Posted on 01/14/2008 9:11:02 AM PST by processing please hold
1. Was Barack Obama a Muslim?
The issue of Barack Obama's possible Muslim past has re-emerged with conflicting reports about the presidential candidate's childhood in Islamic Indonesia.
The controversy was initially touched off in early 2007 when several media outlets reported that Obama had attended a radical madrasa, or Islamic school, when he lived in Indonesia.
Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs quickly countered with a statement: "Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian."
The reports about the radical madrasa turned out to be false. But in March 2007, Gibbs amended his previous statement, telling the Los Angeles Times: "Obama has never been a practicing Muslim," the key word being "practicing."
Obama, his Kansas-born mother and Muslim stepfather moved to Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, in 1967, and Obama lived there from ages 6 to 10.
The Times sent a reporter to Jakarta to investigate Obama's childhood years there, and published an article on March 16 that included these details:
* A close boyhood friend of Obama, Zulfin Adi, said Barack "was a Muslim. He went to the mosque." * Obama's first-grade teacher at a Catholic school, Israella Dharmawan, said: "Barry (Barack's nickname) was Muslim. He was registered as a Muslim because his father was Muslim."
* In the third grade, Obama transferred to a public school, where he was also registered as a Muslim. At the school, Muslim students attended weekly religion lessons about Islam.
* In his autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," Obama mentions studying the Koran and describes the public school as "a Muslim school."
More recently, Middle East Forum director Daniel Pipes wrote on FrontPageMag.com that his research led him to conclude that "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 stepfather."
But on Jan. 2, the liberal organization Media Matters for America (MMfA) took issue with Pipes' report, criticized him for relying too heavily on the Times article, which it claimed was "disputed," in an effort to "revive Obama-Muslim falsehood."
Media Matters cited a March 25 article by Kim Baker in the Chicago Tribune that challenged several assertions in the Times story. Barker wrote that boyhood friend Adi "was not certain" about his statements regarding Obama's childhood and that he "only knew Obama for a few months."
The Media Matters Web posting stated: "Additionally, the Tribune reported that 'interviews with dozens of former classmates, teachers, neighbors and friends show that Obama was not a regular practicing Muslim when he was in Indonesia.'"
Media Matters also said that "Pipes did not note that Obama's Indonesian stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, has been described in the Tribune as 'much more of a free spirit than a devout Muslim.'"
Pipes fired back with a FrontPageMag.com article on Jan. 7, titled "Confirmed: Barack Obama Practiced Islam."
Pipes asked if any of the information from the Chicago Tribune article refutes "my analysis, as MMfA contends. It raises questions about two details in the Los Angeles Times account — the accuracy of the Catholic school's registration form and the reliability of Zulfin Adi as a source on Obama. But on the larger issue of Obama's religious practices during his Jakarta years, it confirms the Times account."
Pipes concludes: "Therefore, what MMfA calls the 'Obama-Muslim' falsehood' is in fact confirmed by both articles as truthful and accurate."
And he adds: "All this matters, for if Obama once was a Muslim, he is now what Islamic law calls a murtadd (apostate), an ex-Muslim converted to another religion who must be executed. Were he elected president of the Untied States, this status, clearly, would have large potential implications for his relationship with the Muslim world."
That Constitution was amended to outlaw slavery. Are you recommending that it should now be amended to allow only Christians or Jews to hold office or any position of public trust?
I much prefer Obama's fascist true face, which you can ocassionally glimpse when he is in temporary "Il Duce" mode, when he is in the presence of his political enemies, in this case Hillery Clinton:
How Obama and 1st paternal cousin Odinga Tried to Bring Kenya Under Sharia Law and Failed, The Dose
Nice photo.
Your descriptions are really funny.
I am a Duncan Hunter supporter through and through. He is the best.
Both are facists.
You are just great. I really enjoy your posts.
I think we can all be certain that should he ever get elected and begin turning the US into Zimbabwe West, we’ll all get to see a heck of a lot of that face.
Thank you.
Obummer wants to undo every aspect of the WOT, and fund Sharia law based governments in Africa and eleswhere with US foreign aid, which he will call" Hope and Change Grants for the Third World," in order to inspire the thoughtless legions of Oprah Winfry viewers, whose ignorance constitutes perhaps the most serious threat to the Republic since the McArthy Era.
B Hussain Obama is either a muslim or a atheist/agnostic/secular humanist, either is bad for a America.
Redemption is hard work.Which is why I attempt to invest you with humor and strength. :-) Bless you.
Nope, didn’t forget.
Some months ago it said it wasn’t patriotic to wear it.
Well, I guess more accurately I think he said something like “It doesn’t make you patriotic”
I’m sure someone can correct me correctly...
To a muslim, once a muslim, always a muslim. And they'll kill you if you say different. But they aren't threatening to kill obama are they? Curious, huh?
ROTFLOL
That is Mussolini’s pose isn’t it. How fitting.
Obama has that nice Islamic C on his podium, too.
Yes, I agree. Both fascist. Fascism mixed with islam is an even more deadly mix.
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