Posted on 04/30/2008 6:59:48 PM PDT by LJayne
As Barack Obama's candidacy comes under increasing scrutiny, his account of his religious upbringing deserves careful attention for what it tells us about the candidate's integrity.
Obama asserted in December, "I've always been a Christian," and he has adamantly denied ever having been a Muslim. "The only connection I've had to Islam is that my grandfather on my father's side came from that country [Kenya]. But I've never practiced Islam."
In February, he claimed, "I have never been a Muslim.... other than my name and the fact that I lived in a populous Muslim country for four years when I was a child [Indonesia, 1967-71] I have very little connection to the Islamic religion."
"Always" and "never" leave little room for equivocation. But many biographical facts, culled mainly from the American press, suggest that, when growing up, the Democratic candidate for president both saw himself and was seen as a Muslim.
• Obama's Kenyan birth father: In Islam, religion passes from the father to the child. Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. (1936-1982) was a Muslim who named his boy Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.
• Obama's Indonesian family: His stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, was also a Muslim. In fact, as Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng explained to Jodi Kantor of The New York Times: "My whole family was Muslim, and most of the people I knew were Muslim." An Indonesian publication, The Banjarmasin Post, reports a former classmate, Rony Amir, recalling that "All the relatives of Barry's father were very devout Muslims."
• Obama's Catholic school in Jakarta: Nedra Pickler of the Associated Press reports that "documents showed he enrolled as a Muslim" while at a Catholic school during first through third grades. Kim Barker of The Chicago Tribune confirms that Obama was "listed as a Muslim on the registration form for the Catholic school."
• The public school: Paul Watson of The Los Angeles Times learned from Indonesians familiar with Obama when he lived in Jakarta that he "was registered by his family as a Muslim at both schools he attended." Haroon Siddiqui of The Toronto Star visited the Jakarta public school Obama attended and found that "Three of his teachers have said he was enrolled as a Muslim." Although Siddiqui cautions that "With the school records missing, eaten by bugs, one has to rely on people's shifting memories," he cites only one retired teacher, Tine Hahiyari, retracting her earlier certainty about Obama's being registered as a Muslim.
• Barack Obama's public school in Jakarta, Koran class: In his autobiography, Dreams of My Father, Obama relates how he got into trouble for making faces during Koran studies. Indeed, Obama still retains knowledge from that class: Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times reports that Obama "recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them [to Kristof] with a first-rate accent."
• Mosque attendance: Obama's half-sister recalled that the family attended the mosque "for big communal events." Watson learned from childhood friends that "Obama sometimes went to Friday prayers at the local mosque." Barker found that "Obama occasionally followed his stepfather to the mosque for Friday prayers." One Indonesia friend, Zulfin Adi, states that Obama "was Muslim. He went to the mosque. I remember him wearing a sarong" (a garment associated with Muslims).
• Piety: Obama himself says that while living in Indonesia, a Muslim country, he "didn't practice [Islam]." Indonesians differ in their memories of him. One, Rony Amir, describes Obama as "previously quite religious in Islam."
OBAMA'S HAVING been born and raised a Muslim and having left the faith to become a Christian make him neither more nor less qualified to become president of the United States. But if he was born and raised a Muslim and is now hiding that fact, this points to a major deceit, a fundamental misrepresentation about himself that has profound implications about his character and his suitability as president.
The writer is director of the Middle East Forum and is the Taube/Diller distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.
waddaya mean, “did?” I’m not sure his childhood ever ended.
If only it can be substantiated that he did in fact spend his early years as a Muslim,that would blow him right out of contention. If only...
Well, his parents let him be photographed topless at the age
of 15 and then let the photos be published in Vanity Fair.
Oh, wait.. that's Miley Montana Cyrahanna or whatever.
I always get those two mixed up.
pinging for your local knowledge, recalling that you have a column or two on this topic
At the same time the Islam practiced in Indonesia is substantially different from that practiced in Kenya. Not sure the fellows there in Indonesia would care to have someone with Obama's background in their classrooms anyway. Fur Shur they'd not have allowed him into the ancient capital city JogJakarta (which is reserved to those of the purest Malay blood ~ whatever that means).
His mother was a practicing Atheist according to many sources, and typically under Islam the child is in the mother's care until he's 6 at which time the father bears total responsibility for him. Since Obama's baby-daddy had deedee'd outta' there long before then, he would have remained in his mother's care even under Sharia Law.
His stepfather would have authority for his own household, but I really have to question if Islam would care one way or the other about a child his wife had before her marriage to him.
Someone know a Mullah in Indonesia we can toss that one to? Remember, they do stuff a bit different there. Have their own sects in fact.
No question he was a Muslim when he was a child, for all the reasons Pipes gives.
One Indonesian teacher has now retracted. I presume Obama’s handlers sent him a message.
Similary, Obama’s Kenyan “grandmother”—not his actual grandmother, but another wife of his Muslim grandfather—has said that the family is Christian. But that was after she got her instructions. Earlier, in an interview published in the American press, she said she and the family were all Muslims.
I have pointed this out many times. If Obama said, “I am not now a Muslim,” then it’s his word for it. But he has several times said, “I have NEVER been a Muslim.” That is a flat-out lie.
Indeed, I have serious doubts that he has ever been a Christian. That would make him an apostate in Muslim eyes. But they all love him. That, of course, is why he refuses to publicly say “I was a Muslim, but I converted to Christianity.” That would be offensive to Muslims, and he’d rather lie about it.
I don't know - he wasn't in control of his upbringing, his (various, kooky) parents were.
Now, if the same situation were to be found out about, say, Thomas Sowell, I don't think any of us here would care one whit. That's because Thomas Sowell is one insightful, righteous dude, and has been for his entire adult life.
And if you accept that, then you see that the whole problem with Barry Hussien Obama is his activity and associations in his adult life, not what his parents enrolled him in for few years of childhood. Can or does the one affect the other? Sure! But the key thing is adult history.
(And besides, we want Barry's time bombs to go off after he puts Hillary! away....)
It’s really very simple, his mother married an Indonesian Muslim, in Indonesian law there is no such thing as “mixed marriages”, both spouses must be the same religion so one must convert to the other’s religion, Christian to Muslim or vice versa, so long as both are the same at the time of their marriage.
Therefore even if his mother hadn’t already converted to Islam at the time of her first marriage, by the time of her second she almost certainly had.
Now the child of two people recognised as Muslim under Indonesian law is also a Muslim, end of story. So when little Barry was registered at school in Jakarta he was a Muslim, he certainly was not a Catholic, that’s for certain.
He may well not have practised Islam very much (though I doubt that, any Muslim child in Indonesia would have taken part in the Idul Fitri celebrations), he may have since renounced the childhood Islam which had been created for him by his parents, he may now be a devout Christian, frankly I couldn’t care less, but the fact reamins that he WAS a Muslim at one stage in his life.
To state otherwise is simply to tell an untruth.
“Kim Barker of The Chicago Tribune confirms that Obama was “listed as a Muslim on the registration form for the Catholic school.”
If written proof could be found of this, it would be a bombshell.
His "step father" was really just his mother's second husband under Sharia law. Obamasama was not his "step daddy's son".
There's not much time in there for Obamasama to leave his thumbprint on the mosque record book, or to slaughter a lamb.
So, when did it happen?
I really doubt there was time for Islam in the family life.
A “bombshell” concerning what? He was in a Catholic school and he wasn’t a Catholic. They’d put down whatever religion kept authorities out of their hair. Fur Shur they’d not write down the truth ~ that his mother was an atheist!
Good points, but I believe there is some question as to whether Obama’s mother did not herself adopt Islam (or the leftist, american college version of same). I agree that there is a world of difference between Indonesian Islam and that practiced in Kenya (though to be fair, I believe Kenya is a majority-Christian country despite the recent rise of Muslims in power). On the other hand, we have all seen in the news for many years now that Indonesian Muslims are not above taking part in religious warfare.
I think what is particularly significant about this article is that it’s written by Daniel Pipes, who is fairly well known and generally well respected (though subject to some criticism in the academic community). Previously, this sort of thing has been relegated to the fever swamps and places like Free Republic.
This means that the MSM might finally delve into Obama’s background way beyond the Wright affair and into his associations with radicals in Hawaii.
Most importantly, with respect to the muslim question is Obama’s relationship (by blood or friendship) with Raila Odinga, Prime Minister of Kenya. To me, this is the single most incredible aspect of Obama’s background; even more amazing is that it has received no press attention despite Odinga’s unequivocal statements, and the undeniable fact that Obama appeared at rallies for Odinga in 2006.
Then, when you get to the "second cousins" it's a regular zoo.
Sometimes it's wrong to place the blame for their ill-manners on Islam!
The difference is that you didn’t actively campaign for one of those cousins who was, at the time, running for President of Kenya; and you did not thereafter decide to run for President of the United States. I see no reason why Obama’s connection with Odinga is not fair game. If it’s just an odd coincidence, then fine, but I don’t see how he explains campaigning for a man who later participated (some would say incited) a violent uprising that led to thousands of deaths.
Obama himself wants everyone to buy his juvenile, self-obsessed, and as he himself admits, “composite” (i.e., fictional) autobiography about his trip to Africa to “find” his father and reconnect with his African roots. He can’t have it both ways—if his identity crisis and Africa jaunt is such an important part of his character, “he can no more disown” Raila Odinga than he can his grandmother, no? Personally, I think it’s impossible to believe anything Obama says about himself simply because his whole political career has been premised upon these books which he himself admits are largely fictional.
BTW, I like the name. Don’t suppose it wins you many Shi’a friends, though, huh? I once did a research paper on The Battle of the Camel.
Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it’ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”
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