All three cable "news" channels were all over this yesterday.

I like a clown as well as the next circusgoer, but why Sharpton? Why pay attention to him at all? Does Central Casting not ever hire new players?

I watched the videos - not once but three times - had my wife- who knew nothing about the controversy watch it and tell me what she saw and heard -

Our conclusion were the same - Sharpton is a religious bigot - and owes an apology to Mormons and Romney.

My wife and I are Christians however do not attend any church or belong to any of the different flavors of Christianity - but we are Christians and that is all we have to be.

I've gotten so used to disagreeing with Christopher Hitchens that I forgot how awesome he can be when he's arguing a sensible position: war crimes for Kissinger, criticism of religious faith, social libertarianism...He and I are both part of a group of people who were liberal before 9/11 and afterwards, retained most of their liberal sentiments, but for some reason became raving imperialist, war-mongering nuts with respect to foreign policy. Most of us are quietly and embarrassedly recanting our previous positions as the lunacy of the Bush/Israel/Pentagon axis of imperialism's elaborate project has made itself clear through the dissolution of Iraq into utter chaos and civil war. We are admitting that we were wrong: 9/11 was a shocking event, and it provoked an extreme response from a lot of people, myself included. This is a clear illustration of how terrorism--the killing of innocent civilians--breeds extremism, militarism, hatred, and war among the victims, whether it is an Islamic terrorist killing civilians in New York or an American terrorist killing civilians in Haditha or Afghanistan. Fortunately, for many of us here in America the response seems to be slowly fading as time allows reason to slowly penetrate our skulls, and mercifully, the consequences of our horrible mistake have not yet reached our shores, knock on wood. But in the Middle East, the onslaught of American and Israeli bullets is unceasing, meaning that extremism and violence will only grow more prevalent in the Arab world unless we realize that our policies in the area are the reason it's such a mess. Hopefully Christopher Hitchens will do as I did and realize this soon. Then I could say that I genuinely admire and respect him as one of the most distinctive, bitingly intelligent, iconoclastic, and articulate members of the American intelligentsia. Until then, he's just a stubborn mule to me--take it from someone who's been in his shoes.

To amend my previous letter: I wrote that "the consequences of our horrible mistake have not yet reached our shores." What I meant by that statement is that we have not had a major terrorist attack in America since 9/11. The consequences of our horrible mistake have indeed reached our shores: more than 3,300 fallen soldiers and counting, countless veterans damaged physically and psychologically by the war, and a deficit we will be paying off for generations.

The Mormon god and the Judeo-Christian God are two very different things. The Mormon god is a space alien from the planet Kolob who was a good Mormon there and was given the Earth to populate and rule. He's just one of many gods, each with their own planets and collection of wives in the Mormon celestial copulatorium. Google the Mormon hymn "If You Could Hie to Kolob"......A good example of what Scientology had been invented in the early 19th century rather than the 1950s

So if you take that into consideration he's not being a biggot he's being accurate.

but, I find Sharpton to be every bit the match of Hitchens. Much as Sharpton's past is shameful, this is a very bright and thoughtful man. His comment about Romney was ambiguous, although I see as much more of a joke about Mormons not being real christians, or real believers, as opposed to sharpton's explanation. As a joke, I thought it was a particularly quick-witted one and a little bit dangerous - maybe offensive to Mormons - but they should be able to take it.

Sharpton has made a career out of hollering "nigger". And in fact, back during the Tawana Brawley fiasco that smarmy hypocrite called himself "The Biggest Nigger in New York." He doesn't go in for deep analyses and semantic nuances when he's trashing someone else. So screw him. Let him get exactly the same treatment when he steps in it. Make him grovel on SLC television and beg forgiveness from the Saints.

I am a Mormon. I accept Al Sharpton's apology. I actually was quite offended at first. But what can I expect really. He is also being fed false information about what we believe.

There are weird half truths all over the internet right now I'm very surprized at the number of people who are "experts" in Mormon doctrine all of sudden. Apparently they have studied for years and know things that "Mormons don't even know". Which pretty much means it's not really Mormon doctrine right?

We don't think blacks are "born devils" as Al Sharpton said on a show today. No wonder he dislikes us. Joseph Smith (1804-1844)taught that if blacks were allowed to have an education and be free from slavery they would be just like whites. He advocated the end of Slavery.

Reverend Sharpton is meeting with leaders of the Church in Salt Lake. We are taught that there is no room for racism in the church. Or in our hearts. If it has been there in the past we apologize. We hope to do better in the future. God is no respecter of persons! All are alike to Him.

Just as I believe that Reverend Sharpton's remarks were misunderstood. I believe that much of what people find offensive about our doctrine is misunderstanding.

And to all you experts out there. You have been taught untruth or you did not understand what was taught. What you saying are twisted half-truths. I don't care how many years it took you to learn them. You may believe as you wish, but the things I have read today make my skin crawl. And frankly, why is it your business what I believe? If you don't want the church just say you aren't interested. Mocking people is really unattractive.

Thanks, A Mormon Friend