Defending Ann Coulter

To anybody even approaching a human standard of intelligence it should be clear that Ann Coulter is nothing more than a bigoted lackwit media whore, so why would one even take the trouble to pay her heed, much less write an article defending her? To explain, it is necessary to go back to an interview she gave on Donny Deutsch's CNBC show 'The Big Idea' in which she claimed that it would be better if we were all Christians, and that Christians were 'perfected Jews'.

Rather predictably this caused something of a commotion, and Coulter has since been criticised as being anti-semitic, intolerant, and generally a big meanie. Deutsch himself immediately responded with incredulity, and accused her of being hateful and anti-semitic, and complained that he was personally offended by the remarks. The National Jewish Democratic Council has called for media organisations to stop using her as a commentator.

But this is not the correct response (although it probably is the one that Coulter was hoping for). Coulter's comments were not anti-semitic, and they are perfectly rational, and really quite unremarkable and modest, if your thinking is grounded in Christian dogma.

First, it is clear that she was referring to religious Jews, rather than racial Jews, so it makes no sense at all to say that she was being racist or anti-semitic. Religion is not the same thing as race; a fact that people who accuse critics of Islam of racism would do well to remember. Second, if you believe that the Bible is the word of God, that Jesus died on the cross to save us, and that he was the son of God, then it is perfectly rational to desire all people to convert to Christianity. In fact the Bible commands believers to 'Go therefore and make disciples of all nations'. Apart from that, it is natural to think that the world would be a better place if other people thought more like you do. Coulter also said, in the same interview, that she thought America would be better if all Americans were Republicans, but there has been no righteous condemnation of that comment.

This whole fandango is just another symptom of the taboo over criticising religion. It is clear that nobody would have condemned Coulter for wishing other people to agree with her over political, economic, historical, or scientific opinions. It is hard to imagine the Adam Smith Institute demanding that somebody not be used as a commentator after advocating widespread adoption of Keynesian economics. But when it comes to religion, everybody is immediately indignant. This must change.

Links:

• Clip from the show
• Media reaction
• 'Go therefore and make disciples of all nations'