Barack Obama IS NOT Muslim! (or at least probably isn't...)
By Chad A. B. Wilson
Published February 14, 2007, 11:44 am in Voting & Partisanship.
Remember that poll I cited in one of my previous columns? The poll that said that 45% of respondents would not vote for a Muslim even if they agree with everything that person said?
Hence, the Obama hatred.
I recently received this in my inbox:
Barack Hussein Obama
Probable U. S Presidential candidate, Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr, a black Muslim from Nyangoma-Kogel, Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white atheist from Wichita, Kansas. Obama's parents met at the University of Hawaii. When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced. His father returned to Kenya. His Mother then married Lolo Soetoro, a radical Muslim from Indonesia. When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocated to Indonesia. Obama attended a Muslim school in Jakarta. He also spent two years in a Catholic school.
Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim. He is quick to point out that, "He was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school."
Obama's political handlers are attempting to make it appear that Obama's introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence was temporary at best. In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya soon after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over his son's education. Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, introduced his stepson to Islam. Osama was enrolled in a Wahabi school in Jakarta. Wahabism is the radical teaching that is followed by the Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the western world.
Since it is politically expedient to be a Christian when seeking major public office in the United States, Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background.
Let us all remain alert concerning Obama's expected presidential candidacy."
There's lots of this stuff floating around out there, for there are lots of Obama haters. The first prominent source comes from Debbie Schlussel. Then there is the Insight magazine article. These articles allege that he is Barack Hussein Obama, and therefore he is Muslim and will lead America down a pro-Muslim path.
But then there are the people who argue against this talk. There is one of my favorite sites--www.snopes.com--that attempts to debunk the whole bit. And there are numerous other blogs denying that Obama is Muslim.
I'm pretty sure you know where I stand.
The one thing I can't stand is when people say that they won't vote for someone because that person may be of a certain faith. Mitt Romney is a Mormon, there is no denying that. And if people won't vote for him because of that, okay. If people won't vote for a Muslim, okay. But to not vote for someone because his family was Muslim even though he isn't seems a bit strange. I understand voting from a religious point of view. I understand it when people say that they vote Republican because they believe the Bible forbids abortion. Those arguments have a logic to them that I happen to respect. But to go on a smear campaign against someone becuase he is a suspected Muslim is, well, laughable.
The Debbie Schlussel article has a million and one comments attached to it, and most of them include some kind of pejorative term--"idiot," "stupid," and others that I don't care to mention--on both sides. The rights tend to say that Obama is an idiot and the lefts tend to say that the rights are idiots. I think my future post will be about the importance of the internet in spreading political information (and misinformation) because there is really strange stuff out there. But I will leave that for next time.
The comments posted on Debbie Schlussel's page range from those who criticize Obama to those to criticize all lefties to those to criticize those who criticize Obama and all lefties. I find it hilarious. They come out of the woodwork, as my father would say. Anyone with an internet connection can have his or her name all over the place if he or she posts an interesting enough comment. Try it. Someone come onto this site, post some great comment that gets me riled up, and we'll see how it gets your name in lights. That comment has to be extrememly provocative, of course. Try it, and then we'll test it.
But now back to our regularly scheduled reasoning.
I can't stand the kind of hateful rhetoric that comes out about Obama. Some of my friends and family members have said things such as "Obama's a Muslim-lover," or "Obama will turn America into a Muslim country." Those aren't quotes, mind you, but the sentiments are the same. I tend to reply "I doubt that, but we'll see." What I want to say is this: "You sound like the racist whites did when the blacks were fighting for civil rights." I wonder whether it will matter much if Obama is actually Muslim.
Whoa, I know, that was a strange statement. Let me repeat it: I wonder whether it will matter much if Obama is actually Muslim.
Let me make it clear at the outset that I am NOT Muslim, and I do NOT believe in the religion. I am a professing Christian, and I like to think that I'm willing to die for my Christianity, although I would, alas, probably succomb to torture or whatnot. But let's hope it doesn't come to that. "If Obama were president, it might just come to that, though!" That's what some out there are thinking, and I wonder whether that's really the case.
What will the differences be if a Muslim becomes President? He will probably be more predisposed to Islam, which means what?
The U.S. won't destroy a Muslim country and get embroiled in an ugly war with no end in sight.
The U.S. will help form an independent state in Palestine.
I would like both of those. Not at anyone's expense, including Israel's or the U.S.'s, of course, but peace would be nice.
Other than that, I have a difficult time imagining what a Muslim president would do. He (or she, but let's assume that it's a he because that's more likely, let's face it) would not really be able to make any laws or anything like that because that's the job of the Congress. He would not be able, as some have suggested, to base our government on the Koran or establish a group of Imans to rule us. I really don't see what difference it would make.
I'm not saying that I would vote for someone who was Muslim, and I certainly would NOT vote for someone just because they were Muslim, but the president wouldn't really be able to do anything, even if he were Muslim.
So the big deal? As Shakespeare said, "much ado about nothing."
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