[Mark of the Beast]

Message From A Christian Woman.

It is sometimes instructive to take an extreme example to illustrate a point. There being no one more extreme than Ann Coulter, let's start there. One of the fundamentally mystifying elements of the modern Republican Party is how they came to be associated with Christian orthodoxy. It is clear how they managed to exploit abortion for partisan ends, but how did they--the party of moneylenders, of greed, of war, and of bad samaritanism--how did they become Godly? Surely merely claiming Godliness is by itself inadequate, and yet many of America's most devout seem to have been thus convinced. Are they not familiar with the source text?

Take, for instance, Matthew 7:15-23 (which follows the also appropriate judge-not-lest-ye-be-judged passage):

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognise them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognise them.

Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

(The Gospel of Matthew, as a matter fact, pretty much refutes the whole of the GOP platform. I also admire greatly M 6:1, "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.") I bring all of this up because of a little bit of extreme language--Ann Coulter, remember--Media Matters brings to our attention. From Coulter's new book, page 3:

"Throughout this book, I often refer to Christians and Christianity because I am a Christian and I have a fairly good idea of what they believe, but the term is intended to include anyone who subscribes to the Bible of the God of Abraham, including Jews and others."

Media Matters highlights the bit about Jews getting waved through as "Christians" by the big-hearted blonde. But I'm more interested in the "I am a Christian and I have a fairly good idea of what they believe" bit. This is a woman who yesterday told Matt Lauer:

“These self-obsessed women [widows of 9/11 terror attacks] seem genuinely unaware that 9/11 was an attack on our nation and acted like as if the terrorist attack only happened to them. They believe the entire country was required to marinate in their exquisite personal agony. Apparently, denouncing bush was part of the closure process.”

“These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by griefparrazies. I have never seen people enjoying their husband’s death so much.”

This is not a Godly woman, no matter how many Jews she waves into heaven. I believe most people see through her--she is an extreme example. Yet I find it interesting that despite people like Coulter--for whom there is no counterpart on the left--it remains the party of God.

Is it possible that the equation is nearing its end? If so, I guess we have a strange kind of thanks to offer to Ann.