Al Sharpton, Mitt Romney, and Mormonism

Take a look at these videos, then I'll write some really important stuff on the topic:

as for the one Mormon running for office, those that really believe in God will defeat him anyway. So don't worry about that.

Sigh. This got a bit of press, as Romney called it a "bigoted statement" and Sharpton told everyone that's not really what he meant.

Is it bigoted? I don't know. But I'm not buying Sharpton's cries of being misquoted. His statement is pretty clear, and frankly he's not alone. There's plenty of people that think the same thing. There's plenty of churches that preach it from the pulpit.

But you know what? Big deal.

Anyone familiar with LDS history knows that "mormon bashing" began before the Church was even organized. Heck, Mormons had a governor in the freest nation in the world sign a statement saying it was ok to kill them. Eventually they ended up walking a few thousand miles to an area that even the mountain men wouldn't live in- all so they could live without fear of angry mobs showing up at their door to rape their wives, shoot their husbands, and burn down their house. Alas, the government ended up sending an army to Salt Lake City anyway, I suppose for old times sake.

Not too long ago I served a two year mission for the LDS Church. It was one of the best things I've ever done. I lived in a foreign country, learned a new language in only a few months, and met some of the greatest people I'll ever know. I was also spit on, swore at, and had rocks thrown at me.

Every six months the LDS Church holds what it calls General Conference. And every six months the tens of thousands of attendees are treated to an array of "protesters." At a recent conference one of these protesters brought a special prop: LDS "garments"- sacred undergarments worn by faithful latter day saints. This protester blew his nose with them and waved them in the conference-goers' faces.

Al Sharpton is not alone. There's plenty of folks that dislike Mormons, some quite vehemently. But in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter. I suppose some of my fellow Mormons will be outraged, or call the statement bigoted as Romney did, but that serves no purpose. There's no reason to be offended, no reason to be angry. So Al Sharpton doesn't understand my religion. Welcome to the club.