On Sunday, our lesson was on forgiving others. Among a bunch of other seemingly off-topic comments was how Reverend Al Sharpton made an offensive remark about Mitt Romney and Mormons not believing in God. Apparently, everyone else knew all about this blunder, as well as an insuing TV interview where the host Glenn Beck (who is apparently Mormon himself) grilled Al Sharpton about his remarks. Having no idea what they were talking about, I asked who Reverend Al Sharpton was and everyone in the room laughed at me!
After doing some scouting around on the internet, I discovered what they were talking about. I still think it's amazing everyone knew who Al Sharpton and Glenn Beck were. I'd never heard of them before. I don't see why Al Sharpton is some celebrity, and what is he reverend of -- who would follow him? I'm asking this because I found him to be a blubbering idiot; whatever he said did not make any sense and everything was disjointed; I found the original interview so I could hear what he said in context but there was no context in the first place as his comment was just stuck in there with all the other out-of-place things he said. Whatever the case, if you don't know what I'm talking about, here are the clips on youtube.com:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5bElBk1d70&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdSr1MLF3HA&mode=related&search=
After figuring out what they were talking about, I was able to make the connection between the comments and the lesson which in itself was well-advised. With a lot of mudslinging going on about the Mormons in the media lately, we need to forgive those who try to offend us and simply let it go. If we try to defend ourselves in anger, the anger will win over. When asked about the misrepresentations, we need to clarify without feeling defensive.
(Frankly, I was impressed with Mitt Romney's response on this remark. He basically said that what Sharpton said sounded like a bigoted comment, but he didn't know Sharpton and wouldn't label him as such and gave him the benefit of the doubt that Sharpton didn't mean it the way it sounded. But the media doesn't want to let it go at that and now that the word "bigot" has been used, the media is running with it as if to stir up animosity between Romney and Sharpton.)
I figure the only people who even know about these mudslingings are those that follow the Mormons in the media, namely the Mormons themselves or those that already hate the Mormons. Am I just ignorant, or does everybody know who Rev. Al Sharpton and Glenn Beck are? Did anyone else besides the Mormons see the PBS program? And does anyone but Mormons and Anti-Mormons even care?
On the other hand, with Mitt Romney rising in the political spotlight, everyone in the nation will be exposed to the topic of Mormons one way or the other. That is, if he can stay in the running long enough for the majority of Americans who don't care about politics to even hear of him. Still, what is the big deal? Why do so many people care if Mitt Romney is Mormon or not? Would it matter if he were Jewish or Catholic? Does it matter what religion any of the other candidates are?
...Another off-topic comment made in class was that there is another Mormon running for president named Reed on the democratic-ticket. Couldn't find anything on him on the internet. Anybody know about him?
2 comments:
Hi, Julie, I just had to comment on this one. As you know I am the referral secretary in the Chicago Mission. All I know is that since I've been here there has been an increase in the number of referrals that I am doing each day. The first few weeks we were here I basically did 7 or 8 a day, except on Monday which was more due to the weekend. Now it has doubled and there are MANY more that list "internet" as the type of referral, where as the first few weeks there were very few of those. I, before reading your blog, have attributed this to all the scuttlebutt over Mormons, bigotry, and Mitt's running for Pres. These are referrals where people are actually searching out something, not just a passive thought after seeing an ad on the boob tube.
We did see the PBS program, and had mixed feelings about it also, but if it makes people want to know a little more about us, then that is a good result. PS, I Don't know who Al Sharpton and the other guy are either.
Love MOM
I also hadn't heard of Al Sharpton and Glenn Beck, but I did know who Reed was, Mormon democratic senator for Nevada. I learned his name when the prophet asked all members of the Church to write their senators and ask them to vote for the constitutional amendment about marriage. Senator Reed of Nevada was one of the ones who voted against it, despite that he is Mormon. I don't know much else about him, but he was the "Minority Leader" until recently (meaning the head Democratic senator, when the Republicans had the majority) and is now the "Majority Leader" since the Democrats have majority again. I hadn't heard that he was running for president, but I guess his high standing in the senate makes him a likely candidate.
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