it is understandable that the Executive Committee and McLaurin agreed to part ways. Deception regarding credentials is still deception and casts a shadow over everything else an individual does and says. McLaurin’s story reminded me of a similar situation which has never been addressed by the person involved.

David Barton’s “Earned Doctorate” Story

Almost seven years ago, on September 7, 2016, self-proclaimed history writer and GOP political operative David Barton went on social media to tell the world that he had an earned doctorate. He said he had chosen not to talk about it, but in response to liberals and progressives saying that he didn’t have one, he revealed it in the video. Well, he partially revealed it. He hid the diploma behind his two honorary doctorates (both from small Christian colleges) and didn’t provide the name of the school. For reasons I assume relate to what I am about to share, the video disappeared the next day. However, I still have it below, watch:

He said very plainly at the end of the video, “I do have an earned doctorate.”

The fact that Barton didn’t show the diploma or name the school made me suspicious, so I checked the image a little closer. I found via the reflection in the glass display case that the diploma came from Life Christian University, an unaccredited school that gave Barton the degree without requiring any coursework or degree program. In short, it was not an earned degree. He didn’t take any courses, write any papers, or do anything to get it. LCU gave Barton an honorary degree and called it earned.

After I disclosed the images of the LCU diploma and described the diploma mill nature of the school in a blog post, the next day Barton removed the video from his social media accounts. You can read the whole story here, here, and here. LCU’s president later confirmed that he gave Barton a degree and defended calling it earned. The school (which is considered a church by the IRS) has given numerous Christian personalities what the school calls earned degrees. The truth is they are actually honorary degrees from a Bible school which offers substandard degree programs as compared to accredited colleges and universities.

At least one of these LCU degree recipients came close to a run in with state officials over the earned-honorary distinction. Evangelist Joyce Meyer changed the description of her LCU degree on her website due to a Missouri law forbidding people to pass off honorary doctorate as earned. To her credit, she saw the deception and on her own began referring to the LCU degree as honorary.

Although, to my knowledge, Barton does not currently pass himself off as having an earned doctorate, he has never acknowledged the deception. He looked right into the camera and told his audience that he had an earned doctorate. One day he said he had it, and the next day the claim was gone without explanation.

I don’t know why some like Willie McLaurin pay a steep price for inflating credentials and others, like David Barton, do not. But I do know that the stories of Willie McLaurin and David Barton hold a lesson for us. Just because people run a ministry or call themselves pastor doesn’t mean they are above inflating their credentials. If warning flags show up, check them out.

For reasons hard to understand, some people seem to keep on going after events which would unravel others. Mr. McLaurin had to resign. Mr. Barton keeps on speaking to evangelical and GOP crowds without a hitch. Barton also had his book about Thomas Jefferson pulled from publication due to historical errors just over 11 years ago. After some controversy, he is back testifying to legislatures and leading one strand of the Christian nationalist resurgence. Part of the trigger for the scrutiny of Barton’s Jefferson book was Getting Jefferson Right, my book with co-author Michael Coulter. Michael and I are currently finishing up a second edition of Getting Jefferson Right. If everything goes according to plan, look for it to be released in late October, early November.

See also When the Wallbuilders Build the House