One of Barack Obama’s Factcheck web pages is devoted to disclaiming any and all rumors that Obama is Muslim. Obviously it’s critical for a presidential candidate to dispel the kinds of accusations that would negatively impact a campaign. Obama, however, doesn’t stop with quashing rumor — he devotes a tremendous amount of time and effort swinging the religious pendulum hard in the opposite direction. That direction is Christianity, presumably because while being accused of worshipping a single creator god (from one particular origin) is heinous, bragging about worshipping a single creator god (from a different, but related origin) is not only perfectly acceptable, but also a key component required to obtain the U.S. presidency.
Examine the fear-tinged rejections of Islam, on Obama’s web page, compared to the praises of Obama’s fealty to Jesus Christ: (all quotes from the footnoted website; emphasis mine)
Obama Has Never Been A Muslim, And Is a Committed Christian
OBAMA IS NOT AND HAS NEVER BEEN A MUSLIM
Obama Spokesman Robert Gibbs Issued A Statement Explaining That “Senator Obama Has Never Been A Muslim, Was Not Raised As A Muslim, And Is A Committed Christian.” “Obama’s campaign aides have emphasized his strong Christian beliefs and downplayed any Islamic connection. The Illinois senator was raised ‘in a secular household in Indonesia by his stepfather and mother,’ his chief spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said in a statement in January after false reports began circulating that Obama had attended a radical madrasa, or Koranic school, as a child. ‘To be clear, Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ in Chicago,’ Gibbs’ Jan. 24 statement said.” [Los Angeles Times, 3/16/07]
Obama “Beckoning” Felt At Trinity United Church Of Christ, “Submitted Myself To His Will, And Dedicated Myself To Discovering His Truth And Carrying Out His Works.” Obama said, “So one Sunday, I put on one of the few clean jackets I had, and went over to Trinity United Church of Christ on 95th Street on the South Side of Chicago. And I heard Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright deliver a sermon called “The Audacity of Hope.” And during the course of that sermon, he introduced me to someone named Jesus Christ. I learned that my sins could be redeemed. I learned that those things I was too weak to accomplish myself, He would accomplish with me if I placed my trust in Him. And in time, I came to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather as an active, palpable agent in the world and in my own life. It was because of these newfound understandings that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity one day and affirm my Christian faith. It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany. I didn’t fall out in church, as folks sometimes do. The questions I had didn’t magically disappear. The skeptical bent of my mind didn’t suddenly vanish. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side, I felt I heard God’s spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth and carrying out His works.” [Speech, 6/23/07]
Barack Obama Is Not and Has Never Been a Muslim. Obama never prayed in a mosque. He has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ.
HE NEVER ATTENDED A RADICAL MUSLIM SCHOOL
CNN Reporter: I’ve Been to Madrassas in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Obama’s Indonesian Elementary School Is Nothing Like That. On January 22, CNN Reporter John Vause reported, “I came here to Barack Obama’s elementary school in Jakarta, looking for what some are calling an Islamic Madrassa, like the ones that teach hate and violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan.. I’ve been to those Madrassas in Pakistan and Wolf, this school is nothing like that.” [CNN, Situation Room, 1/22/07]
What if he had attended a radical Catholic school? I know a number of Catholics who would argue that their Catholic school and upbringing was radical. Would that exempt him from the presidential race, or would it enhance his chances at winning?
OBAMA IS A PRACTICING CHRISTIAN
Obama Has Been A Member Of Trinity United Church Of Christ For Twenty Years. Monroe Anderson stands up for Reverend Wright’s ministry, “For the past two decades, Barack Obama has been a faithful member of the congregation at Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ.” [Chicago Sun-Times, Monroe Anderson, 3/25/07]
Obama Was Baptized And Attends Church Once a Week When He is Able. In the Audacity of Hope, Obama wrote, “I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ one day and be baptized.” In 2004, he “attend[ed] the 11 a.m. Sunday service at Trinity in the Brainerd neighborhood every week — or at least as many weeks as he is able. His pastor, Wright, has become a close confidant.” When asked about his decision to be baptized, Obama said “Kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side of Chicago, I felt I heard God’s spirit beckoning me,” he said of his walk down the aisle of the Trinity United Church of Christ. “I submitted myself to his will and dedicated myself to discovering his truth.” [Audacity of Hope, p.208, Chicago Sun Times, 4/5/04; AP 6/28/06]
Obama Reads The Bible, Finds Time to Pray On Campaign Trail. The Chicago Sun-Times wrote, “Obama says he reads the Bible, though not as regularly as he’d like, now that he’s on the campaign trail. But he does find time to pray. ‘It’s not formal, me getting on my knees,’ he says. ‘I think I have an ongoing conversation with God… I’m constantly asking myself questions about what I’m doing, why I am doing it.’” [Chicago Sun Times, 4/5/04]
Obama Held His Personal Bible When He Was Sworn-In As A U.S. Senator. “…Even before the makeshift office was up and running in the basement of a Senate building, even before he raised his hand Tuesday to take the oath of office as the junior senator from Illinois, Barack Obama was already a political rock star and a celebrated new face in Congress. He arrived Tuesday, his first official day in the Capitol…. In the circles he runs in now, celebrity status is checked at the cloakroom door…When it was finally time to take the oath, he held his personal Bible, as family from as far away as Kenya watched from the visitors’ gallery above. His daughters, Malia, 6, and Sasha, 3, in velvet dresses and patent leather shoes, bounced in their chairs when he looked up and waved.” [Los Angeles Times, 1/5/05]
Questions, Mr. Obama: What does the Bible actually say? Why do you read it? Why did you hold a bible when you were sworn in? (I thought our government was secular). Why are you using that fact as a positive indicator of your ability to run this country? What does the Bible say about slavery, Mr. Obama? Are you going to have a copy of the “Ten Commandments” placed on display in the White House? Could you make an executive decision that you think goes against “God’s will”? What is God’s will with regard to non-believers? That’s in the Bible, right? Why read the Bible, profess worship for the alleged dictator of that work, and then not actually follow the clear commands within it? Do you, Mr. Obama, know what the punishments for violating the Ten Commandments are? Would you enforce them while holding the presidential office? If not, why devote so much time and energy to show the citizenry of the U.S. that you are a faithful Christian, follower of Jesus, and worshiper of the Christian God, to whom you have “submitted” your “will”?
Ah, here are some answers:
TRINITY TENETS ARE “TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM SCRIPTURE” AND EMPHASIZE “COMMITMENT” TO GOD, COMMUNITY, FAMILY, WORK, SELF-DISCIPLINE AND SELF-RESPECT
Obama Says Black Values System Must Be Understood as a Whole. “Obama said it was important to understand the document as a whole rather than highlight individual tenets. ‘Commitment to God, black community, commitment to the black family, the black work ethic, self-discipline and self-respect,’ he said. ‘Those are values that the conservative movement in particular has suggested are necessary for black advancement…So I would be puzzled that they would object or quibble with the bulk of a document that basically espouses profoundly conservative values of self-reliance and self-help.’” [Chicago Tribune, 2/6/07]
Obama Says Argument Against “Middleclassness” Taken Directly From Scripture. “In his published memoirs, Obama said even he was stopped by Trinity’s tenet to disavow “middleclassness” when he first read it two decades ago in a church pamphlet. The brochure implored upwardly mobile church members not to distance themselves from less fortunate Trinity worshipers. ‘As I read it, at least, it was a very simple argument taken directly from Scripture: ‘To whom much is given much is required,” Obama said. [Chicago Tribune, 2/6/07]
Wait, those aren’t answers. Has anyone asked Senator Obama the kinds of questions I posed? Or even come close? Why does the nation think it’s unimportant to ask such questions? Is it fear of reprisal? Is it that everyone who could possibly ask such questions is prevented from doing so? Where are questions like that in formal debates? Doesn’t the Muslim American community have an interest in asking these questions? What about the Buddhists, the Hindus, the deists, the other Christian sects, the undecided? There’s quite a large chunk of this nation that does not represent a Christian population. Why do we consistently throw softball questions at candidates? Why do we, by default, accept the status quo that “Christian” means “good”? Obama says he’s for change. I believe it, but regarding religion and the way Christianity is put on a pedestal in the United States, I believe he’s for perpetuation.
