Sharpton on the Rampage

According to the New York Daily News, Reverend Al Sharpton demanded Wednesday that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney explain his Mormon beliefs. What is there to explain and exactly why is Sharpton demanding that the explanation be given? Apparently the Mormon religion only began accepting blacks into their religion as recent as 30-years ago.

"He should explain to Americans whether he believed for half his life that God created people unequally," Sharpton said. "He needs to come clean and say what he believed and when he believed it."

Until 1978, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints banned any blacks from priesthood. Ever since then the Mormon church has been battling accusations of racism. So how does Romney fit into the mix of this controversy that took place three decades ago? Since he is a GOP presidential candidate, Sharpton and others apparently want to know his views on racism, especially racism against African Americans.

Just last week Romney had commented on where he was and how he reacted when he heard the news 30-years ago of the church's change of heart. "I pulled over to the side of the road and literally broke down. It was so important to me to see that change in my church," Romney had told NBC. Romney also spoke about how his father marched for civil rights with the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

Never-the-less, it seems the battle over the truth is still waging on. The recent demand for "truth" came as a cause from the theological debate that was held on Monday between Romney, Sharpton, and Hitchens (an atheist writer). Apparently Hitches ignited the firefight between the two when he mentioned that Romney belongs to a church that had been preaching racial segregation until 30-years ago.

Sharpton had responded to the comments made by Hitches by saying, "Those that really believe in God will defeat him anyway."

Sharpton stated that what he meant by his comment was that believers, not atheists, would defeat Romney. Romney's supporters, however, took the comment another way by suggesting that Sharpton was saying that Mormons do not believe in God.

"It shows that bigotry still exists in some corners," Romney said. "I thought it was a most unfortunate comment to make."

So the battle continues to wage on between Sharpton and Romney. Unfortunately both sides seem to be enthralled with slinging comments toward each other.

"I intend to engage on this. He'll find out rabbit hunting ain't fun when the rabbit's got the gun," Sharpton said.

Who will win in the end? Will Romney give in and tell Sharpton what he wants to hear? Does Sharpton actually have a right to question something that was reversed three decades ago? And furthermore, why does Sharpton have the right to criticize or question any religion that is not his own, especially when the said religion is being followed by a GOP presidential candidate? This debate may spark more questions and answers about other potential candidates that Sharpton did not see coming. This could be a possible trickle-down point to questioning other candidate's religious affiliations and backgrounds, such as Obama's. Until then we will have to wait and see how this will actually turn out.

*Sources*
-Quad cities Online. URL: http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=337738 . Kennedy, Helen. NY Daily News. 2007May09.