S.E. Cupp Kept the I-Man's Attention While Discussing "Losing Our Religion"

S.E. Cupp’s full name is Sarah Elizabeth, but she began using the “S.E,” she said, “to be sort of gender anonymous.” It was fun for the first ten years or so, but now that she’s on television all the time, she admits, “It’s just sort of an obnoxious affect.”

That sort of self-deprecating attitude is welcome on this show, regardless of political or religious affiliation. Cupp, whose new book is Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media’s Attack on Christianity, defies expectations on both: she’s a Conservative, and an Atheist.

“I’ve always been fascinated by religion,” she said of the subject of her book. As an Atheist, Cupp thinks she can be more objective because, “I don’t have a dog in the fight except to say that I think the press should be more responsible.”

The “liberal media,” in her view, treats Christianity “like it’s porn.” In fact, she added, “Porn is more acceptable to them than Christianity is.” With around 80 percent of the country identifying as some sort of Christian, Cupp said, “That’s fairly irresponsible.”

When she says “the liberal media,” Cupp is primarily referring to The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, The Huffington Post, and Salon.com. In Losing Our Religion, she systematically examined each outlet over the last five to ten years to examine how extensive the attack on Christianity has become.

One of the worst offenders is Newsweek, where a reporter named Lisa Miller uses her column “Belief Watch” to criticize Christianity. “She calls the Pope ‘ugly,’” said Cupp. Miller also calls Christian colleges “dangerous extremists,” using a column that Cupp believes should talk about faith and values to viscerally attack Christian America.

Unlike Islam, which is held to a sometimes dangerous burden of proof, in her view. “It’s not an accident that we caught the Christian militia men from Michigan before they acted, but the underwear bomber, and Major Nadal Hasan in Ft Hood after they acted,” Cupp said. “Because you can go after Christians without being afraid of getting called a racist, or profiling. But you have to treat Islam with kid gloves.”

Cupp was raised Catholic and attended Catholic school, but no longer believes in God. “I’ve tried really hard,” she told Imus. “I think this is all an accident. I’m not a militant atheist; I just can’t intellectually wrap my head around it.”

Her parents still practice, however: mom’s a Roman Catholic, and Dad’s a born-again Christian. “So he’s really nuts,” said Imus.

Even more unlikely is Cupp’s fierce conservatism, which revealed itself to her while in college at Cornell. “I watched a debate in college between a couple of professors arguing affirmative action, and I found myself siding with the con, the anti-position,” she said. “And I thought, wow, if that’s conservatism, I’d like to check that out.”

Now, she’s a bona fide right wing nut, watching NASCAR and shooting guns in her spare time. She’s also a frequent guest on Hannity, where she’ll appear tonight to promote her book. Imus and Cupp agreed there’s no better person than Hannity, though, she lodged one complaint: “He tries to baptize me every time we get near a water cooler.”

-Julie Kanfer