Posted on 05/20/2012 9:10:53 AM PDT by yoe
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 http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2007/12/22/4436605-obama-asked-about-connection-to-islam”>(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 4 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. Only Muslim children are named "Hussein".
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 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."
The Catholic school: (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." A blogger who goes by ("An American Expat in Southeast Asia") found that "Barack Hussein Obama was registered under the name 'Barry Soetoro' serial number 203 and entered the Franciscan Asisi Primary School on 1 January 1968 and sat in class 1B. … Barry's religion was listed as Islam."
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. http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/225233(" Haroon Siddiqui) of the Toronto Star visited Besuki, 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.
Koran class: In his autobiography, Dreams of My Father, Obama relates how he got into trouble for making faces during Koranic studies, thereby revealing he was a Muslim, for Indonesian students in his day attended religious classes according to their faith. Indeed, Obama still retains knowledge from that class: Nicholas D. 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]," implicitly acknowledging a Muslim identity. 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.
Apr. 29, 2008 update: This article builds on two prior ones on the matter of Barack Obama and Islam. First, ("Was Barack Obama a Muslim?") considered the implications of his Muslim childhood; second,("Confirmed: Barack Obama Practiced Islam") responded to a critique of the first article. This third one brings the evidence together in a single place.
Aug. 28, 2008 update: For a listing of my research on this topic, see ("Bibliography – My Writings on Barack Obama's Early Years as a Muslim.")
Related Topics: Freethinking & Muslim apostasy, Muslims in the United States, Southeast Asia, US politics RECEIVE THE LATEST BY EMAIL: SUBSCRIBE TO DANIEL PIPES' FREE MAILING LIST This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL.
Help expose the enemy within - NO SECOND TERM FOR OBAMA!!!
Oh, that sweetest sound on earth hearing the Muslim Call to Prayer whilst chewing on a fried hind quarter leg of ‘dog’....mmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmmm...
Zero was a practicing Muslim at least until he left Indonesia and returned to Hawaii.
In fact, I suspect one of the big reasons SAD packed little Barry back to the States was that he was getting a little too involved in activities down at the local Mosque.
And,of course,I also care about "born in Kenya,raised in Indonesia and Hawaii".
And of course he meant his Christian religion, as the host reminded him.
UGH!! He DID say that the Muslim call to prayer was the sweetest sound he ever heard!!! Also he did say he ate dog, so what the hell am I UGH-ing about??
Steffie Stephanopoulos had to remind Hussein that he was a Christian.
How biased can the MSM be?
And don’t forget the “mmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmm,” courtesy of a a bunch of brainwashed school children.....
Barack Obama’s Muslim Childhood (Let the Vetting begin) —
Never, ever, going to happen with today’s media. Just the opposite will happen. Everything that is exposed either will be played down or ignored by the State-run media. The media are with Obama in 2012 — we will be running against Obama and the media in this election.
No THAT is something to UGH about!!!
Keep selling it Dr. Pipes.
Maybe your “uhg-ing” comes from having high cheek bones?
In Barry’s thinking, his mom set him up as a nominal Muslim so now, for convenience, he is a nominal Christian. The truth is Barry never had a dad, or a country. If he had a faith, it was his mother’s Marxism. By now it is an open secret that Barry is a bisexual, contraband drug enthusiast, Marxist slacker.
IIRC, I think I had to put my religious preference on college applications back during the same time period. Wonder if that might be another reason for his sealing his college records up tighter than a drum.
Islam is the foundation of his reality.
Its that foundation that has shaped America’s destiny already. He has made many decisions to further the cause of Islam. That’s why I maintain the raider is the White House Ghazi.
In the meanwhile, the bulk of America is too blind to see.
Better yet she was getting diss by her family for having biracial child could be that too
How does Islam factor into Obama’s love for infanticide and faggotry?
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