Sour N Sweet

You know, I’m really starting to think Ann Coulter is a really good comedian/satirist. She’s spent a good number of years getting the support of the far right wing and conservative Christians. And slowly she’s been mouthing more and more of their most ridiculous beliefs publicly, gradually making them seem more and more idiotic. And now the payoff is finally coming. She’s starting to air out the deep truths that will offend the most people possible:

Media Matters - On CNBC’s The Big Idea, Coulter said that “we” Christians “just want Jews to be perfected”

Either she’s going to finally throw nutty Evangelicals* and far-right Christians to the fringe (where really they long to be anyway - look at how often they play the victim with the “War on _____ ” holidays like they’re some kind of fringe group while claiming to be the majority of Americans!) or start a true “culture war”. At the link above she tells a TV talk show host - much to his dismay - that Christians are “perfected Jews” (direct quote, mofos). The host is incredulous, unable to believe that Ms. Coulter is, among other things, advocating a religious monopoly in a Coulter-perfect America. She seems to be countering the equality of the players in the religious oligopoly of the “Judeo-Christian Tradition” in this country of which we hear so much (except of course when claims of this nation being founded on Christian principles and by Christians are being tossed about).

The thing is, that is what I was taught growing up. I spent 12+ years in Catholic schools, and I had been told that with Jesus came the “fulfillment” of the “Old Testament”, in essence saying that the “Old Testament” alone is incomplete. No one ever said that Jews were “incomplete” or “imperfect” people. In fact, the fact that Christians aren’t trying to disparage Jews is often pointed out despite the language suggesting otherwise. But you can make that jump if you so desire; clearly Ms. Coulter did. And the crazy part is, it isn’t usually the Catholics who are the ones saying that you can only go to Heaven if you’re Christian!

I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise. Christianity has always been a religion of evangelism and conversion. And like most religions, it has a superiority complex that translates to superiority complexes in some of its adherents. And now Ms. Coulter seems to be bringing that ugly fact out into the sunlight. We can speculate on her motives, but if she keeps this up, there will certainly be more religious debate in this country than there’s been in a while. Anyone out there have any thoughts?

(via Atrios)

*not to say all Evangelicals are nutty - but the ones on the teevee sure seem that way