What is one to make of Ann Coulter's occasional references to Christian faith in her columns and interviews? I never knew exactly where she stood until I read a recent interview in which she lays out some of her convictions with striking clarity. I know for a fact that many Christians upon reading this interview will shrink from claiming her as an ally, especially those devoted to the "meek and mild" school of Christian spirituality. But Coulter doesn't read her Bible that way. Below are some excerpts from the interview.
Bethanne Patrick: . . . What I really wanted to ask you, and seriously, where do your
convictions come from? Tell us about what gives you the strength to go
back into the ring again and again. . .
Ann Coulter: Well, it is religion and spirituality, number one. Not
only do Christians not mind being attacked, we think it's kind of macho
because Christ predicted we would be attacked. And also, if you really
believe Christ died for your sins, nothing else really matters. So
'Vanity Fair' doesn't like me, boo hoo. Christ died for my sins, so
what do they have for me?
Bethanne Patrick: There's very little you can say about that because it trumps everything.
Ann
Coulter: And it gives you freedom to act boldly. Christians are always
operating -- at least this Christian is -- with a net. There's nothing
anyone can do to us. As Paul said, 'If Christ had not risen, than eat,
drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die.' Well, we think Christ is
risen, so whatever gifts God has given you, you have to pursue them to
your utmost expense and not be worried about people yelling at you. And
also, I grew up with two older brothers, so I'm used to being bold.
Bethanne Patrick: Also, with
Christians, it's not just things we're given, but things we're called
to do. And one of the things that Christians are called to do is to
love one another. You are very vocal in the book and in the media about
the transformative power of Christian love. So I want to know, is
calling someone a harpy like you did during the 9-11...
Ann Coulter: You can see I haven't been transformed.
Bethanne Patrick: Is that part of Christian love?
Ann
Coulter: Well, two things to that. One, like I said, whatever gifts
you've been given. You can't imagine what people will say to me, 'Would
Christ talk like this.' No, but Christ wouldn't be a stand-up comic,
Christ wouldn't be a NASCAR driver, Christ wouldn't be Bobby Weir
playing in the band. He had other fish to fry. So whatever gift God
gives you -- and in my case I think that involves irony and sarcasm,
that's what you use.
And the other
thing I'd say is yes, we have the whole love part of Christianity, but
there's also the sword part. Jesus was not ... I mean, ask the
money-changers how nice Jesus was. There are many commands to go out
and do battle against evil. And maybe I don't get it right. Maybe when
I meet my maker he'll say I was too harsh. Maybe he'll say I wasn't
harsh enough. Who knows? I'll apologize for not getting it right and
thank him for dying for my sins.
your arguments?
Ann
Coulter: I think the jokes, the sarcasm, writing in an amusing style --
that gets more people to read it. I do have the number one book in the
country now, so it appears to be working on that score, even though
that is just the way I would write because it amuses me. I have to edit
this stuff over and over again, and if it's not funny I don't want to
read it.
Bethanne Patrick: The other thing I
thought while I was reading 'Godless,' not all liberals have given up
on God and the Bible. There are many liberals who are Christians. There
are many of us out there.
Ann Coulter: Oh yes, I'm well aware.
Bethanne
Patrick: And there are many conservatives who couldn't care less about
Jesus Christ or about religion in any form. So what do you say to those
conservatives? Are you saying to them, 'You better get into the fold
now?' Or do you think just being conservative is enough?
Ann
Coulter: No, no, no. I think, as a general matter, I would encourage
everyone to become a Christian and win eternal life and also peace in
this life. I was raised Christian, but I've become more Christian in
the past five or ten years, and one most transforming effect in my own
life is that I'm constantly at peace. You don't get upset about
anything because, like I said, the big issue has been taken care of.
Nothing else really matters.
Bethanne
Patrick: I don't know if you don't get upset about anything, because
one of the things in 'Godless' that you do get upset about is Muslims
and Islam.
Ann Coulter:
Well, ok, I'm a little testy with them since they flew planes into our
buildings and killed three thousand Americans, yes that's true.
Bethanne Patrick: And you do take a
lot of license in your language in talking about them. Do you think
that you'll ever come to the point where you accept that Muslims are
also believers just as you are?
Ann
Coulter: I have a footnote to it in Chapter One because it got kind of
tedious saying, 'Christians, and others who believe in the God of
Abraham.' Because what I'm talking about in the book isn't just New
Testament stuff. It's Old Testament stuff. It's very heavily Genesis
stuff, and that is that we're in our creator's image and that he gave
us the plants and the animals and the earth to be shepherds of, but we
are above them, they're not above us.
So,
for example, our government's policy for many years -- a perfect
example of a tendency of the church of Liberalism -- was to punish
African countries that used DDT to kill malaria. There are millions of
Africans, African human beings, dying of malaria every year. DDT is a
perfectly safe substance for human beings, in fact the guy who used to
debate this in the seventies, I forget his name, he would stand on the
stage with a glass of DDT in front of him and drink it during the
lectures to show that it was safe for human beings. He just died about
a year ago at age 84 while hiking, but DDT might kill a bird. And it's
a trade-off between birds and human beings. No! That is very
anti-Genesis. No, no, no.