Campaign Now Says Barak Hussein Obama Never a Practicing Muslim Despite Claims of Childhood Friends and Teachers
In a statement to The Times on Wednesday, March 14, the campaign offered this statement: "Obama has never been a practicing Muslim. The statement added that as a child, Obama had spent time in the neighborhood's Islamic center. This is a departure from the earlier statement made by the Obama campaign on January 24. "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.
In Senator Obama's two books, "Dreams From My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope," he wrote that he spent two years in a Muslim school and another two years in a Catholic school while living in Indonesia from age 6 to 10. Islam is Indonesia's dominant religion. Approximately 88% of the population of Indonesia is Muslim, making it the most populous Muslim-majority nation in the world. Indonesia has seen a dramatic rise in radical Islam in recent years.
Today, the LA Times reports that a childhood friend of Obama's claims that he did attend Friday prayers at the mosque--
The childhood friends say Obama sometimes went to Friday prayers at the local mosque. "We prayed but not really seriously, just following actions done by older people in the mosque. But as kids, we loved to meet our friends and went to the mosque together and played, said Zulfin Adi, who describes himself as among Obama's closest childhood friends.
"His mother often went to the church, but Barry was Muslim. He went to the mosque," Adi said. "I remember him wearing a sarong.
Additionally, the LA Times recounts statements made by Barak Obama's third- and fourth-grade teacher--
"At that time, Barry was also praying in a Catholic way, but Barry was Muslim," Dharmawan said in Obama's old classroom, where she still teaches 39 years later. "He was registered as a Muslim because his father, Lolo Soetoro, was Muslim."
The Times additionally reports that Obama was a registered Muslim and attended weekly religious instruction on the Koran, the Muslim holy book--
Bugs have eaten Obama's file in the [middle] school's archive, said Vice Principal Hardi Priyono. But two of his teachers, former Vice Principal Tine Hahiyari and third-grade teacher Effendi, said they remember clearly that at this school too, he was registered as a Muslim, which determined what class he attended during weekly religion lessons.
In three months Barrack's campaign has gone from describing the U.S. presidential hopeful as never having been a Muslim and never having been raised as a Muslim to now having never having been a practicing Muslim.
What's with the semantics? Statements from Obama's campaign appear to have evolved, to say the least. While Barak's campaign states that the senator is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ in Chicago, from what friends and teachers say, it appears that for some time as a child, Senator Barack Hussein Obama identified himself as a Muslim, studying the Koran in a Muslim school and praying to Allah on Fridays at the local mosque.
Sources:
CNN debunks false report about Obama, CNN, , January 23, 2007, http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/22/obama.madrassa/
As a child, Obama crossed a cultural divide in Indonesia, LA Times, March 15, 2007, http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-obama15mar15,0,5315525,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Islam in Indonesia, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Indonesia
Published by Kimberly West
biography here View profile
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9 Comments
Post a CommentThank you for your contribution Kanye "Kimberly" West.
Next time--try and distance your radical roots.
I'm all for religious freedom but am against a religion that would change my freedom to choose. I would like the truth from candidates but I don't think that will happen.
I am surprised to learn that Barack Obama was a muslim atleast when he was young. America is changing and it should change for the good of all mankind. I understand the views of some americans on the muslims. i remember also how the mwest looked at ussr and now Russia and china. Capitalism looks for an excuse to make bad business be it arms sale or taking your oil away. This trend of america has to change. Obama is now a devoted Christian. I know from my own experience that a convert is more devote than aborn. I even suspect Obama to probably reject if not hate the Muslims IF he really was a muslim. I am dissapointed that some americans still do not trust their own good citizens. why did Hitler killed all those Jews? Why did Bush took America to all this nasty, messy ugly situation? I see Obama as a very Brilliant and able man that loves his country and all his people; blacks, whites, latinos... I saw in the Economist magazine of February 16th that the race bar should be raised high or
I am not excited to hand over the most important job in the United States to a man who was raised by a hater of Christianity. I realize he cannot be blamed for how his parents decided to raise him but it does throw up a few RED flags that I need to consider and be a little more cautious instead of fearing I may offend someone for my view. I have not yet decided who I will vote for and it still may be Barak but I will look a little closer at his life because there are some rather disturbing facts about his life that we need to look at. The last thing I want to do is hold hands with the devil and not know it. Hitler claimed to be a Christian you know.
I'm more scared of corrupt politicians, war mongering corporations and right wing (pretend) Christians than I am of Muslims. When they are not busy advocating killing the planet, subverting the democratic process, attacking civil liberties, torturing people and other various activities designed to squash real human enlightenment, they seem to find a lot of time to use their scare tactics to hold the people down. That they would stoop to this level is not surprising to me at all. The corrupt politicians and corporations that have hijacked the religious vote don't really care about anything but their selves and their own selfish agendas. If you want to get inside these peoples heads take 5 minutes to listen to the crap that comes out of their mouths on the right wing radio shows. I was listening to a host the other day that claimed that he had 30 million regular listeners of his show and was absolutely floored by his non stop tirade of the angriest, intolerant hate speech I think I hav
Learn about the life and political career of Barack Hussein Obama. Facts that the radical left/media covers up: http://www.freedomsenemies.com/_more/obama.ht...
That they are going to this extent, this early to discredit him says that they know he has a real chance to win. The American people are (finally) sick of "old school" politics and want a change. Obama in 08!!!!!
I'm with you Scott. Our country's too afraid to elect leadership to someone other than an old fashioned, god-fearin white man. Which is a shame because now more than ever do we need change. Change is progress, and electing Barack Obama (despite his name and god forbid religion) as the President of the United States in '08 would be the most progress this country has made in say, oh, seven going on eight years.
Talk about religious freedom. Our country will never elect Obama if he appears Muslim. I hate the semantic lying, but I see why he's doing it.