S.E. Cupp: Why Is the Liberal Media So Mean to Religious People?

The problem with conservative atheist author S.E. Cupp is that she doesn’t care about telling the truth.

She thinks people’s beliefs automatically deserve respect no matter how untrue or harmful they may be. So when atheists call out religious people for their incorrect views? When people point out what Mitt Romney believes as a Mormon? We’re the problem, says Cupp, not the people who hold the faulty religious beliefs.

She’s an atheist who doesn’t see a problem with religion. No wonder most atheists (and liberals) can’t stand her.

Case in point: Watch this clip of her appearing on the Christian Broadcasting Network‎ and try not to roll your eyes:

The most telling part for me is when the host asks her why Catholics court nominees (or politicians), for example, seem to get a pass on faith, while Pentecostals get hammered on it.

The right answer: Because most Catholic politicians don’t really care what the Church says. They’re not puppets of the Pope. They know how to think for themselves, on the whole. Pentecostals, on the other hand, take their faith very seriously. They talk to God before making decisions. They listen to voices in their head that don’t exist. They look for “signs” that aren’t there. It would be crazy to give someone with that level of delusion that much power.

Cupp’s answer: Because “the liberal media doesn’t really handle nuance well.” (?!?)

How far did you get in the video?

(via On Knees for Jesus)

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Denis Robert

IMO, she’s not really an atheist. She’s a “FoxNews (TM) Atheist”, a character on a TV show, that could be played by pretty much anyone. She is as scripted as Snooki, and her appearances on TV are just RealityTV. We will never really know what she actually thinks and believes, because “FoxNews(TM) Standard Characters” are not allowed to break character in public. The same is true of Ann Coulter, btw.
TheAnalogKid

Fuck her.
jdm8

Yeah, I don’t really understand her, that seems to be the best explanation. Especially when she said she wanted raise her children religious to teach them morals (wtf?)
mingpicket

“in her latest book, _atheists for jesus_, S. E. explains how being saved and being born again in jesus’ love helped make her a better atheist.”
dollie

I won’t say she’s not an atheist, since the only qualification for that title is a lack of a belief in god. she reminds me of that married to a woman gay mormon dude with the great sex life.
Just shows that being an atheist does not by default make you a critical thinker.
Bruce_wright

Is it me, or does she look like Hipster Ariel?
Paddy Reddin

She didn’t even answer any of his softball questions.

Even at the end, he ask why the double standard, she replied, there is a double standard. Reminds me of that song..
You start a conversation you can’t even finish itYou’re talking a lot but you’re not saying anything…
Jon

With all the shit that comes out of her mouth, why did people get so up in arms over a fake dick in her mouth? I loathe fucking S.E. Cupp.
SteveDave83

I believe that she is as atheist as Colbert is conservative.
AAA

On Knees for Jesus? Isn’t that the name of the altar boy support group?
compl3x

I just don’t think she’s genuine. She’s made far too many odd statements which are entirely in conflict with her assertion she is an atheist.

“”I haven’t closed the door on faith. It just hasn’t found me yet… I really aspire to be a person of faith one day.” C-SPAN

Bill Maher: “You’re an atheist, so you think people who believe in God are deluded.”
S. E. Cupp: “No I don’t! I get the appeal of religion. I don’t believe in God, but I’m not, like, mad at him.”

S. E. Cupp: “As an atheist, I could never imagine electing – voting for –
an atheist President… Religion keeps a person who is endowed with so
much power honest. ”

If she an atheist, she is a self-hating one.

If I had to venture a guess, I’d say she represents what FOX and the conservatives want atheists to be. They manufacture this person who is strongly contrasted with a lot of atheists who defend secularism and are willing to criticise religion for what it is. A chance to

It wouldn’t surprise me if she has a magic “conversion” some time soon in the future and write a book about how she came to see the error of her ways as an atheist.
Scott Maddox, CPA

She’s on Glenn Beck’s radioshow all the time, almost like Oprah’s Dr. Phil or Dr. Oz. How come Beck never asks her about her Atheism? How can he work in the same room with someone who doesn’t believe in God? Why do they never discuss Atheism on his or her shows?
mingpicket

i generally make it a point not to doubt someone’s self-identification, but in her case, it’s really hard to buy what she’s selling. if she is an atheist , she is a self loathing one, who still buys into the idea that you need some kind of religious type structure to impose morality on us, and that a lack of god makes us (and her) lesser than people who do subscribe to something that she allegedly doesn’t agree with.

i think the examples compl3x cites illustrate that her atheist label is likely an atheist in name only.
Andrew B.

I made it to 0.0 seconds 🙁
linford86

I’m wondering what alternative universe S.E. Cupp lives in…….
Keith Collyer

stop doing it then
oh, you were using it as an adjective
69ingchipmunks

The very embodiment of cognitive dissonance. She flip-flops on her statements. She could actually give Romney a run for his money in the intellectual dishonesty department.
Rob

She’s an Atheist and I’m the Pope.
CoboWowbo

I consider her the female version of Stephen Colbert.
Sulac

There are such a thing as atheist conservatives but the majority of them are not batshit insane like S.E. Cupp. If she wants to suck up to the world’s largest industry that makes (and steals) trillions a year worldwide then it’s up to her.
CoboWowbo

Ten dollars says shes waiting for the most (monetarily) convenient time to have a born again conversion.
A Reader

I don’t even think I made it thirty seconds without some serious eye rolling…
Deven Kale

I don’t believe her at all, the whole interview seems scripted. There are a lot of reasons to think so, but the biggest reason is the background. They attempted to make the interview look live, but bf you watch the Toys’R’us banner during any of her lines, it’s not fluid, there are a lot of breaks in it. They tried to get her to not move too much, but occasionally her hands just appear or disappear mid-statement. So the whole interview seems highly suspect, and the rhetoric is just one small reason that I see to doubt it.
Felyx Leiter

Because saying stupid things–even tremendously stupid things–doesn’t mean you should be the target of sexual shaming and harrassment.
Raven

I don’t care about whether she’s an authentic atheist, but she and especially whoever’s editing together the CBN segment doesn’t seem to grasp the difference between criticism and oppression.
sakodak

The “liberal mainstream media” has a difficult time differentiating between different types of Christianity and therefore they treat different types of Christians differently.

Wait. What? Please, Ms. Cupp, explain that logic for me?
The Captain

She’s a House Atheist.
Markh

“I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts0XG6qDIco

This is the commercial starring Peter Bergman. Couldn’t find the original with Chris Robinson.
Ken McKnight

The headline should read, “Why ARE the Liberal Media . . .” The word “media” is a plural noun. Just sayin’.
facebook-505622038

I need to go back and count how many times she says “Liberal Media”. Also she’s not an atheist, let’s be real here.
Marsha A.

She has lied about MRFF, and a member of that organization sets the record straight on her lies (in what SEEMS an attempt to mislead the public, using the MEDIA) at this Amazon site:
http://www.amazon.com/Losing-Our-Religion-Liberal-Christianity/product-reviews/1439173168
allein

I didn’t roll my eyes at first because I was too busy wondering what, for example, Katie Couric was referring to when she supposedly “called Christian values ‘repugnant’.” I’m guessing she was talking about something specific and not “Christian values” (whatever they are) in general. (Anyone happen to know where the clip came from?) And what were the pro-lifers in question doing that led Olberman to call them “Christian Jihadists”? Somehow I doubt they are saying these things simply in response to the very existence of Christians. Some person or group of people did or said something to elicit that response in that particular broadcast.

And is Bill Maher really “main stream media” when his show is on a pay-cable channel? I would generally think of “main stream media” as the big networks on regular TV. It’s hardly a secret that he is anti-religion and he is not pretending to be an unbiased news source like, say, ABC News would purport to be. His show is intended to discuss current events and the media, not broadcast the news.

Ugh, I can’t believe I actually listened to this video three times.
Tainda

I’m not a violent person at all but when she was on Real Time I wanted to punch her in the face.
Tim Miller

How far did I make it? I didn’t…

I do enjoy watching porn occasionally, but I’ve never seen (nor will I ever see) “2 girls, 1 cup”.

I do enjoy good discussions about atheism and religion, but I won’t watch (nor will I watch) useless crap like the drivel by S.E. Cupp.
Dennisguy

Respectful press? WTH? The press is supposed to report the news. We do not have a press anymore we have editorial news. How about we check it on both sides? She is so full of it.
GloomCookie613

THIS ^^
MoriyaMug

Aaaaand she’s supposed to be an atheist. Right. Shenanigans.
Kaoru Negisa

Am I the only one who’s favorite part is where she hopes that *one day* Christians will be able to organize around their portrayal in the media “just like the Tea Party organized around fiscal responsibility.”

I fell out of my chair laughing at that one. There is so much wrong with that that I don’t even know where to begin. I wonder what color the sky is in her reality?
Kaoru Negisa

Am I the only one who’s favorite part is where she hopes that *one day* Christians will be able to organize around their portrayal in the media “just like the Tea Party organized around fiscal responsibility.”

I fell out of my chair laughing at that one. There is so much wrong with that that I don’t even know where to begin. I wonder what color the sky is in her reality?
Jordan Sugarman

I lost the eye-roll challenge at 1:43 where she agrees that “Christians are the only group in America that you can take pot shots at, and there are no repercussions.” Seriously? How can anyone say that with a straight face?
CultOfReason

My initial instinct is to NOT say “She’s not a real atheist”, because that would be akin to Christians saying “[name bad person] is not a real Christian” whenever it’s convenient.

However, watching her deliver her so obviously scripted responses, as well as other behavioral patterns, one has to seriously wonder if she is a fake, planted by the other side to infiltrate the ranks of atheism 😉
TooManyJens

Damn straight. And that shit doesn’t just affect the target — it tells women, “if you speak up in public, you’re next.”
Jordan Sugarman

Funny story: Couric herself never called “Christian values” repugnant. They aired some material where a man who’s son was killed in the 1999 Columbine massacre blamed his perception of increased violence on abortion being legal. You know, because it decreases the value of human life. In her blog, Couric noted that they aired the material with the knowledge that ”
a lot of people would disagree with it. We also knew some might even find it repugnant.” That’s it. She was commenting on what she thought some other people’s opinions might be of a specific statement.

I can’t find any info on that specific Olberman comment, but I know he has previously compared Christian dominionists to Islamic extremists. It’s a fair comparison, IMO. They both want the world to be governed according to their religious beliefs, albeit modern Christians are less likely to resort to violence in pursuit of that goal.

You have to remember that the source of this clip is CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network). They aren’t exactly unbiased on this matter.
Felyx Leiter

I smell a drinking game…
Gus Snarp

Except, we don’t have ranks. More likely, she can be just as much an atheist as she claims to be, but have no commitment to intellectual honesty, particularly when it comes to achieving her political goals. The GOP has a long history of manipulating the religious right by saying the right things to them to convince them to vote Republican, without every believing what they’re saying. The religious right has certainly infiltrated the GOP since and now there are many Republicans who actually do believe this stuff, but there’s still plenty of cynical manipulation going on.

She appears to me to just be another cynical manipulator who has figure out that if she plays the role of an atheist defending Christianity, she can keep fundamentalist Christians turning out to the polls and voting Republican.
Gus Snarp

Who exactly is this idiot and why do people listen to her?
Gus Snarp

Convenient how they say a comment about pro lifers specifically is supposed to be an attack on all Christians, and Bill Maher is the only one they actually show a video of. Yeah, Bill Maher attacks Christianity (and other religions), but that’s Bill Maher, you won’t find any significant broad brush strokes against Christianity from the “main stream media” and they know it, or they’d have showed some, instead they misquote Katie Couric, the most inoffensive person on television.
Gus Snarp

I knew it was something like that.
Kodie

I gotta come up with a gimmick to sell books.
Anh Phung

This lady is just vile in every which way.

I saw that we just stopping paying attention to her all together. Maybe she’ll just go away if that happens.
Woody Tanaka

If she didn’t call “Christian values” repugnant, she should have. They are.
Woody Tanaka

In this context, it’s a singular collective noun, so “is” is correct.
LifeInTraffic

Oh, my week makes SO much more sense now. All week, there’s been a deluge of whining on Facebook, Twitter, etc. from Christians about how they’re the only group it’s okay to bully without repercussions, and about how atheists are being “big bullies,” etc. It was like they were all reading from the same script, cued to release on a certain date, and I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. The white, middle-class, Xtians (especially males)have started seeming like a Monty Pyrthon sketch: “Help, help, I”m being repressed!” One woman locally (can’t say where this was witnessed for privacy reasons) actually started crying over “losing her religious freedoms.” Read: no prayer in schools, teaching evolution in classrooms, and someone mentioned in passing taking “Under God” out of the national anthem–all ways she is personally being hurt by the repressive atheists in a way that no one but a Xtian can understand (I wish I were kidding).

Once again, all of them are, indeed, using the group-think of sound bites. At least now I know where this particular avalanche of crap came from.
StarStuff

wat?
Gus Snarp

I’m pretty sure the Pope’s an atheist. Maybe she’s just incredibly honest – the Pope, and a non zero number of other religious leaders are really atheist who are willing to lie to use religion as a tool for getting whatever it is they want, maybe she’s just not willing to claim she believes it, but still wants to use religion to get what she wants.
chicago dyke, orphan

meh, another paid media whore. not gonna watch it. i have no interest in an “atheist” on CBN. some people have no ethical ability. she’s obviously one of them.
Michael Brice

How far did I get into the video? I didn’t even press play.
DG

So that’s how atheists deal with other atheists who don’t conform to the proper dogmas: she must not really be an atheist. How interesting. How very, very interesting.
ruth

Maybe you haven’t read all the posts. Some think she is an atheist and a jerk. Others think she is a jerk and maybe not even an atheist because what she says seems inconsistent with non-belief in God. Nothing much dogmatic there.
Buffy

She may be an atheist but she’s obviously not rational. Religious people think they should be given automatic respect for their beliefs and actions, no matter how heinous they may be, just because they call them “religious”. The liberal media seems cruel to them because it refuses to give them this unearned, undeserved respect they demand.
WoodwindsRock

Why doesn’t she tell that to the parents of the children who killed themselves from being bullied because they were gay/perceived as gay due to an Minnesotan school district bending to the will of Christian hate groups who told the district that they had to remain ‘neutral’ on homosexuality and thus prevented the staff from being able to stop the bullies.
Neil

So…how exactly is a photoshop of a person with a dick in her mouth either harrassing or shaming? It’s simply a juvenile way, involving a sex act, of telling a person to shut up. Shame and harrassment simply don’t enter into it. I have noticed that a lot of feminists seem to think that any sexual joke involving a woman is automatically sexist, regardless of meaning, intent, or context- all I see is people externalizing their own issues and using our society’s general sex-negativity to punish stupid jokes as something more oppressive than they are.
DG

You missed my point. The idea that folks wouldn’t take her at her word that she’s an atheist even when she says she is. That’s something you see people do in a variety of settings, and it illustrates just how common atheism is becoming in its behavior. Sometimes I have to remind myself it isn’t just another religious denomination.
jdm8

Can you name someone of any persuasion that specifically says they’ll raise their child in a different persuasion? Imagine a Christian couple that says they’ll raise their child to be Muslim. Or Jews raising a Christian.

Cupp says she, an atheist, wants to raise her children to be religious. Why teach your own children to hold a deep-seated belief that you don’t believe yourself? The much simpler explanation is that she might not actually take any stock in her stated disbelief.
allein

Heh, hence my use of the word “supposedly.” Thanks for the clarification.
NickDB

She may or not be an atheist, since it’s a rather personal choice with no way to verify it properly I’ll have to take her word on it.

However what seems easy enough to verify is, if she is an idiot or not. I’m leaning towards idiot, which has no relation to her being an atheist.
jose

The picture was meant to jokingly say that she talks too much and too wrong. A dick in her mouth will make her unable to keep talking, it will make her quiet as it corresponds to the females.

It’s very fitting for a pornographer to attempt to put a woman in her place by silencing her through a dick. Shut the fuck up and start sucking you whore. It’s usually what their movies are all about.

Good for you if you think women with opinions with which you disagree should be dealt with in such manner.
jose

I, as a liberal democrat, I’m convinced liberal democrats are often immoral fanatics and very extremely partisan (just look at Obama and his far left extreme radical muslim kenyan agenda), and I am ashamed of my fellow democrats for not following the very reasonable and sensible suggestions of the republicans in Washington, who really are the only ones who see how things are right now and the only ones with the knowledge and the will to return America to its former greatness. Praise the Lord!

Sincerely,
totally a liberal democrat.
Felyx Leiter

Actually, it’s sex-negative to imply that fellatio should be a degrading and humiliating act, which is exactly what the Hustler picture was doing. If you don’t see the sexism in telling a woman to stuff a cock in her mouth because you disagree with what comes out of it (or the blatant sex-negativity of implying that giving head is demeaning and submissive), maybe it isn’t the evil feminists with the blinders on.
Tim

a way of keeping women in line or a way of keeping one idiot woman in line?

Isn’t that the key difference here?
Corey

she is showing cleavage…she clearly is a heathen
AnalogousGumdropDecoder

I have no real evidence to back up this claim, so I’m being a bad rationalist here… but I really don’t think Cupp is an atheist at all.

Maybe that’s offensive in some way. Maybe I’m supposed to grant that people are what they identify as, give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe I’m saying she’s not a true Scotsman… but I’ve watched several TV appearances by this woman, and she uses conservative Christian rhetoric that I’ve never heard a non-Christian use. She talks about atheists in a way that only people who have never experienced non-belief seem to (mis-)understand it. I’ve never heard another atheist do this – not conservative atheists, not new-agey irrational mystical atheists, not anyone besides theists and S.E. Cupp. Either her atheism or her pro-theist rhetoric is some sort of schtick or gimmick, because they aren’t consistent with each other. I think her public persona is a put-on to either advance some sort of political/religious agenda, or to make Cupp some money by filling some weird niche.

As I said, though…. I can’t back that up.
AnalogousGumdropDecoder

If Joey Ratzinger is an atheist, he’s even more despicable than I already thought.
TooManyJens

These sorts of hateful and demeaning acts against a member of a relatively less powerful and privileged group don’t just affect members of that group. Nor are they intended to. If they weren’t targeting the victims’ womanhood, they would take different forms.
Karl Wieser

Wow, she has got the weakest form of atheism ever. Very cute. but very clueless.
kaydenpat

How far did I get? Zero minutes. You pretty much summed up as much of what she said as I need to know. I see her on MSNBC from time to time blabbering on, so I don’t need to watch this video to figure out the blah blah blah that she spews against liberals.
Cafeeine

Actually I don’t think that at all. I think Cupp has found a persona that sells and is pushing it. She might well be an atheist and happy about it, but knows that playing to the Fox crowd is a goldmine, so she does it.
Aside from her talk on atheism, here are some other bits of her work at Fox:
http://youtu.be/-koy-XecKzU?t=5m22s

She’s a character, and I can’t take anything she says seriously.
stojadinovicp

everytime she says “I think” she’s lying…
samanthaorum

Oh, bullshit. Would someone photoshop a penis into Glenn Beck’s mouth because he needs to shut up? No. They did it because she’s a woman. End of story. Do any of you nitwits EVER realize it’s only men that fight this? Has it ever occurred to you that you don’t notice it because you’re male and you’ve never had to deal with it.