Re: Obama's Muslim background?
Senator Barack Obama
Summary of the eRumor:
Various stories and questions about Democratic Senator Barack Obama.
The Truth:
Senator Barack Obama is a rising star in the Democratic party including some who would like to see him as a presidential candidate. As with other high profile politicians there are stories and questions that circulate on the Internet about Obama.
Obama is actually Muslim-Fiction!
There are several emails circulating that, in different ways, say that Obama is Muslim. Obama's middle name is Hussein (named after his father, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr.), his heritage does include Islam, and his grandfather was Muslim. But there does not seem to be a time when either he or his parents were practicing Muslims and Obama regards himself as a Christian. He is a member of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ where one Sunday morning in 1988 he said walked down the aisle during an alter call by the pastor, Jeremiah Wright.
Some of the most definitive information about Obama's faith comes from an interview he did with journalist Cathleen Falsini. She writes that Obama was born in 1961 in Hawaii to a white mother who came from Protestant Midwestern stock but whom Obama describes in his own book as a Christian but "a lonely witness for secular humanism." Obama's father was a black African from the Luo tribe of Kenya. Obama called him agnostic. Obama's grandfather on his father's side was Muslim. When he was six years old, Obama's mother and father divorced and she married an Indonesian man who was a non-practicing Moslem. They moved to Indonesia where Obama said he attended a Roman Catholic school until he was 10. An article Scott Turow on Salon.com in 2004, however, said that while in Indonesia, Obama spent 2 years in a Moslem school then 2 more in the Catholic school.
In terms of actual beliefs, Obama told Falsini that he has a deep faith "...rooted in the Christian tradition." He added, "I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people, that there are values that transcend race or culture, that move us forward, and that there’s an obligation for all of us individually as well as collectively to take responsibility to make those values lived." He said his mother "...was a deeply spiritual person and would spend a lot of time talking about values and give me books about the world’s religions and talk to me about them. Her view always was that underlying these religions was a common set of beliefs about how you treat other people and how you aspire to act, not just for yourself but also for the greater good." He also told Falsini, "Alongside my own deep personal faith, I am a follower, as well, of our civic religion. I am a big believer in the separation of church and state. I am a big believer in our constitutional structure." Regarding his conversion experience, Obama said, " It wasn’t an epiphany. It was much more of a gradual process for me. I know there are some people who fall out. Which is wonderful. God bless them. For me, I think it was just a moment to certify or publicly affirm a growing faith in me." Critics have said that his Christian faith is a political choice to help his image and conceal Islam in his life. Supporters point out that his conversion took place before he ran for any public office. In the Falsini interview he said he reads the Bible, although not as much as he wants to, and that prayer is a part of his daily life but not in the formal sense. "I think I have an ongoing conversation with God. Throughout the day I’m constantly asking myself questions about what I’m doing, why I am doing it," he said. "The difficult thing about any religion, including Christianity, is that at some level there is a call to evangelize and proselytize. There’s the belief, certainly in some quarters, that if people haven’t embraced Jesus Christ as their personal savior, they’re going to hell," he told Falsini. She said Obama did not believe that he or anyone else was going to hell and that he wasn't sure he was going to heaven either. "What I believe in is that if I live my life as well as I can, that I will be rewarded. I don't presume to have knowledge of what happens after I die. But I feel very strongly that whether the reward is in the here and now or in the hereafter, aligning myself to my faith and values is a good thing.” Obama's support of abortion, including the controversial partial-birth abortion procedure, resulted in controversy when he was invited by evangelical pastor Rick Warren to be the keynote speaker at an AIDS conference at Saddleback Church in Southern California in 2006. Warren, who is opposed to abortion, said his invitation to Obama had nothing to do with abortion and that he wanted to embrace diverse voices in his fight against AIDS. Abortion opponents argued, however, that someone like Obama whose support of abortion included something so extreme as partial-birth abortion should not be given such a prominent platform and endorsement from pro-lifers.
Obama has used drugs-Truth!
Some of the eRumors ask questions about whether Obama has used drugs. O
Obama, who is currently U.S. Senator from Illinois, also served 8 years in the Illinois State Senate, graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, and was the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review.
Updated 1/7/07
Summary of the eRumor: truthorfiction.com
I believe he is Muslim.
"I believe that there are many paths to the same place,"
That is not the belief of a true Christian.
Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)
Every true Christian believes that Jesus Christ is the only path to heaven. There are not "many paths" to heaven in the Christian faith.
His answers about religion sound like he wants to have all his bases covered and is not willing to admit to a specific belief. I do not trust him at ALL.
BTW, Obama not only supports Partial Birth Abortion, he voted against a bill in Illinois to mandate medical care for babies surviving PBA's....