Obama faces questions about religion

Chicago Tribune ^ | March 26, 2008 | John McCormick and Manya A. Brachear

[Red Steel]

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Before Sen. Barack Obama took the stage here Wednesday, the crowd was led in prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. And as the Illinois Democrat ended his speech, he offered a "God bless America."

As Obama returned to the campaign trail after a brief respite, news and questions about his controversial former Chicago pastor continued to circulate, while the activities before his appearance seemed to try to reinforce that he is a Christian and a patriot.

An audience in Indiana had also been led in prayer on the Saturday after the flap over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. first spread on the Internet. But such overt religious showings have been relatively rare during the 13 months Obama has campaigned for the presidency.

Wright, meanwhile, had been scheduled this week to make his first public appearances since the debate over his remarks erupted in mid-March. But citing security concerns, those stops in Florida and Texas were canceled.

The controversy began when videos of Wright's sermons surfaced, including one in which the pastor shouts, "God damn America" for its treatment of minorities. Earlier this week, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Obama's rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, weighed in, saying: "I think that given all we have heard and seen, he would not have been my pastor."

On his new campaign plane, Obama said he has spoken with Wright in recent days and disputed any suggestion that he or his campaign have asked him to stay out of the limelight.

"I have talked to him," he said. "I haven't asked him to do anything."

Robert Gibbs, Obama's communications director, said he was not aware of efforts to bring more prayer and patriotism into events. He said recent occurrences might simply be a matter of

[baa39]

Did they have the Pledge “before Obama took the stage” so he would not have to participate in it? Just can’t quite bring himself to put his hand over his heart for his country.

[dr_lew]

I had been thinking of the lyrics for a new National Anthem, and this afternoon it come together for me. Your mileage may vary.

God Damn America!
Land that I loathe!
I despise her,
And defile her,
With a hate
That could not
Be more great.

From the mountains
To the prairies
To the suburbs
White as snow ...

God Damn America!
Land That I Loathe!
God Damn America!
Land That I Loathe!

[informavoracious]

Excellent observation. Would like to see Sen. Obama LEAD the crowd in the pledge, hand over heart. It would be too little too late; still, even done for the sake of a photo op, he seems unable to bring himself to do it. Perhaps if the flag of Kenya or a poster of Pastor Wright flanked by other black leaders such as Louis Farrakhan were displayed Barack might be inclined to demonstrate his devotion.

[A CA Guy]

I fully expect Obama to convert and become Jewish soon for the vote.

[baa39]

Back at ya....

God Damn all Democrats,
Commie leftist scum!
Stand behind them
And oblige them
With a swift
Mighty kick
In the bum.

From the mountains,
to the Prairies,
To the Oceans,
White with Foam...

God save our homeland
From evil within!
God save our homeland,
From traitors at home!

[Caipirabob]

And as the Illinois Democrat ended his speech, he offered a "God bless America."

We know what he really meant...

[OeOeO]

Oh no, not the Chicago Tribune. They were too busy in '04 digging up up the fact that Jack Ryan propositioned his own wife for SEX! It was too much for the moralists in Chicago and Jack had to go.

I'm amazed that the Trib is still referred to as a Republican paper. That ended in 1955 with the death of Colonel McCormick

[Global2010]

LOL No doubt.

It is time to flick Holy Water at him and see if he sizzles.

[Rome2000]

Was Obama Ever a Muslim?

“I’ve always been a Christian,” said Obama, focusing on his own personal lack of practice of Islam as a child to deny any connection to Islam. But Muslims do not see practice as key. For them, that he was born to a line of Muslim males makes him born a Muslim. Further, all children born with an Arabic name based on the H-S-N trilateral root (Hussein, Hassan, and others) can be assumed to be Muslim, so they will understand Obama’s full name, Barack Hussein Obama, to proclaim him a born Muslim.

More: family and friends considered him as a child to be Muslim. In “Obama Debunks Claim About Islamic School,” Nedra Pickler of the Associated Press wrote on January 24, 2007, that

Obama’s mother, divorced from Obama’s father, married a man from Indonesia named Lolo Soetoro, and the family relocated to the country from 1967-71. At first, Obama attended the Catholic school, Fransiskus Assisis, where documents showed he enrolled as a Muslim, the religion of his stepfather. The document required that each student choose one of five state-sanctioned religions when registering – Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Catholic or Protestant.

Asked about this, Obama communications director Robert Gibbs responded by indicating to Pickler that

he wasn’t sure why the document had Obama listed as a Muslim. “Senator Obama has never been a Muslim.”

Two months later, Paul Watson of the Los Angeles Times (available online in a Baltimore Sun reprint) reported that the Obama campaign had retreated from that absolute statement and instead issued a more nuanced one: “Obama has never been a practicing Muslim.” The Times looked into the matter further and learned more about his Indonesian interlude:

His former Roman Catholic and Muslim teachers, along with two people who were identified by Obama’s grade-school teacher as childhood friends, say Obama was registered by his family as a Muslim at both schools he attended. That registration meant that during the third and fourth grades, Obama learned about Islam for two hours each week in religion class.

The childhood friends say Obama sometimes went to Friday prayers at the local mosque. “We prayed but not really seriously, just following actions done by older people in the mosque. But as kids, we loved to meet our friends and went to the mosque together and played,” said Zulfin Adi. … Obama’s younger sister, Maya Soetoro, said in a statement released by the campaign that the family attended the mosque only “for big communal events,” not every Friday.

Recalling Obama’s time in Indonesia, the Times account contains quotes that Obama “went to the mosque,” and that he “was Muslim.”

Summarized, available evidence suggests Obama was born a Muslim to a non-practicing Muslim father and for some years had a reasonably Muslim upbringing under the auspices of his Indonesian step-father. At some point, he converted to Christianity. It appears false to state, as Obama does, “I’ve always been a Christian” and “I’ve never practiced Islam.” The campaign appears to be either ignorant or fabricating when it states that “Obama never prayed in a mosque.”-Daniel Pipes

OBAMA WAS BORN MUSLIM AND PRAYED TO MECCA AS A CHILD

[powerrunner922]

has obama found the koran that hes going to swear in as the president with?

[Grampa Dave]

On his new campaign plane, Obama said he has spoken with Wright in recent days and disputed any suggestion that he or his campaign have asked him to stay out of the limelight.

"I have talked to him," he said. "I haven't asked him to do anything."

Walter Williams: "For the nation and for black people, the first black president should be the caliber of a Jackie Robinson and Barack Obama is not. Barack Obama has charisma and charm but in terms of character, values and understanding, he is no Jackie Robinson. By now, many Americans have heard the racist and anti-American tirades of Obama's minister and spiritual counselor. There's no way that Obama could have been a 20-year member of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church and not been aware of his statements."

Thomas Sowell: "It is painful to watch defenders of Barack Obama tying themselves into knots trying to evade the obvious. Some are saying that Senator Obama cannot be held responsible for what his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, said. In their version of events, Barack Obama just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time—and a bunch of mean-spirited people are trying to make something out of it."

Hussein Obama’s racist pseudo minister has turned the Dems' run for President into party's train wreck!

Devastatingly, Shelby Steele writes: “Obama has fellow-traveled with a hate-filled, anti-American black nationalism all his adult life, failing to stand and challenge an ideology that would have no place for his own (white) mother."

Just What Did Obama Know About Wright's Past Sermons? (Plenty)

“Barack Obama either agreed with what was preached from the Trinity pulpit, or he tuned it out and stayed around pretending to for political reasons. To say he stayed for 20 years but doesn't agree with Wright's preaching is incredible denial. It'd be like a man buying White Sox season tickets for 20 years, attending the games, and saying he's not a fan.”

Obama’s supporters want us to ignore this story… just push it under the rug. While they’ll align Republicans with any obscure pastor who does or says something controversial, they’re trying to convince us that Obama’s 20-year long close relationship with Wright, including his effective endorsement of him, his church and rhetoric with a $22,500 donation in 2006 is irrelevant.

“When Obama decided against wearing an American flag pin, we may all have been a bit too quick to accept his rationale, too quick to find that issue unimportant. Now, that American flag pin has gotten a lot bigger for a lot of us, especially in light of what may have been and may still be Obama’s deeper, and, perhaps, secret, less than patriotic beliefs about America.”

“Wright says that blacks can’t be expected to sing God Bless America because of racism. Obama doesn’t salute the flag during the National Anthem. That sure strikes me as an amazing coincidence since Obama swears he never heard Wright say anything against America.”

Here is the link to the Star Spangled Banner video with obama standing there without his hand over his heart...

Notice her ear ring!

[Non-Sequitur]

...while the activities before his appearance seemed to try to reinforce that he is a Christian and a patriot.

For most people it should not be necessary to to either.

[kralcmot]

wow

best posting award three stars and a Whoopee

well done

thanks form all of us

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks.

We need to keep bringing up the vile racist preacher/mentor of Hussein Obama and not let him slip/slid away from this evil linkage.

[A CA Guy]

You throw Holy Water at Barry Obama and he will sidestep the water, let it land on the ground, then he'll walk over it and claim he has walked on water!!

[Global2010]

Oh you are good man.

Is he that transparent? Uh Yuh.
: )

[Salvation]

**Obama faces questions about religion**

You mean ‘the religion of hate’?

[bt_dooftlook]

God damn America!
Land that we loathe!
Live inside her,
And divide her,
With a hatred that's hard to disprove!

From the "teachers",
And "reporters",
And the "pastors", flecked with foam!

God damn America -
We'll side with Noam!
God damn America -
Let's burn our Home!