Mary Mostert
Either Al Sharpton should be fired or Don Imus should be re-hired
By Mary Mostert
As a former agnostic humanist who became a Mormon in middle age, I thought I would find the debate between atheist Christopher Hitchens and Reverent Al Sharpton interesting. Instead, I found the exchange between the two shallow and pointless with neither Sharpton nor Hitchens actually addressing the issue they were supposed to discuss. Both atheists and fundamentalists should be embarrassed by their chosen spokespersons.
Fairly early in the debate, Hitchens, who was using the opportunity to sell his book, "God Isn't Great," repeated easily refuted accusations he makes in his book about Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet. In a chapter titled "Mormonism: A Racket Becomes a Religion" Hitchens calls The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints "this ridiculous cult" and claims that Joseph Smith said: "I shall be to this generation a new Muhammad" and adopted as his fighting slogan the words, which he thought he had learned from Islam, "Either the Al-Koran or the sword."
So, Mr. Hitchens, exactly when and where did Joseph Smith say that? According to my research on Joseph Smith and Islam, what he said on the subject of Islam was in an editorial he wrote for Times and Seasons on April 1, 1842. It is on page 571 of Volume 4 in my seven volume set of the History of the LDS Church. In that editorial, entitled "Try the Spirits" Joseph Smith wrote: that the "many false spirits" Christ's apostles had warned of in the New Testament were then and would continue disturbing mankind in these latter days prior to the Second Coming.
In "every age," Joseph wrote, " there seems to be a "lack of intelligence about spirits of all kinds, and where they come from. If we go among the pagans, they have their spirits; the Mohammedans, the Jews, the Christians, the Indians — all have their spirits, all have a supernatural agency and all contend that their spirits are of God.
"How does anyone know which is which? Joseph Smith asked in that editorial: "Who shall solve the mystery? 'Try the spirits,' says John,(1 John 4:1 — "believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. but who is to do it?'"
Who, indeed can tell us which is a lying spirit and which is truthful? Joseph Smith taught that ALL nations had been deceived by false prophets — including Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Indians. Why would Joseph Smith want to be a false prophet like Muhammad to his generation? Obviously, either Hitchens or some anti-Mormon writer he quoted simply made that up to deceive people. Joseph Smith NEVER said he wanted to be a false prophet like Muhammad.
Al Sharpton responded sympathetically to Hitchens' anti-Mormon attack by saying:
"As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don't worry about that; that's a temporary situation."
Now that Mitt Romney and many others have pointed out that Sharpton's comment was not only wrong but also clearly bigoted, he is belatedly trying to claim that he really was not talking about the "one Mormon running for office" but about Hitchens, the atheist, whom he didn't mention. Not even the Washington Post will swallow that lie. It is calling Sharpton a hypocrite coming, as it did, on the heels of Sharpton's attacks on Don Imus .
And, Don Imus apologized for a statement he didn't even make, whereas Sharpton has never apologized for what he said about Mitt Romney's and my religion. Imus apologized, even though what he really said was:
"IMUS:That's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and..."
Then his Executive Producer Bernard McGuirk said:
"Some hard-core hos."
IMUS: That's some nappy-headed hos there. I'm gonna tell you that now, man, that's some — woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like — kinda like — I don't know."
Imus said later, and I would have to agree with him, that he "didn't think it was a racial insult. I thought it was in the process of us rapping and trying to be funny."
Sharpton took a hard line and demanded that Imus be fired because he made "racially hurtful comments on a mainstream show that routinely hosted political candidates and top-tier journalists."
The Rutgers Girls Baskeball team has a black coach and 80% of its players are also black. They are very tall girls, the shortest being 5'8" and the tallest being 6'1," which probably would not prompt any man to call them "cute."
From Al Sharpton's accusation that this was a "racist" remark, one would have to assume that the entire Rutgers team is black girls with short, nappy hair usually found among African black women, not American black women 98% of whom have some Caucasian ancestry, as well as African ancestry. However, twenty percent of the team are white girls and only one of the eight black girls has hair that could be called "nappy" — which is an adjective that means the texture of the hair is "short, soft and downy" It was an inaccurate statement on Imus' part, but it was not an insult or "racist."
Now, McGuirk calling the girls "hard-core hos" a rapper term that means hard-core whores was neither truthful nor kind and Don Imus apologized for the episode, something that Sharpton has NOT done for his insult to a minority group called "Mormons" about their belief in God. Also, after meeting with Don Imus who apologized to them, none of the team supported Al Sharpton's demand that he be fired.
It is of interest to note, considering the latest Mormon bashing by Al Sharpton, that one of those Rutgers players, Katie Adams, is a white Mormon girl from Ogden, Utah who was valedictorian of her high school graduating class, has a 4.0 average in her study of psychology at Rutgers and was recently awarded the most Courageous/Inspirational Player of the Rutgers Girls' Basketball team. She doesn't seem to have any tattoos and she definitely does not have short hair.
Even the Washington Post has identified Al Sharpton as a hypocritical bigot for his attack on Mitt Romney's religion.
Al Sharpton's bigoted and totally inaccurate accusation that we Mormons, including presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Rutgers Girls Basketball junior guard Katie Adams, do not believe in God is far more offensive than Don Imus describing someone's hair as "short, soft and downy" or even using a a rapper phrase that is heard a million times a day from black recording artists.
I say, either Don Imus gets his job back, or Al Sharpton gets fired.
© Mary Mostert
As a former agnostic humanist who became a Mormon in middle age, I thought I would find the debate between atheist Christopher Hitchens and Reverent Al Sharpton interesting. Instead, I found the exchange between the two shallow and pointless with neither Sharpton nor Hitchens actually addressing the issue they were supposed to discuss. Both atheists and fundamentalists should be embarrassed by their chosen spokespersons.
Fairly early in the debate, Hitchens, who was using the opportunity to sell his book, "God Isn't Great," repeated easily refuted accusations he makes in his book about Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet. In a chapter titled "Mormonism: A Racket Becomes a Religion" Hitchens calls The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints "this ridiculous cult" and claims that Joseph Smith said: "I shall be to this generation a new Muhammad" and adopted as his fighting slogan the words, which he thought he had learned from Islam, "Either the Al-Koran or the sword."
So, Mr. Hitchens, exactly when and where did Joseph Smith say that? According to my research on Joseph Smith and Islam, what he said on the subject of Islam was in an editorial he wrote for Times and Seasons on April 1, 1842. It is on page 571 of Volume 4 in my seven volume set of the History of the LDS Church. In that editorial, entitled "Try the Spirits" Joseph Smith wrote: that the "many false spirits" Christ's apostles had warned of in the New Testament were then and would continue disturbing mankind in these latter days prior to the Second Coming.
In "every age," Joseph wrote, " there seems to be a "lack of intelligence about spirits of all kinds, and where they come from. If we go among the pagans, they have their spirits; the Mohammedans, the Jews, the Christians, the Indians — all have their spirits, all have a supernatural agency and all contend that their spirits are of God.
"How does anyone know which is which? Joseph Smith asked in that editorial: "Who shall solve the mystery? 'Try the spirits,' says John,(1 John 4:1 — "believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. but who is to do it?'"
Who, indeed can tell us which is a lying spirit and which is truthful? Joseph Smith taught that ALL nations had been deceived by false prophets — including Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Indians. Why would Joseph Smith want to be a false prophet like Muhammad to his generation? Obviously, either Hitchens or some anti-Mormon writer he quoted simply made that up to deceive people. Joseph Smith NEVER said he wanted to be a false prophet like Muhammad.
Al Sharpton responded sympathetically to Hitchens' anti-Mormon attack by saying:
"As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don't worry about that; that's a temporary situation."
Now that Mitt Romney and many others have pointed out that Sharpton's comment was not only wrong but also clearly bigoted, he is belatedly trying to claim that he really was not talking about the "one Mormon running for office" but about Hitchens, the atheist, whom he didn't mention. Not even the Washington Post will swallow that lie. It is calling Sharpton a hypocrite coming, as it did, on the heels of Sharpton's attacks on Don Imus .
And, Don Imus apologized for a statement he didn't even make, whereas Sharpton has never apologized for what he said about Mitt Romney's and my religion. Imus apologized, even though what he really said was:
"IMUS:That's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and..."
Then his Executive Producer Bernard McGuirk said:
"Some hard-core hos."
IMUS: That's some nappy-headed hos there. I'm gonna tell you that now, man, that's some — woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like — kinda like — I don't know."
Imus said later, and I would have to agree with him, that he "didn't think it was a racial insult. I thought it was in the process of us rapping and trying to be funny."
Sharpton took a hard line and demanded that Imus be fired because he made "racially hurtful comments on a mainstream show that routinely hosted political candidates and top-tier journalists."
The Rutgers Girls Baskeball team has a black coach and 80% of its players are also black. They are very tall girls, the shortest being 5'8" and the tallest being 6'1," which probably would not prompt any man to call them "cute."
From Al Sharpton's accusation that this was a "racist" remark, one would have to assume that the entire Rutgers team is black girls with short, nappy hair usually found among African black women, not American black women 98% of whom have some Caucasian ancestry, as well as African ancestry. However, twenty percent of the team are white girls and only one of the eight black girls has hair that could be called "nappy" — which is an adjective that means the texture of the hair is "short, soft and downy" It was an inaccurate statement on Imus' part, but it was not an insult or "racist."
Now, McGuirk calling the girls "hard-core hos" a rapper term that means hard-core whores was neither truthful nor kind and Don Imus apologized for the episode, something that Sharpton has NOT done for his insult to a minority group called "Mormons" about their belief in God. Also, after meeting with Don Imus who apologized to them, none of the team supported Al Sharpton's demand that he be fired.
It is of interest to note, considering the latest Mormon bashing by Al Sharpton, that one of those Rutgers players, Katie Adams, is a white Mormon girl from Ogden, Utah who was valedictorian of her high school graduating class, has a 4.0 average in her study of psychology at Rutgers and was recently awarded the most Courageous/Inspirational Player of the Rutgers Girls' Basketball team. She doesn't seem to have any tattoos and she definitely does not have short hair.
Even the Washington Post has identified Al Sharpton as a hypocritical bigot for his attack on Mitt Romney's religion.
Al Sharpton's bigoted and totally inaccurate accusation that we Mormons, including presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Rutgers Girls Basketball junior guard Katie Adams, do not believe in God is far more offensive than Don Imus describing someone's hair as "short, soft and downy" or even using a a rapper phrase that is heard a million times a day from black recording artists.
I say, either Don Imus gets his job back, or Al Sharpton gets fired.
© Mary Mostert
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