Okay, maybe it's pretty harsh to refer to Ann Coulter as the antichrist. However, I was pretty disturbed by the comments I read from her in today's Arkansas Traveler. Coulter came to the U of A on Wednesday night for a "lecture." Unfortunately, she defines lecture as a politically incorrect standup routine.
What bugs me is this: there was cheering and laughing from most of the crowd after some of Coulter's worst comments. The cheering and laughing was obviously done by Republicans--that's sort of a given. What's disturbing is that--because they're good ol' right wing church-going (at least in Childhood) southerners--most of those Republican students would probably call themselves Christians. Now, on to why that bugs me--some of Coulter's cheered comments.
"They hit us first, we've got to hit them back and HARD--I'm speaking of the terrorists and the liberals."
Now, this is where I derived my Blog title for the day. Of all the things Coulter had to say, this comment is the most directly opposite to the teachings of Jesus. Christ teaches that, if we get hit first, we should turn our cheek and get hit again. He teaches that we should pray for enemies--not that we should kill them.
"I don't care about foreign countries. I care about this country."
Christ called us to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. How can we do this without caring for other countries? He teaches us to be selfless--not selfish.
"Those who take more out of the government than they put in should lose their right to vote."
First, we all take more out of the government than we put in. I put in a couple hundred dollars in taxes last year. I drink clean water everyday. I drive on paved roads. I go to a state-funded public school. I ride public transportation everyday. I can rest easy at night, because I have a police force working for me--not against me. I pass a fire station everyday. I get my trash picked up at my curb. A mail carrier delivers mail to a box at the end of my driveway. You name it.
Second, this is a ludicrous statement. Should we go back to the early 1800's? Only rich, white land owners can vote? Well, I guess my vote's gone.
Third, we shouldn't look down on the poor. James teaches in his epistle that we should never show favoritism to the wealthy. Christ teaches that we should help the "least of these."
"We've finally given the liberals a war against Fundamentalism: they just don't want to fight in it. That's the problem: it's hard to defend a country you hate."
It's not this country that liberals hate. It's what it has turned into. This is a country that pride's itself in Godliness. God's country. God bless America. God bless the USA. When has America ever taken the time to bless God? How can America act in such a manner so opposite to Christ and call itself God's country? We steal from the poor of the world with our "Free" Trade laws. We gallavant around the world with our nuclear weapons and our cruise missiles. We ignore injustices like the genocide in Rwanda, the AIDS epidemic, the billion people living on less than a dollar, the Children plucked from their homes in Uganda, the women forced into prostitution around the world, and the lack of clean drinking water in most of the world. However, we do our best to spread democracy. By the way, what are we defending? Nobody is attacking America today. Iraq didn't attack America on 9/11. No, America invaded Iraq. If you're an old woman or a child in Bagdhad, we are the terrorists. It's pretty easy to see that there were no large terrorist groups in Iraq before the war. Now, however, the two largest terrorist groups in the world are at war there--Al Qaida and the United States of America.
I applaud the guy who stood up in the balcony during Coulter's speech. He said to the crowd, "You should all be ashamed. You should be ashamed at what you're laughing at." To this long-haired fellow's comments, Coulter replied, "The transgender seminar is next week." Now, isn't it Rule #1 in debate that if you have to personally attack your opponent you have already lost the argument?
That guy raised the best point of the night. How can Christians not be ashamed as they cheer and laugh at disrespect for foreign countries, at war, and at poverty? If we find these things funny, we're sick people. Yes, I know we are all sick people but for Christ's grace changing us. However, these are people that mostly profess Christianity--mostly profess that Christ has changed them and has given them a new heart of flesh not stone. Now, I ask, as the Holy ones that God has set apart through Christ's grace, how can we laugh and cheer these things?
About the Author:
- James Miller
- Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States
- I'm taking my first steps in a journey to the real world. I'm prepping for a move to Austin, TX--where I'll seek to fulfill my musical dreams while living the life of a modern twenty-something.
4 comments:
I love you James. Personally, Ann Coulter might not be the anti-christ, but she very well could be the beast, and in that case, oprah is probably the anti-christ. All that masquerading as an angel of light with weird beliefs. Anyway, I'm pretty sure we were siamese twins joined at the brain when we were born, because I'm pretty sure I said your exact same words to some guys the other day. We should all be ashamed. On a slightly different note, I took the Junior English exam the other day and I'm pretty sure I failed because I made the mistake of picking the "What patriotism means to me" topic. I got so riled up writing it that I'm not sure if I even used complete sentences. Oh well, maybe the liberal english teachers that grade it will feel sorry for me. You're the man. Lets drink a beer sometime.
Miller, I merely challenge that it is weak of you to attack someone's arguments having not read them in full. You are basing your whole blog here on a few quotes. Have you read a single Coulter argument in full? I believe that I could pull a few single statements out of your blogs and write some fun criticism. Any good speaker will throw intentionally strong statements out there to grab attention, and then proceed to say what they really mean.
Finally, I think your claims to understand how Christ's teachings to the individual on how to live a life of righteousness, and the application of these teachings to world politics is astounding. I hope I figure it out before I grow old.
I believe you really stretched some things out of context. "I don't care about foreign countries. I care about this country." I doubt very seriously that she meant by this that she didn't care about the individuals in other countries, but rather that America's policy should be that which best benefits America. You may very well disagree, but I don't think Christ's call to spread the gospel has any bearing on such things.
Finally James, you often attack the religious right for trying to hold a non-Christian society to standards of Christian legalism, yet every argument you hold up against Coulter is scripturely based. If she is not a Christian, these teachings are not applicable to her philosophy. Who are you fighting against, Coulter or the religious right? This is where mixing the Word of God and politics becomes messy. The religious right runs the Word of Christ through the muck when they use it for their political agendas. The religious left judges the right for their mistakes and brings a division in the church. What makes us of "one accord?" What will be the mark of the church? Certainly not settling a trade agreement or the refusal to retaliate against a terroristic group, nor passing a law against abortion or posting the ten commandments in a court room. These are merely the outflow of a filled heart. A heart filled with the love of Christ. I know you know this, I'm not preaching at you. This was more like a blanket statement for the church at large, or maybe the three people who will take the time to read my response. Youe blogs are always thought provoking, and I love to challenge you a bit, only because I love you and respect your insight.
Well from all personal accounts, Madame Coulter's speech did include the strong statements you speak of roland...there just wasn't anything else. You may be right about her statement about other countries, but the fact is that she provided no inclination toward that idea. Anyone I've discussed this with has told me basically the same thing: She had a lot of punch lines and funny things to say, but no "meat" to follow up with. I'm told that it was an entertaining speech for sure, but in no way thought provoking or issue resolving. At one point she claimed that the democrat's platform in the last election was nothing more than Gay marriage, pulling the troops out of a half-ended war, and killing babies with forks. Great insight there, not to mention that the same perspective could be used toward the republican agenda, only with the issues reversed. And you can't deny the fact that she blatantly attacked that guy(who may have been out of line), something someone with any kind of class would avoid on such a large stage. I don't doubt that she might be a legitimate political mind, but her speech was nothing more than "shock and awe" to get some laughs and piss some people off, and to me, that is not somebody I want to help me define my political stance. Too many people pleasers out there, you know what I mean? Anyway, no harm intended. I just get kind of riled up about this stuff. I know I could do with a dose of "live your politics, don't scream them." Ok I just made that quote up, but it's true.
Roland, I love your comments. But I will say this, I havelistened to Coulter before this. She's on TV all the time. She has said on numerous occassions that she doesn't think we should care about other countries welfare until our own country is without poverty.
Just to note, I don't think the religious left is a good thing either. I think if you compare the Bible to politics, the only right place is down the middle.
I also might add, that if you read who I was pointing most of my criticism at--it wasn't Coulter. It was the hundreds of people in the room that call themselves Christians and cheer on statements like this. It was guys like me--who one or two years ago would've cheered many of those same statements.
Again, I want to point out that I am not for left wing politics--I just feel that right wing politics has too much of a stronghold on Christianity in America. So let me close with this tagline from the book God's Politics, which I believe sums up religion and politics. "The Right Gets it Wrong, and The Left Just Doesn't Get It"
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