Exposing Fake History

Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute and host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast, reflects on the tension and debate over Christopher Columbus. Think of last year’s carnage in Portland on “Indigenous Peoples’ Day of Rage.” Or the city of Philadelphia placing a plywood box over a Columbus statue—which has remained covered beyond Columbus Day 2021. Now President Biden has issued the first presidential proclamation of “Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” attempting to disassociate the federal holiday from Columbus. What could possibly motivate American citizens today, supposed exemplars of social justice, to behave with such wanton recklessness in a supposed era of wokeness and progressive values? Could it be that they attack Columbus because of their hatred of Christianity? Anger over Columbus’ intention to spread the message of Christ to those he encountered in the new world? Or the deeply held Christian convictions prominently displayed in Columbus’ documents and diaries? The common (false) narrative that Columbus was a nefarious character—“a ruthless, money-grubbing, genocidal maniac, who severed hands, raped women, and who enslaved gentle people to satisfy a white supremacist lust for gold and glory”—is arguably tracible to the pontifications of a man named Howard Zinn. Read about this in a remarkable book by Dr. Mary Grabar, Debunking Howard Zinn: Exposing the Fake History That Turned a Generation against America [[https://www.equip.org/product/cri-resource-cri2102ea/]].