I hesitate to quote Ann Coulter, but Monday night on CNBC she told Donny Deutsch, who is Jewish, that the United States would be better without Jews. (DISCLAIMER: Crazy Coulter is not an official ambassador of Christianity; unfortunately, though, all Christians fall into the unofficial-ambassador category.) Really, it's just not easy explaining my beliefs to non-Christians when kooks like Coulter and alleged crooks like Tom Delay are in the public eye.
DEUTSCH: Christian -- so we should be Christian? It would be better if we were all Christian?This is not to be confused with atheist Richard Dawkins' Jews-control-America comment. But, more importantly, what megachurch pastor would invite such an insidious mind and insincere tongue into their sanctuary?
COULTER: Yes.
DEUTSCH: We should all be Christian?
COULTER: Yes. Would you like to come to church with me, Donny?
DEUTSCH: So I should not be a Jew, I should be a Christian, and this would be a better place?
COULTER: Well, you could be a practicing Jew, but you're not.
DEUTSCH: I actually am. That's not true. I really am. But -- so we would be better if we were - if people -- if there were no Jews, no Buddhists --
COULTER: Whenever I'm harangued by --
DEUTSCH: -- in this country? You can't believe that.
COULTER: -- you know, liberals on diversity --
DEUTSCH: Here you go again.
COULTER: No, it's true. I give all of these speeches at megachurches across America, and the one thing that's really striking about it is how utterly, completely diverse they are, and completely unself-consciously. You walk past a mixed-race couple in New York, and it's like they have a chip on their shoulder. They're just waiting for somebody to say something, as if anybody would. And --
DEUTSCH: I don't agree with that. I don't agree with that at all. Maybe you have the chip looking at them. I see a lot of interracial couples, and I don't see any more or less chips there either way. That's erroneous.
COULTER: No. In fact, there was an entire Seinfeld episode about Elaine and her boyfriend dating because they wanted to be a mixed-race couple, so you're lying.
DEUTSCH: Oh, because of some Seinfeld episode? OK.
COULTER: But yeah, I think that's reflective of what's going on in the culture, but it is completely striking that at these huge megachurches -- the idea that, you know, the more Christian you are, the less tolerant you would be is preposterous.
DEUTSCH: That isn't what I said, but you said I should not -- we should just throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians, then, or --
COULTER: Yeah.
DEUTSCH: Really?
COULTER: Well, it's a lot easier. It's kind of a fast track.
DEUTSCH: Really?
COULTER: Yeah. You have to obey.
DEUTSCH: You can't possibly believe that.
COULTER: Yes.
DEUTSCH: You can't possibly -- you're too educated, you can't -- you're like my friend in --
COULTER: Do you know what Christianity is? We believe your religion, but you have to obey.
DEUTSCH: No, no, no, but I mean --
COULTER: We have the fast-track program.
DEUTSCH: Why don't I put you with the head of Iran? I mean, come on. You can't believe that.
COULTER: The head of Iran is not a Christian.
DEUTSCH: No, but in fact, "Let's wipe Israel" --
COULTER: I don't know if you've been paying attention.
DEUTSCH: "Let's wipe Israel off the earth." I mean, what, no Jews?
COULTER: No, we think -- we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say.
12 comments:
Yuck.
A better question than "Who's inviting Coulter to speak in their church?" is "Who's inviting Coulter to speak on the air?"
There must be, I don't know, about a hundred million Republicans who can hold up the politically right side of the argument without being complete antisemite bastards? Right?
Why aren't THEY on the air instead of Coulter? It's not like she ever has had any pithy, novel or original idea.
Molly Ivans once quipped after asked how she enjoyed a particularly bigoted rant by a politician "I liked it better in the original German."
-Siamang
I would hope that Christians think that there religion is better then Judaism. As a Jew I think that Judaism is better then Christianity and that Christians would be better of "converting" to Noachide practice.
I have no problem with people who think I should convert to Christianity as long as they are not trying to physically hurt me.
Izgad,
I'm an atheist. I don't know that there is no God, but I've come to suspect that I don't know any more or less about any particular deity than any religious person.
But by the same token, I would never answer the question "would the world be a better place if everyone was an atheist?" in the affirmative.
It's not that I don't think my way is totally cool. It's not that I don't think my beliefs most accurately describe the universe we find ourselves in.
It's that I don't think the world is best served by uniformity in thought, idea and belief. Further, I don't think such uniformity is achievable... at least until the Borg take over. It's not that I don't think I'm right... I think I am... It's that I accept the possibility that I COULD BE WRONG. And I don't think that possibility enters Colter's mind.
Futhermore, I take Coulter as being exactly the kind of person most likely to welcome any type of authoritarianistic imposition of religion.
She is, after all, the brilliant phraseologist who formulated the dictum "we should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."
And the reason she's still on the air is what, exactly?
-Siamang
Good Molly Ivans reference, Siamang. But I think it should be noted that while you don't think the world would be a better place without belief in God, many of the uber-atheists -- The New Atheists -- swear it would be.
If that's something that anyone is actually arguing, I think that's something that they should be taken to task on, on two fronts.
One is the idea that I touched on earlier: uniformity is bad, unachievable and not a good way to discover new things... really a poor position for anyone who respects the marketplace of ideas.
But the second reason is that it's an unnecessary and unprovable assertion. In order to advocate for atheism you do not need to prove that a 100% atheist world is preferable to a mixed world or a 100% anything else world.
To advocate that position is to hand your ideological opponent a rhetorical victory.
All you need to show, to advocate for atheism, is that it's a logically defensible position. Any social outcome based assertions, especially such wildly speculative ones, are immaterial to the question of whether or not God exists.
Unfortunately humans are often less than rational creatures, and such arguments nevertheless can persuade. For example Hitchens making a persuasive case for atheism by making a negative case for religion.
-Siamang
I agree with izgad in that every religion has a truth claim, many of which are in conflict with each other, and it is somewhat dishonest to claim that you don't believe your religion is "better" or more correct than another.
That being said, Coulter uses the word Christian in such a pompous way...I don't think it would be as antogonistic if she had said the world would be a better place if everyone strove to believe and act as Jesus preached, but she belittles some of the horrible acts that Christians (and, unfortunately, people simply claiming to be Christians) have made in her assumption.
Then she goes off on the whole racial diversity and Seinfeld thing...yikes! Oh well. She'll make her money, and the more sane viewpoints will be relegated to the back.
Siamang said:
"I'm an atheist. I don't know that there is no God, but I've come to suspect...."
Just a friendly FYI to Siamang - If you "don't know that there is no God" that makes you an agnostic, not an atheist. An atheist (Christopher Hitchens for example) is certain that there is no God. An agnostic (which means "without knowledge") is someone who feels that they don't have enough information to make a decision.
I just want to add that as a follower of Christ, I cringed when I heard what Ann Coulter said because I think while she is a popular media person, she really lacks compassion and was irresponsible when she talked about "perfected Jews." It's not necessary for her to be so harsh in my opinion and really turns people off to the love of Christ, which imo is the worst thing a person can do. Thanks!
She never said that the US would be better without Jews, read the transcript again.
Anon,
You need to update your definitions. You can be agnostic and atheist at the same time-- check this link for how:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic_atheism
Atheist means "lack of belief" within the atheist community, and not just "I know for a fact that there is no God".
The "you can't know for a fact that there is no God" definition is the one preferred by the faith community, not the community of atheists.
-Siamang
What Ann Coulter said was pure normative Christianity. You're being an hysteric, Brad.
Christianity wants the world to come to Christ. Big deal.
Here is another take on this Coulter affair.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58139
Again, there is NOTHING wrong with what Ann said here...Romans 2 people...that is for people that actually read their Bibles!!
Surprised the Blog owner here would have a fit about this being that he himself is indeed a completed Jew! Which is what it is all about....
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