Is Barack Obama Muslim?
filed in christianity, friends, politics, seattle on Jul.02, 2007
As I was enjoying the sound of Kelly’s voice in the other room as she talked on the phone with a friend… I heard the subject of politics come up. This surprised me a bit due to the fact that she generally doesn’t talk politics all that much. All of sudden she walked downstairs and said… “Is Barack Obama Muslim?”
I said “No, he is a defiantly a Christian, where did you come up with that?” Her friend’s Grandpa had told her that he was Muslim.
Do we live in a country where even though there is 40 minute video called ‘Reconciling Faith and Politics’ on http://www.barackobama.com we can get issues so confused? Are we that uninformed? Am I uninformed?
This is a testament to the importance of pursuing and living in a diverse community. A place that challenges your thoughts and convictions. A place where tough issues can be discussed as respectful adults.
I feel like I am in that place… though I often take all the knowledge and thought around me for granted. I am known to be quite hard-headed, but I am learning a lot about tough ‘gray’ issues and a lot about myself.
For example… even though I haven’t been able to formulate my thoughts just yet, there is an interesting debate going on at my pastors blog regarding the “Gay Conversation“.
What are you thoughts people? Are we uninformed? If so… why?
July 3rd, 2007 on 8:01 am
A lot of people with strong anti-Muslim prejudice are predisposed to see him as one, and the right-wingers have made a special point of suggesting that he is. I know he’s been called a Muslim on Fox News at least once, and the error was never corrected. I’ve even seen some crazies suggesting that he’s had “terrorist instruction”. This is the political climate we live in today.
I’ll bet if you took a poll, a good 30% of Americans would say “Muslim”.
July 3rd, 2007 on 9:43 am
In an ideal world, it should not matter what a public servant’s faith is. He/She should be judged on character and the quality of service they give to their community. I personally have no problem with a public figure’s faith so long as they do not use their power to force their beliefs, ideology, or mythology upon me-or use it to dictate policy.
That said, I believe that the majority of people are no uninformed but rather misinformed. A recent poll revealed that over 30% of people still believe that Iraq was directly involved with the Sept. 11 attacks, which has been proven wrong by the 9/11 commission and countless other scholars.
The Obama issue is simply another case of misinformation spread by our mass media outlets. I point my finger at FOX news for this one, but other outlets are guilty of the same types of misinformation. They all claim to be fair objective and balanced but you are kidding yourself if you believe that they do not come to their collective tables without an agenda of some sort. I rarely watch the news on TV because it really only serves to get ratings and sell ads to generate revenue.
That reason is also why even thought I studied Radio/TV production in college, I became jaded and completely disenfranchised by the industry I wanted to work in-I worked for a NBC affiliate in Boise Idaho. Everything was about what they could do to raise their ratings and cultivate more revenue.
I was wearing my Obama ‘08 shirt out in Old Town here in Albuquerque and was in a gift shop. The owner was behind the counter and told me I was a fool for supporting a Muslim to run our country. I was taken aback by his statement and told him that he had to have heard that on FOX and he said yes, and asked me how I knew and I told him that FOX was the only one that seemed to hold this knowledge. That it had been debunked by other outlets and Obama himself and that if he had cared to research the facts before opening his mouth, he would not seemed so foolish. I also left fuming and angry with the realization that while we have come a long way with regards to civil rights, etc., we have a long long long way to go.
July 29th, 2007 on 11:29 pm
randy… no doubt, i can definitely identify with pieces of your post… i’m trying to mentally picture walking through an old town in new mexico trotting around in an obama 08′ shirt… kind of makes me chuckle inside… but it’s becuase i’ve met ignorant people like that.