With Christians Like Ann Coulter, Who Needs A Devil?

Last updated on: August 27, 2015 at 5:12 pm by Benjamin Dixon

With Christians Like Ann Coulter, Who Needs A Devil? 2015-08-27T17:12:30-04:00 Benjamin Dixon

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I would normally be able to ignore the machinations of Ann Coulter. However, we are in a precarious time in American history where she, through Donald Trump, can easily access the center-stage of the political discourse. And while I would love to pretend I didn’t hear her introduction of Donald Trump, her depraved ability to seamlessly interweave racist, fear-mongering, and acrimonious language between Biblical references compels me to write.

In her introduction of Trump, Coulter stated:

Since Donald Trump has announced that he’s running for president, I felt like I’m dreaming. I can’t believe I turn on TV…everynight they’re talking about “anchor babies” … they’re talking about Mexican rapists…

And now I think its like Joseph in the Bible. He had to be sold into slavery, imprisoned, betrayed, so that–eventually– he could save the Jews. Maybe Mitt Romney had to lose…and maybe Mitch McConnel and John Boehner had to betray us once again to pave the way for President Donald Trump.

God hasn’t given up on America yet.

The joy that Coulter expresses about finally being free to use hurtful and racist terms without fear of reproach juxtaposed with her use of Biblical references to describe her euphoria about this freedom that the Trump candidacy provides may be the quintessential example of the perversion that was born out of the marriage between Conservative Christianity and the Republican Party. For years I lamented over conservative Christians’ ability to disregard the compassion of Christ and the Biblical mandate for social and economic justice in exchange for their pursuit of Republican ideologies; however, what is now emerging from the abyss is beyond the pale.

Nothing about Ann Coulter has changed. In fact, her speech was nothing more than a re-packaging of the same bigotry and hate-filled rhetoric that always boosted her book sales. The only thing that has changed is that she now has been freed from the dungeon of “shock-jockery.” Normally she would only be summoned when a “hit-job” needed to be executed on some liberal idea or agenda. But with Donald Trump, she’s found a home on the national stage.

And don’t misunderstand my concern: Coulter being the forerunner for a potential US President in itself is not as troubling as her wrapping her hatred in religious jargon to capture the hearts of conservative Christians. Coulter’s comparison of this moment of “bigoted freedom” to that of Joseph’s journey through “the pit and the prison to the palace” is terrifying both spiritually and politically.

The things that have been done in world history whenever an ideological person wrapped hatred in religion should make us tremble to hear it done so freely and on such a national scale.

We religious types often attribute this level of evil to Satan. I suggest that this level of evil is attainable without the need for a devil. Indeed, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.“

But here we saw a disturbing revival of racial bigotry on public display in the name of Christ and sealed with a benediction, “God hasn’t given up on America yet.” And to this, hundreds of Christians applauded in agreement.

Evangelicals need to make a decision. Will this type of rhetoric and clearly insidious motivations be publically acceptable on such a broad, national scale and all done in the name of Christ? Yes, there will always be people willing to use the name of Christ to accomplish the most repulsive deeds. The question is: how many Christians will silently observe and say nothing? How many have been perverted enough to believe these deeds are Christ-inspired?

I can already predict the comments of, “She’s just one person. Stop being so dramatic.” Yes. She is one person–one person introducing the frontrunner for the Presidency, who also wraps his bigotry and misogyny in Biblical platitudes for the purposes of fulfilling the religious requirement for conservative candidates.

Coulter is only one person who has a larger platform than thousands of preachers combined–one person who can now gleefully and publically fuse together her brand of hatred and political Christianity. But with Christians like Ann Coulter, who needs a Devil?

Featured image via screen capture.

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