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."
I’m afraid lemmings will be the death of many of us in the end.
I agree, it should be posted every time.
And processing plese hold answered:
If you have to ask that question Heaven help our country.
To which Boxen replied:
Giggles. You didnt answer my question
My thoughts:
Processing please hold answered the question succinctly with a single sentence.
In this thread, at least, you are trolling.
- John
And yet they support him. I wonder why that is? He is their best hope for advancement of islam here in the US. If they truly believed he set aside his muslim beliefs for Christian, we would be hearing daily about a fatwah against him. However we have not heard that. Don't you wonder why that is?
Preach it brother!
BTT!
My tag line covers that - rop and open borders.
Sister. :)
I believe he's trolling on this thread as well.
Oops. I was afraid of that.
Begging your pardon.
The Crotch Salute by the Muslim Trojan Horse .
I can think of at least 20 reasons not to vote for him, and speculation on whether or not he's a Muslim isn't anywhere on the list.
Forgot the American Flag on his jacket ?
Again.
.
Happens many many times to me. You will not be the last. lol
Didn’t hitler used to stand like that?
Nonsense.
Our Constitution was written by a group of men comprised entirely of Judeo-Christian background, who came from similar cultural and ethnic backgrounds. If I may say, they comprised a VERY non-diverse bunch.
I fully believe that their intent by stating that there could be "no religious test" for the presidency, was based on their assumptions that the presidency would always be occupied by someone from the Christian faiths, or - at the very boundary of their imaginations - by a Jew.
I also daresay that at the time the Constitution was written, none of the founders - NOT A SINGLE ONE - could envision a United States in which a Muslim might someday stand for the office of the presidency, or that the country might someday harbor a growing Islamic population.
I will go further and state that the founders were probably quite aware of the dangers that Islam posed, even then, to the Enlightened West. Seems that I recall reading right here on Free Republic that Thomas Jefferson kept a copy of the quran to further learn about Islamic philosophy.
Islam is more than merely a religion; it is a political system that cloaks itself behind a burqha and thus masquerades as a "religion". As such, we cannot accord to it the same privileges that we automatically grant to other religions. They, at least, do not seek to slaughter, dhimmify or convert everyone who is not one of them.
Who was the Supreme Court Justice who stated that the Constitution was not a suicide pact?
That same Constitution also codified and embodied slavery. Do you still think it is/was correct and should not have been changed in that regard, as well?
- John
If all Muslims are aligned with radical Islam then should we not sever all connections with all Islamic countries in the Middle East, as well as Pakistan and Afganistan?
It should be. That's where we differ. It's of great importance to me.
Then mull over the idea of a possible hidden agenda on his part. What could it hurt?
I’d like to know more about Obama’s father/s, what are their links to Mohamedism? Are, or were they connected to any radical islamic organizations? The answer could be telling. Barak Hussein Obama is renouncing his muslim heritage for political convenience. As much as I detest Hillary, if it had to be between her and Obama, I’d choose her. BTW, Obama’s “Christian” church is prejudiced against whites, and is ominously Africa-centered. How a man with no experience, and a muslim to boot, could ever become a viable candidate for the POTUS in the midst of the world wide war with Islam is beyond my ability to comprehend. It is a sign, imho, that America is in the process of flushing itself down the toilet.
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