Book Review : Godless: The Church of Liberalism, by Ann Coulter

When Ann Coulter, began to make the rounds of television and radio talk shows promoting her new book Godless: The Church of Liberalism I had no intention of reading the book.

I have always had mixed feelings about Ms. Coulter. I enjoy reading her column and even link to it from my web index. She is usually both insightful and entertaining. However, well. . . she tends to be. . . how do I say this without appearing to be mean and nasty . . . she tends to be aggressive. The same sharp wit that cuts right through the muck (and that I find entertaining) also serves to cut her enemies to shreds. She is insightful, she is entertaining, she is brilliant . . . and she is vicious.

Now, for me to write that of Coulter is a bit of the pot calling the kettle black. I can be a bit harsh myself at times. Dr. Paige Patterson once told me that spending time with me was like having your elbow struck on the funny bone. It has now been almost 15 years since he made that statement and I have mellowed a great deal with age, but I still have sanctifcation issues with which I must deal. However, I do not have Coulter’s facility with words. With me words are more like blunt instruments, while Coulter’s words are like a Samarai sword cutting through butter.

All this to say, I enjoy Coulter in small doses, and had no intention of reading her book (a big dose). However, while reading William Dembski’s intelligent design blog, Uncommon Descent, I came across the following statement;

“Having been a sounding board for Ann Coulter, on chapters 8-10 of Godless, I’m happy to see the entire book now that it is out. Ann is taking Phillip Johnson’s message as developed in DARWIN ON TRIAL and REASON IN THE BALANCE and bringing it home to the masses. Critics will dismiss it for its hyperbole, lack of nuance, and in-your-face attitude. But she has the gist just right, which is that materialism (she calls it liberalism) dominates our culture despite being held by only a minority of the populace and has become an agenda among our elites (academy, scientists, media) for total worldview reprogramming. Close to half the book is devoted to science and evolution. I cannot help but feel that Godless will propel our issues in the public consciousness like nothing to date. Phillip Johnson’s DARWIN ON TRIAL took ten years to sell 300,000 copies. I expect Ann will sell more than that in ten weeks.”

Well, one of the things that I have learned is that when William Dembski recommends a book it will be both interesting and informative. All too often, when someone has risen to the level of scholarship that Dembski has attained, they lose all perspective on what makes a book “good.” All too often, the reading lists of the academic elite could more descriptively be called “snoozing lists” because you can fall asleep ten times on every page while trying to get through them. Dembski, who’s background includes a PhD in mathematics and postdoctoral work in physics at the University of Chicago, postdoctoral work in computer science at Princeton, etc. etc. etc, has managed to reach the highest levels of academia and still maintain a perspective that values readability and creativity. Every book that I have read as a result of his recommendation has been a thoroughly enjoyable read as well as informative, challenging, and useful.

So, based upon Dembski’s recommendation quoted above, I discreetly suggested this title to my family as one that I might enjoy receiving as a Father’s Day gift, and voila, it arrived in the eight hands of my four youngsters on Father’s Day.

What do I think of Coulter’s book? It is good. In fact, it is very good. I enjoyed it and I recommend it. The message of the book is one that needs to be heard, and as Dembski noted, she brings it home.

In fact, in recent weeks I have quoted from this book no less than seven times in my regular “It’s Monday Night and Time for Quotes” posting on Silver and Gold.

And, despite its hyperbole and in-your-face attitude it carries an important message that I was surprised to see fleshed out in as nuanced a fashion as Coulter has managed to pull-off. She is convincing.

Now the caveat; while most of Coulter’s rhetoric is amusing, entertaining, and informative there are definitely places that will make many readers cringe. The majority of these sword brandishings aren’t too extreme, but there is one that I personally found apalling. If I am going to recommend the book, and I do, I must also mention this paragraph from the book that made me want to vomit.

“Richard Dawkins produced a two-part television series for Britains Channel 4 that is nothing but an all-out attack on religion, titled Root of All Evil? He compares Moses to Hitler, says religion is equivalent to child abuse, and calls the New Testament a ‘sadomasochistic doctrine.’ In the show titled ‘The God Delusion,’ Dawkins stands outside the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, warning his British audience of ‘Christian fascism’ and a growing ‘American Taliban.’ (I defy my coreligionists to tell me they do not laugh at the idea of Dawkins burning in hell.)” [pages 267-268]

Well, Ann, this is one of your coreligionists that does NOT laugh at the idea of Dawkins burning in Hell. I cannot imagine any Christian who does not have a heart of stone that would laugh at the idea of “anyone” burning in Hell. Had this parenthetical statement come earlier in the book, I don’t know that I would ever have read o
n.

Coulter, herself, has warned her potential audience that they will find some of the content aversive. I saw interviews with her on several talk shows in which the host quized/attacked her because of her statement regarding the New Jersey girls. Most people quote only the last two sentences of the following, but I feel that fairness to Coulter demands a larger block of text, and even this is probably not sufficient, to understand the context of her statement.

“After 9/11, four housewives from New Jersey whose husbands died in the attack on the World Trade Center became media heroes for blaming their husbands’ deaths on George Bush and demanding a commision to investigate why Bush didn’t stop the attacks… The Jersey Girls weren’t interested in national honor, they were interested in a lawsuit. They first came together to complain that the $1.6 million average settlement to be paid to 9/11 victims’ families by the government was not large enough. After getting their payments jacked up, the weeping widows took to the airwaves to denounce George Bush, apparently for not beaming himself through space from Florida to new York and throwing himself in front of the second building at the World Trade Center. These self-obsessed women seemed genuinely unaware that 9/11 was an attack on our nation and acted as if the terrorist attacks happened only to them. The whole nation was wounded, all of our lives reduced. But they believed the entire country was required to marinate in their exquisite personal agony. Apparently, denouncing Bush was an important part of their closure process. These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by grief-arazzis. I’ve never seen people enjoying their husband’s deaths so much.” [page 103]

Coulter responded to the hosts’ challenge of her statement, that she has been surprised at the outcry. Not because she thinks this statement innocuous, but because there are statements in the book that she considers much more potentially offensive.

She warned you. I warn you. If you read the book do not be surprised.

Nevertheless, I reiterate, that I think the book is important in that it is pertinent to our cultural milieu, it is timely, and . . .

I give it 4 1/2 stars out of a possible 5 for its ability to entertain.

For more book reviews by Kevin Stilley check out Building A Theological Library .

For quotations from Godless, check out It’s Monday Night and Time for Quotes – 7/3/06 and It’s Monday Night and Time for Quotes – 7/10/06

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GO HERE for Tim Challies review of Godless.