![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Jan. 19th, 2009 11:37 amI'm a bit so-so on Al Sharpton in general, but his comments here? I pretty much agree with.
"There is something immoral and sick about using all of that power to not end brutality and poverty, but to break into people's bedrooms and claim that God sent you," Sharpton told a full house on Sunday.
"It amazes me," he said, "when I looked at California and saw churches that had nothing to say about police brutality, nothing to say when a young black boy was shot while he was wearing police handcuffs, nothing to say when they overturned affirmative action, nothing to say when people were being [relegated] into poverty, yet they were organizing and mobilizing to stop consenting adults from choosing their life partners."
"It's not a question of bringing the issue of the gay and lesbian community to the church. It's about having an open discussion because they're already there," he said. "All of us know that this is nothing new. The only thing new is to have an open discussion on how we deal with it."
"Adultery broke up more marriages than gays did,"
The only thing I take some issue with is his comments about the state:
"This is an issue of human rights," he said. "And I think it is dangerous to give states the right to deal with human rights questions. That's how we ended up with slavery and segregation going forward a long time..."
Hm, not sure that the presence/absence of the state is entirely behind the continuation of slavery. Then again, he may be right, I certainly haven't read enough about it. Legislation and enforcing of it though certainly helped change some parts of society - I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think there is a role, but it needs to be thought through carefully.
In the meantime though,
"...Whatever my personal feelings may be about gay and lesbian marriages, unless you are prepared to say gays and lesbians are not human beings, they should have the same constitutional right of any other human being."
Hell yeah.
"There is something immoral and sick about using all of that power to not end brutality and poverty, but to break into people's bedrooms and claim that God sent you," Sharpton told a full house on Sunday.
"It amazes me," he said, "when I looked at California and saw churches that had nothing to say about police brutality, nothing to say when a young black boy was shot while he was wearing police handcuffs, nothing to say when they overturned affirmative action, nothing to say when people were being [relegated] into poverty, yet they were organizing and mobilizing to stop consenting adults from choosing their life partners."
"It's not a question of bringing the issue of the gay and lesbian community to the church. It's about having an open discussion because they're already there," he said. "All of us know that this is nothing new. The only thing new is to have an open discussion on how we deal with it."
"Adultery broke up more marriages than gays did,"
The only thing I take some issue with is his comments about the state:
"This is an issue of human rights," he said. "And I think it is dangerous to give states the right to deal with human rights questions. That's how we ended up with slavery and segregation going forward a long time..."
Hm, not sure that the presence/absence of the state is entirely behind the continuation of slavery. Then again, he may be right, I certainly haven't read enough about it. Legislation and enforcing of it though certainly helped change some parts of society - I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think there is a role, but it needs to be thought through carefully.
In the meantime though,
"...Whatever my personal feelings may be about gay and lesbian marriages, unless you are prepared to say gays and lesbians are not human beings, they should have the same constitutional right of any other human being."
Hell yeah.
