Hitchens and Sharpton on God

Christopher Hitchens and Al Sharpton debated the existence of God and the role of faith the other day. According to the detailed summary in the New York Times. Hitchens has a book out with the provocative title, God is Not Great. Hitchens argues that religious faith arose when people were searching for explanations for natural phenomenon for which we now know the science. And he objects to the idea of a dictatorial all-knowing God who knows all our internal thoughts. It's not surprising that a man who so admires George Orwell would have that objection.

If you're a person of faith, you might not be thrilled having Al Sharpton as your spokesman in this debate, particularly when he makes remarks like this:

“As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don’t worry, that’s a temporary situation.”

Perhaps he needs to read Hugh Hewitt's book, A Mormon in the White House?, on Mitt Romney to get a better idea of what Mormons believe. They might have other beliefs that differ from Sharpton's, but they do believe in God. I somehow don't think Sharpton would make the same sort of insulting crack about what Muslims believe, but he feels fine saying that about Mormons.

UPDATE: Sharpton now denies that he was saying that it was Mormons who don't believe in God, but was referring to Hitchens. The comment doesn't make sense that way - it's not like there's a big movement of Atheists for Romney.