The funny thing about the internet is that it doesn't forget. Once you say something, it's out there. Forever. Someone should have reminded Ann Coulter of that fact before she attacked Dr. Kent Brantly of Samaritan's Purse.
In her
latest column, Coulter criticized Dr. Brantly for traveling all the way to Africa to serve while ignoring all the problems here at home:
Can't anyone serve Christ in America anymore?
No—because we're doing just fine. America, the most powerful, influential nation on Earth, is merely in a pitched battle for its soul.
About 15,000 people are murdered in the U.S. every year. More than 38,000 die of drug overdoses, half of them from prescription drugs. More than 40 percent of babies are born out of wedlock. Despite the runaway success of "midnight basketball," a healthy chunk of those children go on to murder other children, rape grandmothers, bury little girls alive—and then eat a sandwich. A power-mad president has thrown approximately 10 percent of all Americans off their health insurance—the rest of you to come! All our elite cultural institutions laugh at virginity and celebrate promiscuity.
So no, there's nothing for a Christian to do here.
If Dr. Brantly had practiced at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles and turned one single Hollywood power-broker to Christ, he would have done more good for the entire world than anything he could accomplish in a century spent in Liberia. Ebola kills only the body; the virus of spiritual bankruptcy and moral decadence spread by so many Hollywood movies infects the world.
If he had provided health care for the uninsured editors, writers, videographers and pundits in Gotham and managed to open one set of eyes, he would have done more good than marinating himself in medieval diseases of the Third World.
Classy as always, Ms. Coulter.
She goes on to grumble about Dr. Brantly's apparent lack of patriotism:
America is the most consequential nation on Earth, and in desperate need of God at the moment. If America falls, it will be a thousand years of darkness for the entire planet.
Not only that, but it's our country. Your country is like your family. We're supposed to take care of our own first. The same Bible that commands us to "go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel" also says: "For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, 'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.'"
Coulter concludes her tirade by accusing Dr. Brantly and others like him of "Christian narcissism." It seems she thinks about as highly of Christians missionaries as she does liberals and immigrants.
Three thoughts immediately spring to mind upon reading her article. First, it seems to me that a doctor who believes he is called to help people afflicted with diseases like Ebola might actually desire to travel to places that have people afflicted with diseases like Ebola. Call it an educated guess.
Secondly, Ann Coulter is not writing from a Christian perspective. She may claim to be a Christian, but she certainly isn't drawing from scripture. For her, America is God's chosen nation, and nationalism is her religion. That's probably why she thinks it's a good idea for America to
invade other countries, "kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity"—or at least her version of it.
Thirdly, everything Coulter said about this doctor could be said of every soldier sent overseas to kill and die in the name of freedom. Really, is there a more worshiped image in this country than a man or woman in uniform? But you won't hear that kind of talk from her. It's much easier to hang on to one's conservative credentials by attacking Christian missionaries.
Sadly, Ann Coulter's writings are now a permanent fixture of the internet. However, it is encouraging to remember that her views will one day be scraped into the dustbin of historical irrelevancy along with those of other nationalist jingoists like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Bill O'Reilly.
