eSkeptic the email newsletter of the Skeptics Society
Thursday, September 21st, 2006 ISSN 15565696
A REVIEW OF
GODLESS: THE CHURCH OF LIBERALISM
by Matthew Provonsha
Ann Coulter's new book is vulgar propaganda that goes against both
science and reason. She has made a living as the cruel darling of
the Religious Right, and in this book she aims her harsh rhetoric
against, among other things, evolutionary biology, atheism, and what
she calls "liberalism." The entire book in fact is a sustained
attack on a group that doesn't even exist, namely "liberals," in the
sense of the word that Coulter has made up.
In her own words, Coulter's thesis is that "Liberalism IS a
religion." She even refers to liberalism as "the state-sanctioned
religion." This is borderline conspiracy theory, from the woman who
called the Branch Davidians "harmless American citizens." In a kind
of transubstantiation, we are supposed to believe that despite all
outward appearances, our government is actually controlled by
atheists. She says, "Democrats revile religion," and "liberals love
to boast that they are not 'religious.'"
This is absurd. Coulter sticks to generalizations because she can't
give any cogent examples. Martin Luther King Jr. was undeniably
Christian and liberal, but I doubt she had him in mind when she
wrote, "I would be crestfallen to discover any liberals in heaven."
Ann Coulter is going to heaven and Martin Luther King Jr. is not?
For shame.
Coulter can't name a godless president or member of Congress. The
last two Democratic presidents have been born-again Christians, and
the vast majority of liberals are Christian, yet Coulter defines
"liberals" as people who reject notions of God and an immortal soul.
Meanwhile, the overtly Christian Republican Party is in control of
all three branches of government. In this aspect of the book, as in
others, it is exceedingly difficult to take Coulter seriously, and
it is hardly surprising that many commentators on the left and right
have questioned her sincerity.
ID proponent William Dembski wrote on his blog that he takes full
responsibility for any errors in the last few chapters of the book,
which deal with evolution. Several websites have pointed out plenty
of them, so if he was being honest, he has got his work cut out for
him. But it doesn't matter how much evidence there is against
Coulter because she just lies when the truth gets in the way of her
agenda. She lies brazenly in the book about the Dover trial, which
ruled the teaching of ID in science classrooms unconstitutional.
According to Coulter: "They won the way liberals always win: by
finding a court to hand them everything they want on a silver
platter." Here Ann Coulter shows herself to be either completely
incompetent or deliberately deceptive. The judge that presided over
Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District is a life-long Republican
and a church-goer, appointed to the federal bench in 2002 by
President George W. Bush. Clifford A. Rieders, the former president
of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association and a Democrat, said
Judge Jones is "universally well regarded." Coulter's attempt to
smear him is transparently motivated by her ideological concerns,
not the facts.
Like other bigots, Ann Coulter attacks what she perceives to be easy
targets. In the past she has attacked Arabs, Muslims, and
homosexuals, and in this book she saves some of her harshest words
for environmentalists and America's most mistrusted minority,
atheists. She writes, "The theory of vegetarianism is that Americans
consume 'too much' energy." To the contrary, vegetarianism is not a
theory at all, it is the practice of not eating meat. There are a
variety of reasons for practicing vegetarianism, and an individual
vegetarian's choice to avoid meat may have nothing at all to do with
concerns about over-consumption or inefficient consumption. She
adds, "Environmentalists' energy plan is the repudiation of America
and Christian destiny, which is Jet Skis, steak on the electric
grill, hot showers, and night skiing."
This consumerist position is untenable in light of much of Christian
and American intellectual history. Coulter can't point to a verse in
the New Testament promoting self-indulgence that could justify the
conspicuous consumption of the rich while tens of thousands die
every day due to malnutrition and easily treatable diseases. Jesus
exhorts his followers, "Sell that which you have, and give gifts to
the needy," and seek treasures in heaven instead of on earth.
Nowhere in Coulter's book does she express concern for the troubled
people of the third world where there are food and drug shortages,
or for the poor in this country who can't even afford healthcare,
much less jet skis or night skiing.
Coulter's religion is not like that of the author of the Book of
Proverbs, who prayed for neither poverty nor riches but, "only the
necessaries of life." Her religion is not like St. Thomas Aquinas's,
who went so far as to say that anything held in superabundance must
be given to provide for the sustenance of the poor. If we are to
infer "Christian destiny" by looking at Christian history, we see
that Coulter's ideal is nothing like the ideal put forth by most
Christian leaders of the past. St. Francis of Assisi prayed, "O
Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek," but Coulter has
said that the Biblical view is to "rape the planet."
Coulter's distortion of history in order to misrepresent atheism is
particularly disturbing. She wants us to believe that the horrors of
Nazi Germany, the USSR, and the People's Republic of China are in
some way due to atheism and acceptance of evolution. "Hitler's
world-view was based on Darwinism, not God," she writes. This is
clearly a lie designed to denounce Darwinism by association. It is
contrary to Hitler's own words, as even a cursory reading of Mein
Kampf shows. In it Hitler writes, "Hence today I believe I am
acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by
defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the
Lord." Though she claims that Hitler cited Darwin, she can't
substantiate it, and thus this is yet another baseless assertion.
Hitler was obviously either heavily influenced by Christian beliefs,
or wanted to appear as though he was. Along with various other
influences, Nazism undoubtedly drew from a long-standing Christian
tradition of anti-Semitism. As far as I can discern, Hitler never
even mentioned Darwin; rather, he repeatedly claimed to be doing the
will of Providence.
Coulter's attempt to blame Darwin for the horrific famines in China
is ironic given that they occurred partly because Communist
scientists rejected Darwin. Denying what they called "capitalist
science," they paved the way for agricultural catastrophe. Coulter
even suggests that Darwin is to blame for "Stalinist gulags." In
reality, Stalin sent scientists to gulags for espousing Darwinian
evolution.
Throughout the book Coulter never argues her points, but makes ad
hominem attacks and false analogies, attacks straw-men and blatantly
misrepresents history. She can't even distinguish between Darwinism
and Social Darwinism. She is as bad on ethics as she is on science,
and is completely inept regarding logical reasoning. When she says
atheists are always the ones practicing genocide, she shows that she
hasn't even read her scriptures.
There is no "church of liberalism," there isn't even "liberalism,"
in Coulter's sense. Liberals are not "pro-abortion," and no atheist
hates God. Godless is a ridiculous book and Ann Coulter lies
flagrantly and is as self-righteous as she is malicious. The most
controversial line in the book is her condemnation of four 9/11
widows who chose to involve themselves in politics: "I have never
seen people enjoying their husbands' death so much." But it's not
the only nasty thing she wrote in the book and she has said even
worse things in the past. She has used epithets like "raghead,"
"paki," and "gay boy." She actually said, "My only regret with
Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building."
Coulter's fans apparently consider death threats and violent
rhetoric humorous, and she doesn't disappoint them. She is a
hate-mongering reactionary who has said she is for public flogging,
and against women's suffrage. I wish I were making this up. Godless
is a boring collection of rants filled with utterly mind-boggling
absurdities, like, "public schools are the Left's madrassas," "The
most important value to liberals is destroying human life" (in
reference to abortion), and "liberals made up Watergate." We needn't
worry about misinterpreting her words because she has repeatedly
told interviewers that she believes everything she wrote in the
book. She has even said that she never regrets anything she has ever
said and she wouldn't have said anything differently. Even if the
cynics are right to say that Coulter is laughing all the way to the
bank and that she doesn't really believe any of it, it still
reflects horribly on our media that gives her a national platform,
and on our culture in which she is thriving with a lucrative
speaking career and best-selling books.
