Fair is Fair

I hate to say this but my favorite poverty pimp, Al Sharpton, is getting a bad rap over his statement supposedly demeaning the Mormon religion:

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.

Rev Al made the statement during a surprisingly civil debate over religion with one of my favorite columnists, Christoper Hitchens. The event is summarized in the New York Times political blog (link).

Hitchens has a new book out unambiguously titled: "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" (link). While I don't share his atheistic worldview, Hitchens is very eloquent in making his argument against religion and religious institutions.

If you watch the debate (link), Hitchens seems to be winning most of the points.

The controversial remark by Sharpton was a response to a reference by Hitchens to "one of the Republican candidates" who belonged to the Mormon faith which, Hitchens went on to say, had supported segregation until 1965. Hitchens never named Romney by name, only by his faith. Sharpton was trying to respond in kind.

In THAT context, Sharpton's remark isn't as bad as it originally sounded.

Frankly, a lot of the people playing "gotcha" with Sharpton now (because of his role in the Imus firing) are giving Hitchens somewhat of a pass. I can only guess that because Hitchens is one of the strongest voices in support for the Iraq war, Conservatives are reluctant take him on for his anti-religious views. Of course, I could be wrong, but the silence from the right in response to Hitchens' book is curious.

My main problem with Hitchens on religion is that his conviction that there is NO God is just as unproven and therefore based on "faith" as any theistic view to the contrary.

One strong point made by Sharpton to Hitchens during the debate was this:

We are sitting in a room that because of lights, we assume that there is electricity in the building. Electricity can light the room or burn it down; it does not mean electricity does not exist because it burns a building down, or that it is inherently wicked. Clearly people have misused God, as they have misused other things that are possibly positive, but its existence is not in any way proved or disproved by you giving me a long diatribe on those that have mishandled and misused God.