Last spring, a Catholic priest complained that Ann Coulter contributes to the
"dark side" of American culture.
Now comes news that a Churches-of-Christ affiliated college in Arkansas has disinvited Coulter from its "Distinguished Lecture Series," after an uproar from alums who view her as "anti- and non-Christian."
Which raises the question: is Christianity anti- and non-Coulter?
More on the flip
Inside Higher Ed reports that Harding University in Arkansas--ranked one of the "top 10 conservative colleges" by the Young America's Foundation--announced that Coulter has been replaced as a speaker by Jose Maria Aznar, Spain's former president.
The announcement follows pressure and negative attention from alums, including a number of bloggers.
Mike Cope, a minister at Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, Tex., complained that Coulter lives in a "black/white `I'm-right-and-you're-an-idiot' world. If you don't agree with her then you're a bleeding heart liberal who doesn't deserve to live here." The problem, he said, was not that Coulter is conservative, but that her views are un-Christian.
That view was echoed by Greg Kendall-Ball, a graduate divinity student at Abilene Christian University. He cited comments Coulter had made about countries that harbor terrorists -- "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity" -- and about campus radicals: "When contemplating college liberals, you really regret once again that John Walker is not getting the death penalty. We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too. Otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors."
In inviting Coulter to the campus, wrote Kendall-Ball, whose father and sisters are also Harding alums, the university had "failed to uphold the Christ-like spirit that Harding seeks to embody." It troubled him, he said, that "someone advocating violence, forced conversions, physical intimidation and who has routinely expressed anti- or non-Christian views is welcomed and given one of the more prestigious speaking engagements on the school's calendar."
...
Coulter herself did not reply to e-mail messages seeking comment. But a spokesman for the Young America's Foundation, Jason Mattera, said that Harding's decision to "disinvite one of the top rated conservative speakers on campuses" shows a "lack of testicular fortitude." The foundation, he said,would "take it into consideration" when the group reevaluates its top 10 list of conservative campuses this year.
[Crossposted from my blog, Hiram Hover]
Update [2005-9-1 12:0:17 by Hprof]:: Over at my blog, I received the following comment from Harding alum Greg Kendall-Ball, who is quoted in the above article. He's not a registered dkos user and asked me to share this:
I just want to thank everyone for picking up on the fact that not all Christians are right-wing whackos. I am glad I made it through Harding (I was Class of 2001) without somehow equating Christian faith with social, theological and political conservatism. I just wanted to help give current students that same chance!