Romney: Sharpton’s Comments Bigoted

Al Sharpton debated Christopher Hitchens this past Monday at the New York Public Library on “the malignant force of religion in the world.” (Listen to audio at this link; we’re working on getting audio upon here.)

At about the 25 minute mark, Hitchens discusses the role of religion in the civil rights movement: “The belief that it is illegal as well as evil to keep black Americans in subjection does not require any supernatural endorsement. It had been proved repeatedly in law and in morality and in ethics and demonstrated in practice. The only thing that has always been consistently justified by the churches was initially slavery, the right to hold someone as a slave, biblically warranted; and the right to keep the races separate, which is endorsed by a Church that, just to give a contemporary example, one of the current candidates for the republican nomination is a member of a church - the so-called Mormon Church of Latter Day Saints - that until 1965 had it as an article of faith that the Bible separates the sons of ham and makes them lesser. I don’t have to disparage a text like that because I don’t think it has any authority.”

Sharpton responds to that passage at just after the 31 minute mark. Including the entire context, Sharpton was talking about the background of Martin Luther King Jr, saying “And 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.” The remark was met with some laughter.

Sharpton’s office issued a statemment today clarifying his remarks, and spoke to the New York Times regarding the controversy:

“In response to him, I predicted that believers (not atheists) would vote against the candidate, in this case, Mr. Romney, for political, not religious reasons,” he said in a statement released by his office. “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.”
Mr. Sharpton said he believed Mormons are Christians, something many conservative Protestants and Roman Catholics disagree with, but said Mr. Romney should be pressed about his church’s history and beliefs.
“I believe if any religion preaches supremacy or unequalness, they are not true believers in God,” Mr. Sharpton said in the telephone interview.
“Even though I didn’t bring this up, maybe one should ask Mr. Romney whether these were the articles of faith of his church to preach segregation and whether he was a member of the church at that time,” his statement said.

Romney commented on the issue, saying, “It shows that bigotry still exists in some corners. … I thought it was a most unfortunate comment to make.”

And furthermore, “I don’t know Reverend Sharpton. … I doubt he is personally such a thing, but the comment was a comment which could be described as a bigoted comment.” And also, “Perhaps he didn’t mean it that way, but the way it came out was inappropriate and wrong.”

Sharpton is trying to use the excuse that he was contrasting ‘real believers’ with Hitchens, who obviously does not believe in God. But that doesn’t explain why Sharpton said ‘real believers’ instead of just ‘believers.’ It sounds and reads like he’s making a swipe at Mormons, and as such I’d agree with this take. The one mitigating factor is that he he was in the middle of an ad hoc debate off the top of his head and may have misspoken.

In any event, this is a prime example of Romney turning his religion into an asset, much like JFK did when he ran, and much like Hillary Clinton has done and will do being a woman running, and much like Obama and Richardson will do with their race. It’s just a smart political move to portray oneself as a victim. The same principle regarding Obama and JFK is reviewed here.

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