Media Matters takes aim at Ann Coulter quite often. In one sense, I can hardly blame them for it. Spend half an hour with her and she’s bound to say something they can trumpet on their web site. Fair enough.

But this complaint just seems like it was made on a slow news outrage day.

During the October 8 edition of CNBC’s The Big Idea, host Donny Deutsch asked right-wing pundit Ann Coulter: “If you had your way … and your dreams, which are genuine, came true … what would this country look like?” Coulter responded, “It would look like New York City during the [2004] Republican National Convention. In fact, that’s what I think heaven is going to look like.” She described the convention as follows: “People were happy. They’re Christian. They’re tolerant. They defend America.” Deutsch then asked, “It would be better if we were all Christian?” to which Coulter responded, “Yes.” Later in the discussion, Deutsch said to her: “[Y]ou said we should throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians,” and Coulter again replied, “Yes.” When pressed by Deutsch regarding whether she wanted to be like “the head of Iran” and “wipe Israel off the Earth,” Coulter stated: “No, we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say. … That’s what Christianity is. We believe the Old Testament, but ours is more like Federal Express. You have to obey laws.”

After a commercial break, Deutsch said that “Ann said she wanted to explain her last comment,” and asked her, “So you don’t think that was offensive?” Coulter responded: “No. I’m sorry. It is not intended to be. I don’t think you should take it that way, but that is what Christians consider themselves: perfected Jews. We believe the Old Testament. As you know from the Old Testament, God was constantly getting fed up with humans for not being able to live up to all the laws. What Christians believe — this is just a statement of what the New Testament is — is that that’s why Christ came and died for our sins. Christians believe the Old Testament. You don’t believe our testament.” Coulter later said: “We consider ourselves perfected Christians. For me to say that for you to become a Christian is to become a perfected Christian is not offensive at all.”

Without getting into all the theology of it, and whether or not Ann is accurate in her description, where is it implied anywhere that she is some sort of authoritative source for Christian theology? Did she get her Masters of Divinity when I wasn’t looking?

And why — again, not considering the accuracy — would such a statement be considered offensive anyway? If a Muslim were to tell me that I don’t know the true God, or if a Jew were to tell me that I worshipped a man who was dead and buried (and I have been told the latter, though by atheists), why would I be offended? If that’s what they truly believed then it is what it is. I take my religion seriously, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t tolerate it when someone else frames me within their beliefs. I can handle that without getting offended, and I would hazard a guess that most Christians could as well, contrary to the common stereotype.

Must’ve been a slow news day, or MM’s first stringers — Robertson, Dobson, et. al. — didn’t say enough to enrage them. Although with this low bar to clear, it doesn’t seem like it would take much.

[tags]Media Matters,Donny Deutsch,Ann Coulter,Christianity,Judaism,offense,religion[/tags]

Filed under: ChristianityConservativeDougMediaReligion

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