Editing Al Sharpton (section)

===Religion===
Sharpton was licensed and ordained a [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]] minister by Bishop [[F. D. Washington]] at the age of nine<ref name=NPR>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/programs/specials/democrats2004/transcripts/sharpton_trans.html |title=Al Sharpton Interview Transcript |date=June 13, 2003 |access-date=June 19, 2007 |work=[[Morning Edition]] |publisher=[[NPR|National Public Radio]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609062909/http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/democrats2004/transcripts/sharpton_trans.html |archive-date=June 9, 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref> or ten.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.greatertalent.com/AlSharpton |title=Reverend Al Sharpton |access-date=May 11, 2008 |publisher=Greater Talent Network Speakers Bureau |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080523203408/http://www.greatertalent.com/AlSharpton |archive-date=May 23, 2008}}</ref> After Bishop Washington's death in the late 1980s, Sharpton became a [[Progressive National Baptist Convention|Baptist]]. He was re-baptized as a member of the Bethany Baptist Church in 1994 by the Reverend [[William Augustus Jones Jr.|William Augustus Jones]]<ref name=NAN>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalactionnetwork.net/html/history.html |title=Reverend Al Sharpton's Bio |author=Stefan Friedman |access-date=June 19, 2007 |publisher=[[National Action Network]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070519171359/http://www.nationalactionnetwork.net/html/history.html |archive-date=May 19, 2007}}</ref> and became a Baptist minister.<ref name=NPR/><ref name="Jones NYT">{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Charisse |title=Sharpton Is Rebaptized As Baptist in Brooklyn |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/07/nyregion/sharpton-is-rebaptized-as-baptist-in-brooklyn.html|date= February 7, 1994|access-date=December 23, 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

During 2007, Sharpton participated in a public debate with [[Atheism|atheist]] writer [[Christopher Hitchens]], defending his religious faith and his [[theism|belief in the existence of God]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nysun.com/article/54047 |title=Hitchens, Sharpton Spar Over the Almighty |author=Matthew Chayes |date=May 8, 2007 |access-date=July 3, 2007 |work=[[The New York Sun]] |archive-date=January 25, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080125032918/http://www.nysun.com/article/54047 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20091019013409/http://fora.tv/2007/05/07/Al_Sharpton_and_Christopher_Hitchens/#fullprogram "Al Sharpton and Christopher Hitchens."]}} [[FORA.tv]]. May 7, 2007. Retrieved August 6, 2009.</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=ChristopherHitchslap|title=Christopher Hitchens Debates Al Sharpton - New York Public|date=December 6, 2011|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPYxA8dYLBY |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/HPYxA8dYLBY| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|access-date=May 10, 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref>