"Evil Liberal Media Is Attacking Christians" Says Atheist Author

[philosoraptor42]

 

Okay, this has seriously puzzled me.

S.E. Cupp is an atheist. She expresses her atheism pretty clearly. However, she's also highly conservative politically. Where it gets bizarre is that she's released a book explaining that where the "evil liberal media" criticises Conservative views, it is actually attacking Christianity.

So far, so bizarre. The way she has sided with the Christian Right reminds me of how Ayaan Hirsi Ali was siding with the Anti-Immigration Right in Holland. The difference is that while Ayaan Hirsi Ali's words seemed to depend on how you read them and the biggest issues tended to be with the sub-text, there seems to be little doubt that S.E. Cupp's arguments involve very unsubtle manipulation of the truth and, in many cases, outright lies.

Here's an interview she had on Fox News. It's all very buddy buddy at the beginning. Sean Hannity introduces her book as follows:

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: The mainstream media's hostility towards Christianity is no secret. But a new book explores why the liberal elite is only suspicious when conservatives invoke religion. Now, the book is called "Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media's Attack on Christianity."

The author, S.E. Cupp, joins me now.

Right there, my blurb, your book.

S.E. CUPP, AUTHOR, "LOSING OUR RELIGION": I know! Right on the front.

HANNITY: Look, I took a look at this early on.

CUPP: Yes.

HANNITY: And...

CUPP: I talked to you about it. That's right.

HANNITY: You talked to me about it. Your father was here one night when you were on this program.

CUPP: Yes.

HANNITY: Alright. And your father and I — this is the strangest thing in the world. You write a book defending Christianity...

CUPP: Yes.

HANNITY: ... and you're an atheist?

CUPP: I am. But doesn't that make me the perfect candidate? I mean, how objective can I be about this when I don't have a dog in this fight?

HANNITY: Yes, but see, I don't believe you're an atheist. I think you're more agnostic. An atheist holds out no possibility that there's a God. Do you hold out a possibility that universes within universes, the majesty of creation, that there's — you don't hold out any possibility there's a god?

CUPP: Sean, today I don't believe in God, but I'm open to being converted. I am. And you know...

HANNITY: You're agnostic, then. You're not an atheist.

CUPP: Alright. Today I don't believe in God. I don't believe that there's a God today.

HANNITY: So how do you — and see, I think to be an atheist, you have to believe that something can come from nothing. I mean, because the majesty of creation is so beyond our comprehension. You know, Steven Hawking, how many universes within universes within universes, the depths of this that you think it just happened randomly?

CUPP: I don't purport to have the answers.

HANNITY: Alright, just checking.

CUPP: I'm not prepared to fill in that gap in my knowledge with God just yet.

So as you can see, this isn't someone who doesn't know what atheism is. She's able to clearly express why she is an atheist rather than an agnostic. Yet while she might be able to identify the difference between those two positions, her understanding of the wider political landscape is rather less subtle.

But anyway, the next thing she does is to highlight a few examples of secular worship within the "evil atheist liberal media". (They're evil atheists, but she's not. She's a nice atheist because she holds to Conservative values):

HANNITY: Yes. Alright. I love the book. You make a great point here, because you say liberal media worships Hollywood. They worship celebrity. They worship politicians.

CUPP: Yes. Environmentalism.

HANNITY: And environmentalism. You say all of this. So they — worship is OK as long as it's secular.

CUPP: Well, yes, as long as it doesn't involve Christ or God. I mean, God is like porn. They want it to be sort of on the bottom shelf in a brown bag. You know, they're really embarrassed by Christianity. And it's the faith of 80 percent of this country. I think we deserve a more responsible press and a more representative press.

She's an atheist who thinks that the media isn't mentioning God enough. And environmentalism is a religion.

There's an essay in Bertrand Russell's "Why I Am Not A Christian" where he tackles the argument that promoting Christianity is important for a stable society. I wonder whether she's not got the same argument in mind. The idea is that, while I don't need Christianity to be a good person, other people aren't as morally upright as me. What they they really need is a promise of an afterlife to keep them in line. It's actually highly elitist since it relies on the idea that the person making the argument is somehow an ultra-special exception to the general rule amongst the unclean masses that without the firm hand of religion they will all run amok.

HANNITY: Yes, well, why do you think, and with all the research, and you have so much of it in this book. Why do you think there's this hostility to people that profess — you talk about me in the book. I am a Christian.

CUPP: Right.

HANNITY: I say so. You think the media likes it when they can go out there — when I profess that I believe in God?

CUPP: Yes. Right.

HANNITY: Why do you think that?

CUPP: Because if you're conservative and a Christian, for them it's a double whammy. They can conflate the two, and they can say everyone on the right is a crazy, dangerous, religious fanatic. And that's their — that's their bread and butter, fear mongering.

But I think it comes from a place. You know, liberalism is really threatened by fixed value systems like Christianity that has a list of do's and don'ts.

See, what she thinks society really needs is a fixed-value system. It doesn't matter whether she believes in it. Just that she supports it. And just supporting the conservative values without the Christianity isn't enough. It seems that it's vital to her that Christianity is in place to keep the masses in check and she's just as worried about faith in that system being called into question as any right-wing believer would be.

HANNITY: But what is it

CUPP: They don't like that.

HANNITY: So I mentioned that I believe in God.

CUPP: Yes.

HANNITY: And then you say the liberal media likes it. I'm still trying to understand. But why? What is — I mean most Americans believe in God.

CUPP: Right.

HANNITY: That resonates with the American people.

CUPP: Right. You'd think. It's a really...

HANNITY: You're the anomaly, S.E. Cupp.

CUPP: I know. I know that. It's a really bad business model to go after 80 percent of the country.

HANNITY: Yes.

CUPP: And they do it. They mock Christianity. They condescend to it. And they actively attack the faith and values of the majority of this country. It's got to stop.

So it's at this point where she decides to lay into Obama. Now, I'm not Obama's greatest fan, but I have been impressed by his focus on ensuring a heightened inclusion for people of all faiths and none. Even Hannity notes that her assessment of the situation is a little odd. Obama has spoken about religion fondly and embraces various religious groups. So how is that anti-Christian? Well, in one sense the answer is fairly obvious. Focussing on other religions is treating them as if they are on the same level as Christianity. The far-right will often claim that other faiths getting a fair shake involves persecuting the Christian majority. However, the other reason Obama's religious position upsets her is that it's too lefty. She doesn't like Obama's liberation theology for the same reason the Vatican doesn't like liberation theology: Liberation Theology is not a conservative movement.

HANNITY: You mentioned Obama and when he made the comment about people clinging to their guns and religion.

CUPP: Yes.

HANNITY: He also said America is not a —

CUPP: Christian nation.

HANNITY: Christian nation. And he made those comments. And you said Obama demotes Christianity, and the liberal media rejoices. That struck me.

CUPP: Right. I mean, it's the first time that they've had a comrade, an ally in the White House to back up their secular agenda. This is a guy who's very uncomfortable with public worship. He's always elevating atheism to the level of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, when they're not the same. They're apples and oranges.

HANNITY: But he spent — it look him a long time to denounce Reverend Wright, which I think — and he embraced black liberation theology.

CUPP: Yes.

HANNITY: When you read his books. He was inspired.

CUPP: Absolutely.

HANNITY: He was fortified. As he was out on road he would listen...

CUPP: The liberal media didn't cover that, though. I mean, I do a comparison in one chapter between Sarah Palin's Pentecostalism and Barack Obama's black liberation theology.

Sarah Palin's Pentecostalism is basically the broad Christianity of the majority of the country. Black liberation theology is radical. It is frightening.

HANNITY: Yes.

CUPP: And it's not representative. But the liberal media didn't tell us that story.

HANNITY: Alright. I've got to tell you, the way you design the book is interesting, because you have "Thou shall burn Fox News in effigy," which I thought was interesting. "Thou shall have double standards." So you — obviously, on the 10 Commandments. That was — that was...

CUPP: Playing a little — it's a little tongue-in-cheek, a little play on words there.

HANNITY: Yes, you know...

CUPP: It's funny. I mean, I — it's a serious topic. And for me, this is — this is serious stuff. I mean, we are going towards — towards Armageddon, if you want to put that it way. But I mean, I'm also — you know, I'm young. I'm irreverent. It's — there's some funny parts as well.

HANNITY: I agree. You also point out, because you talk about — the media has a faith. You don't say it that way, but you're really describing that they have their own moral value, belief system, religion.

CUPP: Religion. They do.

HANNITY: And you know, for example, you point out some of the hypocrisy. Here you have best-selling books by Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, others, and you mention them in the book. They don't get reviewed by The New York Times.

CUPP: Right. It's not just a question of, you know, do we cover Christian issues? Which they don't. Or when we do cover Christian issues, do we do it fairly? They don't.

It's also in these reviews. It's in movie reviews and music reviews and book reviews. Again, I don't understand why a publication like The New York Times would want to ignore that there is this huge population of readers out there who are reading these books by Christian authors.

HANNITY: Yes.

CUPP: They want to pretend they don't exist.

HANNITY: Well, if people — and I said this in the blurb in the book — if they want a real definitive case that you lay out that Christians are under attack, this is it. I still do not understand. You've got — your father is a strong Christian.

CUPP: He is. He's born again.

HANNITY: And is it driving him crazy that...

CUPP: I think he's happy that at least I'm on his side.

HANNITY: Are you in a state of rebellion? Are you in a state of — there's got to be a reason for this.

CUPP: Maybe, I don't know. All I know is, you know, I defend Christianity.

HANNITY: You do, big time.

CUPP: I want — I want some of these people gone. I want to take names. You're religious. I want this to be like the rapture, and all that's left of them is their shoes.

HANNITY: Wow, a right, the rapture is here.

S.E., I love it. "Losing Our Religion," great book.

CUPP: Thank you.

HANNITY: Thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.

CUPP: Thanks.

Yes, you did hear what you heard. Ann Coulter is discriminated against by the NY Times and Cupp wants the "evil atheist liberal media" to get 'raptured'.

What do you think about this stuff?

(Source)

Bill Maher interviews her (video here). He's fairly irritating and he's particularly all over the place on the occasion, but he does at least manage to point out the number of TIME magazine covers with Jesus on the front. Cupp responds that one of those covers is in relation to a story claiming that reading the Bible correctly means supporting gay marriage (which naturally the writer didn't really believe and only wrote just to attack Christians *facepalm*).

Also the amazon page contains a review from Chris Rodda from the MRFF explaining just how badly she's been misrepresented in the book.

Oh, and Cupp doesn't believe in evolution either:

"The debate over the legitimacy of evolution isn't really about a battle between fact and fiction. It's about Christianity, and the liberal media's attempt to eradicate it from all corners of society."