Thursday, June 15, 2006

Godless: Spiritual Politics

Released on 6/6/06, Ann Coulter's fifth book explores liberals' obsession with fighting against Judeo-Christian morality. She explores and ties together several concepts, events, and strains of thought that she and others previously delved into, however, her biggest contribution to the forum is her insight into how liberals have enforced a belief system with some similarities to secular humanism as a state religion. Although she never mentions it by name, she speaks at length on Darwinism (one of the core dogmas of the religion) and eludes to some of the other core values. However, she also eludes to certain environmentalist ideas that are not of the humanist belief system. (Whereas secular humanism holds that the good of man is the greatest good, Ann assigns the end of our species as a good in liberalism.)

The key discussions in the text are on crime and education (specifically evolution), with the media always affecting every discourse. She gives examples of how the right ideas on crime seem to come from conservatives (in particular, Rudy Giuliani), while wrong ideas seem to come from the left (in particular, Michael Dukakis). On the education front, the ACLU appears regularly in her often polemic remarks. As usual, Ann enjoys offering revisions of the media's slant - revisions that are extremely valuable to readers who were around when the events she discusses took place.

Coulter's main weakness is not in her attack on liberalism, but in her defense of her own Christianity. On several occasions, she makes remarks that do not make the most of the opportunity that they are afforded by her notable wit. The effort she expends on calling the darkness dark dims the light that she shines on it. (Biblically speaking, part of the purpose of exposing the darkness is to shine our light.) Additionally, she affords herself a chance in her opening to make remarks on behalf of those who stand with her (morally speaking) which she does not use to her best advantage.

Overall, "Godless" is well-worth the time and money spent on it. The quality of Ann's research is excellent. The book's worst enemy may well be Ann's writing style (Hemingway she's not), but most of her fans are unlikely to read the book for their own edification. Whether as a last third of what was begun in Slander and Treason or as a standalone piece of reading, Ann Coulter delivers the goods on liberals in "Godless: The Church of Liberalism."

1 comment:

Conservative First said...

Interestingly, secular humanism has been declared to be a religion by the Supreme Court.

Secular humanism was popular for a time with liberal intellectuals, but I'm not sure how much of an impact it had on the masses.

You might say that liberalism has "evolved" since then. Post-modernism has replaced modernism. Liberalism just keeps getting worse and worse.