Al Sharpton Calls Out the Pharisees

There are generally few issues upon which Al Sharpton and I are in agreement. In fact, I often view Sharpton as little more than a opportunistic demagogue. However, for once Sharpton has hit the nail on the head and directly called out the hypocrisy and dishonesty of the professional Christian set and anti-gay churches who fail to follow the message of Christ except in lip service. Oh yes, they pat themselves on the back for their self-styled piety as they look down on others and turn a blind eye to those in need of love and assistance. Here are some highlights of Sharpton's remarks:

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On Sunday, Rev. Al Sharpton slammed major faiths for using their resources and power to pass California's Proposition 8 while showing indifference to issues affecting Americans such as poverty, social inequality and economic sabotage. The Church, he said, was silent until California affirmed marriage rights for its same-sex couples.

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Sharpton was the keynote speaker at the Human Rights Ecumenical Service held at Atlanta's Tabernacle Baptist Church to welcome the Atlanta-based Alliance of Affirming Faith-Based Organizations, whose mission is to unite gay-friendly churches.

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"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.

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"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."

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"I am tired," he went on, "of seeing ministers who will preach homophobia by day, and then after they're preaching, when the lights are off they go cruising for trade. . . When Bush took us to war chasing weapons of mass destruction that weren't there you had nothing to say. "But all of a sudden, when Proposition 8 came out, you had so much to say, but since you stepped in the rain, we're going to step in the rain with you."

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"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...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."