19
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 117:
Line 117: + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
→Obama/Muslim Support
:The Muslim community supports their Muslims. MLK just thrown into the mix for his iconic black image. [http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jGXLhxPilGxuVttW5L588O-y4uAAD96LKH200]
:The Muslim community supports their Muslims. MLK just thrown into the mix for his iconic black image. [http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jGXLhxPilGxuVttW5L588O-y4uAAD96LKH200]
That is not evidence for Obama being a Muslim and is a fallacy. I'd like to comment on some of the "premise" for Obama being a Muslim and illustrate some of their inadequacies and logical discrepancies. I would also like to point out, before I begin, that there is no discussion in this section regarding the controversy of these claims or their poor citation including tertiary sources like blogs.
The argument that Obama is a Muslim includes:
* Obama declared in prepared remarks, "The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans. Many other Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim-majority country - I know, because I am one of them."[21] => This is a fallacious argument as it is only taking one side of an ambiguous statement while disregarding his frequent statements to the contrary.
* Obama's background, education, and outlook are Muslim, and fewer than 1% of Muslims convert to Christianity.[22][23] => This also proves nothing as a) none of the listed "Muslim" attributes of the president are expanded on and to state that 'few Muslims convert, and therefore he didn't' is a fallacy. Furthermore, it was not established that he was a Muslim, only that he was exposed to a Muslim community.
* Obama's middle name (Hussein) references Husayn, who was the grandson of Muhammad,[24] which most Christians would not retain.[25] => This statement is pointless guesswork. My friend is Christian yet retains the last name Arulvarathon, does that implicate him as a Hindu? No. This is one of the more absurd "premises."
* Obama recently mentioned his religion as "my Muslim faith."[26] => This does not give proper context to the quotation. I understand a conservative bias to this website but this is borderline propaganda.
* He has said that "Islam can be compatible with the modern world."[27] => I agree with that. To claim this as an argument for the president being a Muslim is a fallacy and does not recognize that other leaders, including the British Prime Minister, have stated the same thing.
* Obama said the Muslim call to prayer is "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset," and recited "with a first-class Arabic accent" the opening lines: Allah is Supreme! ... I witness that there is no god but Allah ...."[28] => This is also a fallacy. Being well versed in something you do not believe is exactly what many atheists attempt to be with regards to scripture.
* Obama stated that the autobiography of Malcolm X, a Nation of Islam leader who became a Muslim, inspired him in his youth.[29] => Malcolm X is widely viewed as a freedom fighter and thus this statement relies upon being ambiguous. Even accepting its ambiguity it is dispelled by Obama's comments that he is a Christian.
* Obama raised nearly $1 million and campaigned for a Kenyan presidential candidate who had a written agreement with Muslim leaders promising to convert Kenya to an Islamic state that bans Christianity.[30] => Once again, a fallacy.
* Obama's claims of conversion to Christianity arose after he became politically ambitious, lacking a date of conversion or baptism.[31] => Proving nothing. It's nothing new for a politician to have sketchy ties to religion or appearing to be religious to win over votes, but it's a far greater leap to then claim the politician is of a specific faith.
* On the campaign trail, Obama was reading "The Post-American World" by Fareed Zakaria,[32] which is written from a Muslim point-of-view.[33] => During high school we read translated logs of Nazi communications to understand the "Nazi Mindset" and outlook. I state this to help show how fallacious this premise is.
* Contrary to Christianity, the Islamic doctrine of taqiyya encourages adherents to deny they are Muslim if it advances the cause of Islam. => By this logic any person can be a Muslim. Furthermore, this does not prove that even if the president lying about his religious views it doesn't show how his lying advances the cause of Islam.
* Obama uses the Muslim Pakistani pronunciation for "Pakistan" rather than the common American one.[34] => As do I. Using the traditional pronunciation for something in order to be as linguistically faithful as possible is not an indication of any attachment to a culture.
* Obama was thoroughly exposed to Christianity as an adult in Chicago prior to attending law school, yet no one at law school saw him display any interest in converting. Obama unabashedly explained how he became "churched" in a 2007 speech: "It's around that time [while working as an organizer for the Developing Communities Project (DCP) of the Calumet Community Religious Conference (CCRC) in Chicago] that some pastors I was working with came around and asked if I was a member of a church. 'If you're organizing churches,' they said, 'it might be helpful if you went to a church once in a while.' And I thought, 'I guess that makes sense.'"[35] => This premise effectively states "he only took interest in becoming Christian when he realized it would be better if he went." Therefore he's Muslim? That's absurd.
* Obama is mentioned as helping to organize the 1995 million man march led by black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan from the Nation of Islam. [36] => I've worked with Muslims before too and I am not Muslim. These statements are getting progressively weaker.
* Obama has chosen the Secret Service code name "Renegade". "Renegade" conventionally describes someone who goes against normal conventions of behavior, but its first usage was to describe someone who has turned from their religion. It is a word derived from the Spanish renegado, meaning "Christian turned Muslim."[37] => This definition changed in the 1660's. Furthermore, why would Obama put little bits of evidence like this? The author of this section seems to view the world as a game.
* Obama enjoyed a bigger increase in voter support in 2008 (compared to 2004) by Muslims than by any other voting group, including blacks;[38] "Muslim turnout in the U.S. elections reached 95 percent, the highest Muslim turnout in U.S. history."[39] => Perhaps it was because he appeared to be the least anti-Muslim of either candidate. Or perhaps because there are more Muslims in the United States than ever before.
* "President-elect Barack Obama has yet to attend [Sunday] church services since winning the White House earlier ..., a departure from the example of his two immediate predecessors."[40][41] => This proves nothing. This is one of the weakest premises yet.
* Obama used his Muslim middle name when sworn in as President.[42][43] => Muslim in Origin but then again my first name is Buddhist. This is as poor as I've seen this website. I honestly hope quality improves in future.
* Obama botched his public oath of office in which he placed his hand on a Bible, then chose not to use the Bible for his real, private oath. => Once again, this is not logical proof for Obama being a Muslim.
President Obama bowing to the King of Saudi Arabia - April 2009 => equally possible that this was merely a sign of respect. Furthermore, why would a devout Muslim bow?
* At the G20 summit in April 2009, Obama bowed deeply to Saudi King Abdullah, a Muslim who is also the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.[44] Never before in the history of the U.S. has a president displayed such shocking deference to a foreign official and Obama has not bowed to any other royal leaders. Obama later stated, "We have to change our behavior in showing the Muslim world greater respect."[45] Obama's spin doctors and left-wing apologists dismissed the obviousness of the bow. One anonymous aide stated, "It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah."[46] However, in video of the incident, Obama's left hand can clearly be seen staying at his side until after he had finished his bow.[47] Additionally, Obama also met with Queen Elizabeth, who is much shorter than King Abdullah, but he did not bow when he shook her hand and neither he nor the queen appeared to have any difficulty.[48] (Many liberals and even a handful of conservatives have proposed that President Bush also bowed before King Abdullah.[49] However, there is a vast, inexorable difference between bending down to receive a medal as Bush did and bowing in deference to a foreign leader as Obama did.) => Besides the obvious bias in "inexorable" this doesn't show anything. It is not proper form for Yeomen to bow to the Queen of England but it is for King Abdullah. This is poor evidence.
* Obama required that a religiously affiliated college take the extraordinary action of concealing with wood the monogram "IHS", which represents the name of Jesus, during a speech by Obama there[50] => This, also, is a poor premise that makes for an illogical conclusion.
Obama tries to downplay his Islamic background by claiming that his Kenyan Muslim father was a "confirmed atheist" before Obama was born, but in fact less than 1% of Kenyans are atheists, agnostics, or non-religious.[51] There is apparently no evidence of any Christian activities or local church participation by Obama while he was in Massachusetts from 1988 to 1991, nor of Barack Obama's joining of a Mosque (The Islamic house of worship) at any time in his life. Finally, Obama abruptly left his radical Christian church in Chicago in 2008, when it became politically controversial, without first finding another church to join. On April 7, 2009, Obama visited a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.[52] => This is absurd. I don't feel the need to explain this.
== I know we lost a week... ==
== I know we lost a week... ==