How does a four-year-old tome by little-known leader of a Glenside, Pa., seminary, dealing with the religious beliefs of a figure who’s been dead for two centuries become a best-selling book?

How does a book become a best-seller? This is a question I often ask myself — for a variety of reasons. But now here’s a question that’s even more baffling.

How does a four-year-old tome by little-known leader of a Glenside, Pa., seminary, published by a small unknown outfit, dealing with the religious beliefs of a figure who’s been dead for two centuries, coming in at a staggering 3.2 pounds in paperback, or 1,208 pages, become a best-selling book (currently No. 2) on Amazon.com, ahead of books by Stieg Larsson and Stephenie Meyer, among others?

If you don’t know the answer by now, you haven’t been paying attention. The simple two-word explanation is Glenn Beck:

Our churches stand for nothing, many of them. I’m begging preachers, you are about to lose religious freedom. You must go out — America, I want you to buy this book today. This is George Washington’s Sacred Fire. I got it last week. It’s by Peter A. Lillback. I think it’s been out for, since 2006. Sacred Fire. Go out and buy this book today. Get on Amazon and buy it today. Sacred Fire. You will understand the relationship of God and our founders. This guy and the co writer, Jerry Newcombe, what this is is they said all of these scholars, all these books, “Oh, they’re just atheists, they’re deists, they’re this, they’re there. They went back and said, really? What did the author say? He couldn’t find this in any of his words. Here’s 1500 times they said these words. It is such a clear distilled picture of the faith of George Washington.

Peter A Lillback is currently president of the Westminster Theological Seminary in Glenside, and he was the pastor at Proclamation Presbyterian Church in Bryn Mawr. In addition to his writings on George Washington and his belief that America’s founders didn’t intend for a separation of church and state, Lillback — though not a household name in the Philadelphia region — has made news here in the past for his involvement in a website aiming to debunk “The Da Vinci Code” as well as showing his parishioners a controversial 2004 pre-election video on the faith of George W. Bush.

Read More: http://mediamatters.org/blog/201005240001