talking Sharpton. Is the self-professed title of "reverend" a positive?

I am a secular humanist for background.

When I hear "reverend" I think negative - John Hagee, Billy Graham, David Koresh, Jim Jones and others. Now Jim Wallis is a good guy I do admit and there are other examples.

I like liberal religions - like Unitarians. And I always suspect that conservative religions want to limit freedom for gays and women.

Unfortunately, religion tends to move toward the latter.

Alfred Sharpton, Jr., is a minister of the Pentecostal Church with no fixed parish. The Pentecostal Church is an evangelical Protestant movement that emphasizes glossolalia, or speaking in tongues. It was founded in 1901 and has approximately 10 million members in the United States. Pentecostal sermons are noted for their fervor.

So you can see how well he fits in with the other talking heads on TV, many of whom are clearly speaking in tongues with much fervor.

he is not my spokesman.

Neither is Markos, I see.

discriminates against gay people. Sharpton has a mixed past but currently supports equality for GLBT people. Since that is the standard you used, I had to point that out.

while I fully understand the qualms many have with organized religion and consider myself extremely non-religious, I don't understand the need to lump all into one fetid pot. There are plenty of Christian denominations that are quite liberal and progressive in their outlook--both from a religious and political perspective. Ditto other religions, religious groups and spiritual people.

To recoil simply because someone admits to being a religious believer or to outright demonize all with stated religious beliefs is a really terrible trend I am seeing among some liberal/progressives. We are becoming very intolerant in that respect. That is not a positive development, no.

It really isn't a title so much as an honorific, or style, used in formal writing to address a member of the clergy. Grammatically speaking, it is an adjective that should always be preceded by the definite article "The". Its proper usage is identical to the honorific often used for mayors and judges, i.e., "The Honorable Michael Bloomberg." Yet for some reason, no one makes the mistake of addressing Michael Bloomberg as "Honorable Bloomberg," yet they readily will address someone like The Rev'd Sharpton as "Reverend Sharpton."

Likewise, it is improper to say "So and so is a reverend." The appropriate response to such a declaration would be, "A reverend what?" Instead, one would say "Martin Luther King, Jr. was a pastor" or "a minister."

Perhaps you should educate yourself. Reverend used as a noun for a member of the clergy is a perfectly acceptable usage.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reverend%5B2%5D

... I will concede that point. But it makes no sense whatsoever grammatically speaking.

You were exceedingly rude and condescending. You were wrong.

I apologize -- I really didn't meant to come across as rude or condescending, but apparently I did. And I do humbly apologize for that.

You also should talk to gay catholics and or female christians and tell them they are part of a "conservative religion"


Just because you are a secular humanist doesn't mean you get to carry prejudices around about other peoples religions.


You should work on that.

big·ot   
noun
a person who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion.

except for Pat Buchanan who just called President Obama Al's "boy", nice going Pat.

but I can think of a FEW religious figures who have made a hell of a difference in Human History, starting with Martin... who I might add Sharpton has a lot of affinity for.

The problem is that a few on the extreme right (and Jones was a self professed one) have given people of faith a bad name. Even though I am as agnostic as they come and do not like fundies of any sort... I know religious people can and do great works too.

As they say, they come in all flavors.

He is not a good speaker.