Difference between revisions of "Obama's Religion"

Revision as of 21:00, January 3, 2013

Then-Senator Obama wearing traditional African garb, a gift from his hosts while visiting Kenya^[1]

While there is a strong political incentive for Obama to claim to be a Christian, as he has done whenever discussing his religion, and churches he has attended can support this ^[2] there is some doubt as to whether this is true, so this page will list all the reasons for this doubt, and will hopefully clarify matters from a conservative perspective:

• After getting the oath of inauguration wording wrong in his public ceremony, a later informal ceremony took place in the Oval Office to rectify the error, and there is considerable doubt he was sworn in using a Bible, but that is not required for the ceremony^[3], and for the first ceremony, Obama requested to use the Lincoln Bible. ^[4][5]
• 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."^[6] Obama is referring to his childhood residence in Indonesia, a Muslim-majority country. However, this could merely only be a reference to how he once had residence in that nation for a brief interval.
• In prepared remarks in April 2012, Obama referred to Jesus as "a" Son of God rather than as "the" Son of God: "And for me, and I’m sure for some of you, it’s also a chance to remember the tremendous sacrifice that led up to that day, and all that Christ endured—not just as a Son of God, but as a human being."^[7] It seems rather strange he would refer to Jesus "a" Son Of God instead of "the Son of God" as is the proper Christian reference, but this may have been a semantic error.
• Obama's wife Michelle does not accompany him to Muslim nations because Sharia law would apply to her there; on a presidential trip she was with him until France, but then returned home.^{[Citation Needed]}
• Obama's background and outlook are Muslim, and fewer than 1% of Muslims convert to Christianity.^[8][9] Although Obama attended a Catholic school while in Indonesia, he was a part of the Muslim society there.^[10]
• Obama's middle name (Hussein) references Husayn, who was the grandson of Muhammad,^[11][12] Only after Obama became politically ambitious did he declare himself to be a Christian, yet he never replaced his Muslim name "Hussein" with a Christian one as some do when they undergo a religious conversion. For example, when the Italian journalist Magdi Allam recently converted to Christianity, he took a new name: "Cristiano".^[13] When Saul became a Christian, he changed his name to "Paul"; when the famous boxer Cassius Clay converted to Islam, he took the Muslim name of Muhammad Ali. "It is common for those converting to a new religion to change their name on conversion"^[14] or adopt a Christian name at baptism.^[15]. Obama also used his middle name when sworn in as President. However, even if he were actually a Muslim, he would not necessarily have to change his name according to Muslim tradition. ^[16]
• He has said that "Islam can be compatible with the modern world."^[17]
• 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 ...."^[18] It should be noted that "Allah" means "God" (as in the one venerated by Jews, Christians, and Muslims) in Arabic, so this would not a heretical statement in a Christian context.
• Obama stated that the autobiography of Malcolm X, a Nation of Islam leader who became a Muslim, inspired him in his youth.^[19]
• Obama's claims of conversion to Christianity arose after he became politically ambitious, lacking a date of conversion or baptism.^[20]
• In the book Obama,"Renegade" his friends say that "he actually really wasn't much of a churchgoer." ^[21]
• On the campaign trail, Obama was reading "The Post-American World" by Fareed Zakaria,^[22] which is written by a Muslim author.^[23]
• Obama uses the Muslim Pakistani pronunciation for "Pakistan" rather than the common American one.^[24] This may be just semantic preference.
• Obama favors Pakistan, a Muslim nation, in its conflicts with India, a mostly Hindu nation.^[25]
• 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.'"^[26]

"I really endorse and support the policies that he has adopted,"
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said of President Barack Obama
as reported by the
Washington Post.^[27]

• Obama is mentioned as helping to organize the 1995 Million Man March led by black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan from the Nation of Islam. ^[28]
• 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, which originally meant "Christian turned Muslim."^[29] It should also be noted many Secret Service codenames and the way way they are chosen harken back to the way things were done by the Secret Service before communication were secured, so this is likely coincidence.
• "Muslim turnout in the U.S. elections reached 95 percent, the highest Muslim turnout in U.S. history."^[30]
• "President-elect Barack Hussein Obama has yet to attend [Sunday] church services since winning the White House earlier ..., a departure from the example of his two immediate predecessors."^[31][32] Liberal sources claim that this is due to security concerns. However, in general, Presidents rarely attend weekly church services while in office.^[33]
• At the G-20 summit in April 2009, Obama bowed deeply to Saudi King Abdullah, a Muslim who is also the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.^[34]
  

  President Obama bowing to the King of Saudi Arabia - April 2009
  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."^[35] 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."^[36] 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.^[37] 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.^[38] (Many liberals and even a handful of conservatives have proposed that President Bush also bowed before King Abdullah.^[39] 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.)
• On more than one occasion, Obama verbally attacks the economic livelihood of Las Vegas for unknown reasons, and Obama has also criticized state lotteries despite being heavily favored by most Democrats. The reason may be that gambling is forbidden in the Koran ^[40] and frowned upon by many Protestant denominations.^[41]
• In 2012, Obama participated in a $40,000 per plate fundraiser on Holy Thursday, which many devout Christians would find to be inappropriate.
• On September 25, 2012, in his address to United Nations General Assembly, Obama said that "The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam."^[42]In fairness, this line was is taken out of context by Fox News^[43] whose article covering the speech omitted his very next sentence: But to be credible, those who condemn that slander must also condemn the hate we see in the images of Jesus Christ that are desecrated, or churches that are destroyed, or the Holocaust that is denied.

See Also

• Muslim agenda of the Obama administration

References