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There's nothing quite like religion and politics to get people worked up. In a debate Monday night at the New York Public Library, Al Sharpton seemingly combined both, saying, "As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don’t worry, that’s a temporary situation." The Mormon in question is Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. Sharpton was debating with Christopher Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, a book that calls the Mormon faith a "ridiculous cult".
The anti-Sharpton reaction was quick, with the Romney campaign saying, "It is terribly disheartening and disappointing to hear Reverend Sharpton offer such appalling comments about a fellow American's faith." Of course, Romney supporters are even more incensed, calling Sharpton bigoted and wondering how large public outcry would be if Rev. Al said Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim instead. Sharpton says that he was contrasting himself with Hitchens, and not questioning Romney's belief in God, "What I said was that we would defeat him, meaning as a Republican. A Mormon, by definition, believes in God. They don't believe in God the way I do, but by definition, they believe in God."
If you're so inclined, the Empire Zone has a nice rundown of the whole Sharpton-Hitchens debate. We almost think that the Romney campaign is taking a page out of the Al Sharpton handbook to try and get as much free press as possible. Sharpton took the national stage recently when he called for the firing of Don Imus after his comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team.
Photo of Al Sharpton with Jesse Jackson in an April press conference by Amit Gupta on flickr
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Sharpton should apologize to the Mormon community and have to resign from his job (whatever that is).
sharpton also once called the jews who live in crown heights "diamond cutters". he's just such a jerk.
Fucking racist douchebag!
Lets call for him to resign...
Oh wait does this clown even have a "job" to resign from.
Oh and the great Jesse Jackoff hanging with sharpton like a pimple on his ass. I guess he is going to take Sharpton on a tour of hymietown.
He needs to be Imus-ed and booted from the airwaves, oh wait . . .
The mormons should take their magic soiled underwear and suffocate sharpton with it.
did anyone actually see one of them magic all powerful undies?
If you played with Steve young, you did. It makes you superman.
Um isn't Christianity a big crazy cult as well?
I call a moratorium on all Gothamist posts that start with "Um", "Ummmmm" or any derivative thereof. Who's with me? First Gothamist, then the world!
Umm... no.
I'd encourage everyone to read the debate. It was fascinating... and a little dispiriting, for while I don't agree with Hitchens, you can't dispute the points he brings up. And while I'm still ticked at Sharpton over the Imus thing, he was actually at his umbombastic best.
And it's no surprise that he would speak out against Mormonism, a religion that up until 1982 would not admit dark-skinned folks and referred to blacks as "beasts." Read Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer if you want to learn more about the so-called Mormon faith.
Tim N. is a bigot. "so called Mormon faith?" WTF is your problem? Leave the Mormons alone.
a religion that up until 1982 would not admit dark-skinned folks
And the Cathlolic Church conspired with the Nazis. And Dartmouth College didn't admit women until like 1972. Whatever. Times change. People and institutions change.
So as long as you are a Mormon you are fair game and no will question the bigoted comments made against you. However, if you are a woman, gay, black, arab, environmentalist, Wiccan priestess, or anyone else for that matter, you are off-limits to even a hint of bigotry.
I wonder how Dr. King would feel about his dream now.
15 minutes of fame?
"Gimme some mo'"
Don't get me started on the Catholic Church (as a Catholic, I know).
And read the book. Better yet, try reading any book.
Sharpton should be kick right in his balls.
What goes around, comes around. I wonder why people continue to follow the blessed Reverend? Perhaps he allows them to express their true hypocritical nature without exposing their natural racist/sexist/bigotry ridden selves.
It's really unfortunate that someone who supposedly fights against these types of problems, actually practices them himself. I don't claim to be perfect, but I certainly practice what I preach. It looks like the poor reverend will burn in the hell with the rest of us.
Sharpton is a fucking clown
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tim N recommends reading a book called Under the Banner of Heaven about the "Fundamentalist Mormons" to learn about the LDS church. First off, the "Fundamentalist Mormons" aren't Mormons, they call themselves that, but don't believe or practice the same things. Second, if you want to know about mormons, you should ask a Mormon.You don't learn about chinese food from the pizza guy. They are not related.
To get to the real story, Al Sharpton just likes to see himself and hear himself. He enjoys creating messes because then everyone watches him more. It is like yelling "FIGHT!" in a prison yard.
echoing what was said above: let's see, the Mormans didnt let blacks into their church until the late 70s. they supress women (cant be priests, there are parts of their temples that women cannot enter, "good" morman women dont have jobs, they are just baby making factories) and they have been known to give homosexuals electroshock therapy to "cure" them. yeah, sharpton is the bigot in all this...riiiiight
Though his comments may have been overboard, I do not see anything wrong with Sharpton calling out Romney on the Mormon faith's discriminatory practices. Now Romney's comment that his father marched with King demands some PROOF.
OsiSpeaks.com or OsiSpeaks.org