American Muslims Object to Obama
Increasingly more American Muslims are objecting to the way in which the Barack Obama campaign is trying to defend itself against ‘rumors’ that Obama is a traitor Muslim (one gets the impression that being a Muslim is consider to be as bad as being a traitor these days). Quite some American Muslim leaders now complain that Obama’s campaign gives people the impression that there’s something wrong with being Muslim.
For instance, Barack Obama says that the notion that he is a Muslim is “a smear.” Now, that might sound logical to people who consider such a thing to be an insult, or wrong, etc., but to someone who considers people of all religions to be equals, saying that the ‘Muslim rumor’ is a smear is ridiculous. It implies, as the author of the article suggests, that there’s something inherently wrong with being Muslim. It’s like a new kind of racial slur.
As the article says: ‘While Muslim leaders understand the campaign’s responsibility to counter misinformation, they say the classification of being Muslim as a ‘’smear” goes too far.’
Altaf Ali, executive director of the South Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations - not exactly the most positive organization in the world - said: “Since 9/11, our community has been portrayed as inherently evil, and what Obama is doing is adding to the negative stereotype. His message is about change, and he has to appeal to every minority group.”
Even though I have little to no respect for CAIR, it has to be said that Ali is right about this one. Obama’s campaign is giving many people, including myself, that there’s seemingly something bad about being Muslim. This while Islam is the second largest religion in the world.
Saif Ishoof, president of the Center for Voter Advocacy, a nonpartisan group that educates Muslims about the political process said that Obama’s not the only one doing this; John McCain is doing the same thing. Why? Because McCain sometimes refers to terrorists as “Islamic terrorists.”
Ishoof explained that this is insulting to Muslims because 99% do not agree with Bin Laden’s views, etc.
I think that this complaint is ill-considered. Firstly, far more than 1% of Muslims worldwide, I am afraid to say, agree with Islamists / terrorists. Far, far more even. Secondly, and quite importantly as well, these people are ‘Islamic’ terrorists. They consider themselves to be Muslims, and they kill in the name of Islam. The way to deal with this is not to deny it, but it’s to argue that they are wrong; wrong about Islam, wrong about Jihad, wrong about terrorism, wrong about Mohammed, wrong about God.
But the general complaint of American Muslims still stands; Muslims are increasingly marginalized in the United States.
Obama in this case is really damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t.I agree that being a Muslim shouldn’t be considered a smear, but it is. Just the words "accused of being a Muslim" implies wrongdoing. No one is accused of being an Episcopalian. Obama is right that people are trying to smear him because, as sad as it is, being a Muslim, like being an atheist, is considered a smear in American politics. A vast number of people will consider your values instantly in question if you are a non-Christian. Disgusting but nonetheless true.
Now, I agree that Obama COULD have done this differently, by having said "No I’m not Muslim, would there be a problem if I was?". It would certainly be brave, but of course it wouldn’t protect him as well as his current strategy does. The next instant his Islamophobic opponents would be talking about "Obama’s strong defense of Islam" or "Obama sympathizes with Muslims" etc. The fact that despite his stronger denials certain
uneducated idiotslow information voters STILL think he might be a Muslim is proof enough that he can’t really afford the proper nuance here.I would have admired him more if he had taken the braver stance, but I understand why he didn’t.
Fear is a strong factor in all of this. Claudia is right. If Obama indicates enough sympathy for Muslim issues, you can bet that Republicans will attack him on it. He’ll be called weak on terrorism by some, a terrorist sympathizer by others. I don’t say it’s right, but it is what would happen.
Claudia says it best. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t.
Actually I disagree with the damned if he does damned if he doesn’t part. Those people who suspected him for being Muslim and who associate Muslims with terrorists would never vote for him anyway.
In my opinion, the reason why he gives his "accusers" more ammunition is the fact that while denying being a Muslim, Obama has also denied ANY association with Islam or ever having been a Muslim. The sad part is that he cannot factually deny that. Because as a kid, he did attend some type of a seminary or been subject to conversations where Islam was probably a main theme. He grew up in Indonesia, and his stepfather was a Muslim as well as his birth father. People say he never attended a mosque to pray as a child, for instance, but he was nevertheless "exposed" one way or another. Thus the phrase "Obama was never raised as a Muslim" part is considered a lie by his "accusers", and I’m sorry to say that I agree with that.
So in denying ever having been a Muslim or having been associated with Islam, he has actually given a good reason to his "accusers" to say that he is lying. This all makes it "fair game", and the campaign may no longer use the race card or the bigotry or victim card in relation to this because the campaign itself has treated being Muslim as a "smear".
Of course claiming to be a "zionist" while having had close assocations with people like Samantha Power, Robert Malley, Zbignev Brzezinski et al does appear inconsistent if not purposefully malicious and deceptive. Add to that the close Palestinian friend, Farrakhan support, Hamas endorsement, the famous "God damn America" pastor and you DO get a picture of a guy who is really hiding his true identity as a Muslim while applying for the top job of the United States of America.
On another note, unfortunately the term Islamic terror is correct even though I don’t like it and if 99% of Muslims are strictly against Islamic terror, then we should be hearing more from them. There happens to be some sympathy towards terrorists, more for Hamas and Hezbollah and a lot less for Al Qaeda and unfortunately a lot of non-Muslims also happen to be among sympathizers. There are a lot of "liberals" - liberal Americans or Europeans who do believe that terrorism is justified one way or another because it’s a response to the terrorism committed by the West, and specifically the U.S.
It’s the famous Reverend Wright "chickens coming home to roost" line of thought that may have a basis as a matter of fact - but NOT as a justification or excuse for the terrorists’ activities, and I believe there’s a lot of confusion about that. And even if chickens did come home to roost for instance as a result of U.S. foreign policy to control Middle Eastern oil, etc., that shouldn’t mean that terrorists should NOW be negotiated via doing Kumbaya or talking without preconditions.
I remember NYT did have an article about this issue addressing Obama both to call upon his "accusers" for their bigotry AND to use this opportunity to address moderate Muslims out there to condemn terrorism done in the name of Islam (let’s not use "Islamic terrorism") more strongly.
And he has done neither. Which is why truly moderate Muslims who are against terrorism continue to be smeared and defamed both by Obama’s "accusers" and by Obama himself.
I agree with Selin when it comes to the "damned if he does, damned if he does not." What I think he’s trying to do here is to use the anti-Islam sentiment in the US to his advantage. He’s not afraid that people will think he’s Muslim (the ones who believe it now will not stop believing it, the ones who don’t believe it will never), he’s afraid that people think that he’s sympathetic / not dismissive of Islam. Why? Because that’s the politically wise thing to do. It’s opportunism, nothing else.
As for Obama being raised a Muslim; with this too I agree. I don’t find it an issue as such, but it’s perfectly clear to me - as it surely is to everyone who knows a bit about Islam - that he was probably raised as one during his first few years; at least to a degree (certain ceremonies, knowledge, learning the five pillars, possibly even knowing how to pray, but that’s not necessarily the case). Little things, but still.
Having said that, I don’t think that to be an issue. No, what matters is the way he talks about Islam and Muslims now. Not whether he was raised as a Muslim during the first couple of years of his life.
He never attended a seminary. This is a claim by those who want to call him Muslim that was throughly discredited. You can see the video here. He went to a public school for the few years he lived in Indonesia. It was not Muslim, though some of the attending children were of course. His birth father was an agnostic. His step-father, with whom Obama only shared a small part of his childhood, is described as "nominally Muslim" and his household was not a religious one. His mother was basically a disaffected Christian (I guess it wouldn’t be a stretch to call her "nominally Christian").
Obama might, in early childhood, have learned at least a little about Islam through the culture and his friends, the same way I as an atheist learned about Christianity, but there is no indication whatsoever that he at any point in his life was educated as a Muslim.
Again, even if he HAD been educated as a Muslim, there should be no problem with that. Even if he were a Muslim today, there should be no problem with that, but there is no evidence that either thing is true.
What difference does his mothers faith have to do with anything
? She didn’t raise him. I want to know his "white" grandmothers religion? She raised him. Talk about a disfunctional family. Now he’s raising racist kids. I wonder if his kids love their white great-grandmother?
Even if Obama went to a state school in Indonesia, it did include lessons on religion. He was listed as Muslim there, and occasionally went to mosque with friends. So I’d say he was at least a "cultural Muslim" in his childhood. Back in the US, he didn’t care much about religion. I am not sure whether his adoption of Christianity was because he liked JeremiahWright and his teachings. Maybe he just did it because he knew it would help his career.
Gotta love those "low information" voters. But KansasGirl, wasn’t he born in Africa? Maybe he’s an animist! Yeah, that’s the ticket, an African Muslim Intolerant Christian with racist kids! Just look at Malia and Sasha, you can see the hate burning in their eyes!
Gawd…
Source please
Re: "Source please"
Claudia, it’s common knowledge. I should say ‘almost’; it was on mainstream TV a couple of times. But the thing is, the school officials who verified his being listed as muslim in their records also explained that such was a pretty common practice. His father (step) was Muslim; so the kid was Muslim for all practical purposes they were concerned with. (And these practical purposes are most probably as innocuous as having to write something in a blank field on a form.)
I’ve seen a lot of people use this reasoning for him doing it; that he’s only a Christian out of convenience. Yet, this doesn’t make much sense. Seeing as how he was still a community organizer and just entering Harvard Law at about the same time as starting with the UCC, this explanation doesn’t wash.
Why he can’t be a Christian because he truly means it?
Why he can’t be a Christian because he truly means it?
Because some Christians don’t like it.
Maybe I should be more clear about what "exposure" means. For all practical and social purposes, U.S. is a Christian country. There is a tremendous exposure to a lot of Christian things, the least of which is Chrismas. But curiously, atheists who grew up with exposure to Christianity don’t seem to notice it, because it’s such a vital part of the social fabric that the influence is ignored. You need to belong to a different religion to realize how "Christian" America is. Same is true for Europe - the entire continent.
Now, given a fair amount of Christian exposure even in the U.S., should I go on to explain how one gets "exposed" to religion in a Muslim country? In all Muslim countries, religion course is mandatory for children and yes you do learn to recite prayers. This is the least of the "exposure", though.
I grew up in Turkey which is the LEAST, least, least "Muslim" country AND my family was pretty much atheist. And I cannot, in good conscience, deny exposure to Islam during my childhood. If I did, I would be lying. And I will NOT accept somebody who grew up in Indonesia, of all places, to swim in denial of that fact and get away with it. Even if it’s for a few years.
If it supposedly makes no difference whatsoever whether he is Muslim or had Muslim exposure or what not, why do people work SO hard to dispel the slightest "accusation" of any relationship or exposure to Islam? If I were an Obama supporter, I would just accept the social or even mandatory "exposure" and further hope that such things could be used by my Messiah to increase interfaith dialogue.
However, an Obama supporter I’m not. And if Obama is trying to "wash" himself from these "Muslim" smears, then I’ll do my best to try to pull him back to the "mud" his fellow Muslim brothers and sisters find themselves in. Sorry. No cleansing allowed. I’ll embrace my "Muslim" brother Obama with all the mud splattered over my body. That should be a fair price to pay for trying to avoid the smears by smearing the smeared :)))
In all Muslim countries, religion course is mandatory for children and yes you do learn to recite prayers.
And that’s wretchedness of it all. I guess I was lucky in that, at my time (in Turkey), religion courses were once optional, then obligatory, then optional again, but nobody made us recite nothing.
"Sorry. No cleansing allowed. I’ll embrace my "Muslim" brother Obama with all the mud splattered over my body. That should be a fair price to pay for trying to avoid the smears by smearing the smeared :)))"
I’m with you all the way sister!
"I remember NYT did have an article about this issue addressing Obama both to call upon his "accusers" for their bigotry AND to use this opportunity to address moderate Muslims out there to condemn terrorism done in the name of Islam (let’s not use "Islamic terrorism") more strongly."
This, ironically, would have been in keeping with his theme of "Change."
"And he has done neither."
Which is why he’s probably just another maniacal egomaniac narcissist like every other person who wants to become President of the U.S. Is there any more thankless job in the world?
I do not understand one thing, why being a Muslim is any different than being Christian or Jew or atheist as a matter of fact. Why name of Islam is trying to be associated with terrorism and terrorists all around the world when indeed these do not represent Islam at all and when indeed guns to these terrorists are provided elsewhere. Yes I agree ”Non-terrorist Muslims” are poor in getting their voices heard but is this enough to label Islam or Muslims as terrorists? Why aren’t Muslims then trying to label US diplomats as terrorists because they cause a lot of innocents’ deaths during their invasion of Iraq to control Middle East oil. I totally disagree with the idea of sympthazing terrorists because this is indeed a response to western world politics. There is no excuse what so ever for killing innocent people and this can never be associated with jihad. The people that are trying to do this in the name of jihad are in total denial and I agree this is the part that shoud be stressed more. I was born in Turkey, I grew up in Turkey as a Muslim, I am still living in Turkey as a Muslim and I can say that although religion was a mandatory course in my time, I was never put pressure on aything about religion as calculus being a mandatory course in first year of college did not make me a mathematician. I am proud of being a Muslim and if Obama was exposed to any Islamic education when he was young (I can not say he had not been or he had been since I did not make any research about it) and now him being ‘accused’ for only even not being a Muslim but having been exposed to Islamic educations makes him ashamed, I feel sorry for him.