(I have a poll in our blog if you would like to vote, but please leave a comment here and let me know what you think.)
I am asking this question, because one of the Catholic bookstores here in Houston, Veritas, has a very politically charged book collection on their Social/Political section and they all happen to be Republican-party-oriented. They have Ann Coulter’s books front and center and I was, of course, concerned. I know many Catholics, including our friends, who happen to like her, which is why I was concerned. If there would be a similar public person to Ann Coulter on the Democratic side endorsed by Catholics, I would be concerned as well, because Catholic bookstores are not the place to push political agendas.
I proceeded to ask the two men in the register: “Why do you carry Ann Coulter’s books in a Catholic bookstore? They replied, “because we like her and we agree with her and she is very pro-life.” They proceeded: “in fact, we had her as a guest in a Foundation for Life meeting.” I told them that Ann Coulter does not have a place in a Catholic bookstore. She promotes hate and racism. She is irresponsible. She is not a spokesperson for Catholic doctrine. I told them that there were better authors out there, such as David Schindler, dean of the John Paul II Institute, who is deeply in touch with Catholic Social Doctrine. At this point they ignored me and I left the store.
What a disservice to Houston Catholics! I’m saying this because if I would have never met Michael, who warned me about Ann Coulter the first time we entered the bookstore, I would have bought Coulter’s book not knowing any better, because it is sold in a Catholic store after all!
That any Catholic can think that Ann Coulter aligns with the rich tradition of Catholic social teaching is beyond me. Here are some of the gems of this “intelligent” woman:
Immigration:
“I’d build a wall. In fact, I’d hire illegal immigrants to build the wall. And throw out the illegals who are here. […] It’s cheap labor.”
Iraq War:
“When we were fighting communism, OK, they had mass murderers and gulags, but they were white men and they were sane. Now we’re up against absolutely insane savages.”
Islam:
“We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.”
Creation:
God says, “Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It’s yours.”
War:
“(Sheryl) Crow explained that the ‘best way to solve problems is to not have enemies.’ War solves that problem too: We won’t have any enemies because we’re going to kill them. Crow warned of ‘huge karmic retributions that will follow.’ She seemed not to understand that America going to war is huge karmic retribution. They killed three thousand Americans and now they’re going to die.”
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