Here's something for anyone who thinks that any liberal is a saint, or that a black person... (oh! Excuse me! An "African American"!) Can't, by definition, be a bigot.... It all comes from CNN... I didn't write it. But you should read it.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Civil rights activist Al Sharpton, who led the charge to have radio host Don Imus fired for making racially insensitive remarks, is now under fire for a comment about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's Mormon faith.
During a debate on religion and politics at the New York Public Library with atheist author Christopher Hitchens, Sharpton said, "As for the one Mormon running for office, those that really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don't worry about that. That's a temporary situation."
On the campaign trail in Iowa Wednesday, Romney fired back, calling Sharpton's comment "terribly misguided." (Watch Romney call Sharpton's words 'bigoted' 
)
"It shows that bigotry still exists in some corners," Romney said. "I thought it was a most unfortunate comment to make."
Asked if he thought Sharpton is a bigot, the former Massachusetts governor said, "I don't know Rev. Sharpton. I doubt he is personally such a thing. But the comment was a comment which could be described as a bigoted comment.
"Perhaps he didn't mean it that way, but the way it came out was inappropriate and wrong."
Sharpton said his remarks were being taken out of context and that he was responding to an attack by Hitchens, who, he said, had charged that the Mormon Church supported segregation until the 1960s.
"In no way did I attack Mormons or the Mormon Church when I responded that other believers, not atheists, would vote against Mr. Romney for purely political reasons," Sharpton said in a written statement.
He also accused Romney's campaign of engaging in "a blatant effort to fabricate a controversy to help their lagging campaign."
Sharpton told The Associated Press that "[Mormons] don't believe in God the way I do, but, by definition, they believe in God."
Sharpton was licensed as a minister in the Church of God in Christ, a predominantly black Pentecostal denomination, at the age of 9, according to a biography on the Web site of his National Action Network. He became a Baptist in the 1980s.
His debate Monday with Hitchens -- who is on a tour promoting a new book that rejects God -- revolved around religion and politics. Minutes before Sharpton's controversial comment was made, the discussion turned toward the idea of a Mormon running for president, then moved to a conversation about the role of faith in politics.
Romney is a member of the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known informally as the Mormon Church. If elected, he would be the first Mormon to serve in the White House.
His religion has come up as an issue in the 2008 campaign because many conservative and evangelical Protestants, who make up an important constituency in the GOP base, do not consider Mormons to be Christians, because of their unique beliefs.
The LDS Church was founded in the 1830s by Joseph Smith -- revered by members as a prophet of God -- who taught that a new book of scripture, the Book of Mormon, had been revealed to him by an angel. Adherents eventually relocated to Utah in 1847, after Smith was killed by a mob in Illinois.
Some church leaders practiced plural marriage in the 19th century, but the church officially ended the practice in 1890 and has since excommunicated polygamists from its ranks.
The church has about 5 million adherents in the United States.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll last year found that 34 percent of Americans considered the LDS Church to be Christian, 35 percent did not and 31 percent were unsure. In a Gallup/USA Today poll in February, 72 percent of Americans said they would be comfortable voting for a Mormon for president, but 24 percent said they would not.
"I think it's sad, honestly," Republican strategist Ralph Reed said of the Sharpton controversy on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360." "I don't think there's any place in politics for religious intolerance in any of its ugly forms.
"And I think if Gov. Romney took it that way, then whatever Al Sharpton meant, then I think the best thing to do and the most healing thing to do, so that we can have an uplifting dialogue about faith in the political and civic process, is for Rev. Sharpton to apologize."
Democratic strategist James Carville told Cooper he believes Sharpton when he says he didn't mean to disparage the Mormon faith.
"The main point here is that Mormons have served this country honorably and with integrity for a long, long time, and ... it would be a very big mistake not to vote for someone based on their faith -- Mormon faith or any other faith," Carville said.
Romney said Wednesday that he hears little concern about his religion from voters on the campaign trail.
"Overwhelmingly, the people I talk to believe that we elect a person to lead the nation not based on what church they go to, but based on their values and their vision," he said. "I received very little comment of the nature coming from Rev. Sharpton."
7 comments:
That statement was defiantly bigotry.
There is a difference between racism and bigotry. Racism is hostility or exclusion based on race, bigotry focuses on belief. Sharpton would like you to that because of white guilt the two are the same and one race is always guilty and another always innocent (view his past allegations on the duke lacrosse team, anti-semitic nyc riots, and other fabricated civil rights issues).
What I find intolerable is that someone who calls himself "reverend" attacking someones religious belief. This is in the wake of his battle charge to fire Imus over insensitive comments.
He has shown himself as two faced in his apologies. On the one hand he's publicly saying sorry for what he said, and before he has time to take a breath accusing Romney of trumping the charges up for political gain.
More than a bigot he's a hypocrite not only because of his Imus charges, but by accusing Romney of carrying this on for political reasons during his apologies. Wouldn't that be Sharpton fueling this for his own political reasons?
Is faith an issue?
If ANY president (like our current president) believes that life on Earth is just a temporary stop on the way to Heaven, he is unfit to guide any country. Why worry about terrorism or global warming if we're going to live (or burn) forever at the Rapture? No, those who truly believe in an afterlife are no better than the Muslim terrorists who fly planes into buildings. They will risk their lives (and ours, too!) for their beliefs. I vote for someone who believes in life on Earth, and will sacrifice anything to preserve it.
Terrorism is equal to any religious belief ? ? ?
That last post proves that Sharpton isn't the only bigot in the US.
You might want to study history and try to figure out why the human race still exists if religion is such a terrorizing evil.
Have a fun time trying to defend such an idiotic post. You don't believe in God, I do. I'm okay with your non-belief, but your bigot attitude is pretty pathetic. I don't think that you're feeble minded in your atheism; but since it takes more thought to believe in something than to disbelieve, perhaps you should have a bit more respect for other belief systems.
Do we even have a defined atheist politician running for president?
Are you going to vote for the Gieco Ape Man or something?
I find it amusing that Romney could call anyone a bigot, given his (and the mormon church's) blatant homophobia. That is really the pot calling the kettle black.
There is a difference between racism and bigotry. Racism is hostility or exclusion based on race, bigotry focuses on belief. Sharpton would like you to that because of white guilt the two are the same and one race is always guilty and another always innocent (view his past allegations on the duke lacrosse team, anti-semitic nyc riots, and other fabricated civil rights issues).
Yeah... I had a friend say that an african american could not, by definition, be racist.... rubbish. I suppose they're immune from original sin...
Is faith an issue?
If ANY president (like our current president) believes that life on Earth is just a temporary stop on the way to Heaven, he is unfit to guide any country. Why worry about terrorism or global warming if we're going to live (or burn) forever at the Rapture? No, those who truly believe in an afterlife are no better than the Muslim terrorists who fly planes into buildings. They will risk their lives (and ours, too!) for their beliefs. I vote for someone who believes in life on Earth, and will sacrifice anything to preserve it.
Don't you see that you are condemning a group of people, based on your limited and apparently biased opinion of their belief? That is another form of prejudice....
Terrorism is equal to any religious belief ? ? ?
That last post proves that Sharpton isn't the only bigot in the US.
You might want to study history and try to figure out why the human race still exists if religion is such a terrorizing evil.
Have a fun time trying to defend such an idiotic post. You don't believe in God, I do. I'm okay with your non-belief, but your bigot attitude is pretty pathetic. I don't think that you're feeble minded in your atheism; but since it takes more thought to believe in something than to disbelieve, perhaps you should have a bit more respect for other belief systems.
Do we even have a defined atheist politician running for president?
Are you going to vote for the Gieco Ape Man or something?)
Thanks... you said it all...
I find it amusing that Romney could call anyone a bigot, given his (and the mormon church's) blatant homophobia. That is really the pot calling the kettle black.
And you are saying that he has no rights, because you disagree with him? I think Sharpton is a racist and a bigot.... but I'll listen to him. I've heard him at least listen to the other side, and respond reasonably. So I give him credit for that. You seem to think that someone who disagrees with you isn't worth listening to.
"I find it amusing that Romney could call anyone a bigot, given his (and the mormon church's) blatant homophobia. That is really the pot calling the kettle black."
It's not homophobia, it's a stance. The Mormon church isn't against homosexuals or homosexual rights. It's against the politicizing of turning a religious rite into a social right. So the Mormon church holds it's stance that marriage is between a man and a woman. Anyone engaging in sexual activity outside of that association, whether a man and a woman or two of the same gender, is considered a person in sin. There is no separate rule for homosexuals. However, as a religion they have that right and obligation to protect a religious institution.
They are not the only religion to take that stance. They have publicly said that they believe that people of the same gender can and should not be discriminated against and should receive social status to protect them.
Furthermore, if you believed in the theological concepts of Mormonism, which include a view of the family that is very sacred, very traditional, and very nuclear; then you by definition would be in contradiction with yourself. On thought process would have to be abandoned, and since psychological sciences show that one can become straight just as one can become gay, as well man's ability to choose a belief system. If you therefore lose the religious faith rather than a modification of sexual desire, then is it you who has excluded yourself from the theology. I'm not criticizing anyone who makes that choice, it would be a hard decision.
The Mormons have done a great job staying out of political issues, except on a few key issues (marriage and abortion) where it seems to me that it's politics trying to step into religion and not the other way around.
That's because liberals don't want you to be led by anyone but them. Because if their voters found out that they actually didn't need the state to live and be happy and successful, they might not be able to justify raising taxes and legislating every aspect of your life.
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