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Austin's Atheism Blog

By Austin Cline, About.com Guide to Atheism since 1998

Ann Coulter vs. Reality

Monday January 5, 2004
For some people, reality isn't a very pleasant place to be - there are so many bad things about reality that it is simply easier to flee reality in favor of a fantasy world that is more congenial to one's beliefs and presuppositions. Most of the time, those who choose fantasy over reality so much that they are no longer able to distinguish between the two are considered mentally ill and treated with medication. Sometimes, they land jobs as political columnists.

Case in point is Ann "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity" Coulter, who writes about the legal challenges to Roy Moore's antics, including his early efforts to have Christian prayers in the courts:

Obviously you can't have prayer in court: It might distract all the people holding their hand over a Bible and swearing before God almighty to tell the truth.

That's Ann Coulter's fantasy. In reality, no one has to put a hand on a Bible and swear before God to tell the truth - if anyone doesn't want to do this, they can simply affirm that they will tell the truth. It's only people like Coulter who are upset over this, thinking that unless a person swears to their god, then they can't be trusted.

An affirmative action, Carter-appointed judge ... found that the Ten Commandments plaque violated the First Amendment. Apparently, in a little-noticed development, Judge Moore had become "Congress," his Ten Commandments plaque was a "law," and the plaque established a national religion.

It is only a part of Coulter's fantasy that constitutional limitations on the government's power only applies to acts of Congress and no one ele. In Ann Coulter's fantasy world, the police can't violate your Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure because a warrantless search isn't an act of Congress, government agents can't violate your First Amendment rights of free speech because those agents' actions aren't a law, and the ATF can't violate your Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms because their seizure of your guns doesn't involve Congress.

Well, that's enough for this time - I don't want to embarrass Ann any further. Everyone has problems with reality and so it's only natural that, at times, fantasy will be preferable. But Ann's gone so far off the deep end that I hope she gets treatment soon.

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