ABC News’ Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller report: The other day we heard a comment from a White House aide that never would have been uttered during the primaries or general election
campaign.
During a conference call in preparation for President Obama’s trip to Cairo, Egypt, where he will address the Muslim world, deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Denis McDonough said “the President himself experienced Islam on three continents before he was able to — or before he’s been able to visit, really, the heart of the Islamic world — you know, growing up in Indonesia, having a
Muslim father — obviously Muslim Americans (are) a key part of Illinois and Chicago.”
And considered a traitor to Islam by militant extremists who see him as turning his back on a Muslim faith due to having a Muslim father.
We all need to pray for his safety while he is in the Middle East.
Jim Elliott
Florida
Jim, I hear what you are saying, but frankly, I pray daily for the safety of this country, as our founders put it together.
Nuff said
I don’t understand what Capt. Warren is saying.
Cap,
Two words:
President Biden
Nuff said, except, pray for the safety of President Obama.
[blockquote]I don’t understand what Capt. Warren is saying. [/blockquote]
Neither do I.
I think I do, but I don’t dare put into words someone else’s thoughts, in case I am waaaay off base.
Oh, dear. Trying to be diplomatic and in so doing taking a pratfall.
His (non-practising anyway) Muslim father left him when he was a baby. What’s he to do with this?
[url=http://sergesblog.blogspot.com/]High-church libertarian curmudgeon[/url]
It seems to me that he either fudged about his “Muslim Roots” in order to help win the election, or he’s overstating them for some political purpose pertaining to the Middle East. Either way, it lacks integrity.
Shumanbean, the article says that Denis McDonough made the connection to his Muslim father. I’m not sure where you found Obama is overstating the claim of fudging. Is there more to this article than what the link took us to?
*or fudging
From the article:[blockquote]In his April 6 address to the Turkish Parliament, President Obama referenced how many “Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim majority country. I know, because I am one of them.”[/blockquote]The article also details the efforts which were made during the campaign to downplay these connections.
He is not Muslim, and no rational American can think he is. However, in addition to his birth father who left him, he lived for four years in Indonesia in the household of his Muslim stepfather and very occasionally attended mosque prayers with him. Islam is more than Friday prayers at the mosque, however. It’s an all-encompassing thought and behavior system, and he would indeed have found it very different in Hawaii when he was sent back there. He also went to Pakistan and Kenya when he was a young man.
I think, though, that it’s different to live in a Muslim environment as an adult. He may have an imperfect vision of Islam — and of Christianity, for that matter, since a recent article posted here highlights an unorthodox Christian viewpoint. Both of these systems are different for those who live them with belief than they are for those who have a surface cultural acquaintance with them.
Nevertheless, the media did not go into this during the election.
Br. Michael is right. Any critical examination of Obama was off-limits as far as the MSM was concerned.
As to young fogey’s comments, to an Islamic extremist, what matters is that he had a MUSLIM father, and that was enough to make him an apostate now, since he REJECTED the religion of his father (non-practicing is not important there) by not becoming a practicing Muslim.
Katherine — Will you be able to watch his speech in person? I understand he’ll be in your “neck-of-the-woods” soon. The visit should open up some interesting conversations with your neighbors about Christian-vs-Western values.
Oh, heavens no, stevejax. They won’t let me within miles of him. My husband arrived home from work half an hour ago with the news that all of Cairo is being shut down tomorrow — businesses, roads, all closed from midnight on. We’re near the airport. I will, assuming I can get there, spend the morning with an international group of women I see weekly. The conversation could be interesting. They get all their American news via CNN, the BBC, etc. The Muslim women in the group are moderates; the women with their faces covered aren’t allowed to associate with unbelievers. We do have two with headscarves.
#11 A rational American may certainly wonder whether Mr. Obama is a Muslim.
He was born one, in the eyes of Islam. He was declared one, for whatever reason, when enrolled in school in Indonesia, and underwent a degree of instruction. He apparently did not follow any religious tradition in Hawaii. In Chicago, he joined a church that did not require Muslims to renounce Islam. He has never volunteered the information one would need to determine his formal religious adherence. We do not know when, or whether, he was baptized. If he was not, he remains technically Muslim, whatever his intellectual positions may be.
Several of Mr. Obama’s references to Islam indicate a relationship closer than that of a Muslim by accident, certainly not indicative of someone who has decided to renounce that faith entirely.
I would venture that he is a syncretist universalist who has a respect for, and sentimental attachment to, aspects of Islam and who is a marginal adherent of a loosely Christian tradition.
#16, “I would venture that he is a syncretist universalist who has a respect for, and sentimental attachment to, aspects of Islam and who is a marginal adherent of a loosely Christian tradition. ” I agree. Which means, in American terms (not radical Islamic terms), he’s not Muslim. I think he has a sanitized and romantic vision of Islam which is not the real thing at all. Many Americans do.
Occasional Reader,
I apologize that I don’t have a link, but a British author pointed out that during the election, Pres. Obama downplayed his relationship to Islam through his father, while stressing his Christian background. If you’ll recall, the mere use of his middle name, Hussein, could be cause for strident reaction. That same author pointed out that the use of his middle name is now quite acceptable, as Pres. Obama seeks closer ties with Muslims in the Middle East. Since Pres. Obama emphasized the disconnection during the campaign, if he is making/allowing a connection now, even for a good cause, it lacks integrity, IMO.
Paging David Wilkinson to help us sort it out….
#17 “Which means, in American terms (not radical Islamic terms), he’s not Muslim.”
Perhaps. But Catholics with just about the same adherence to their Church are routinely called “Catholic” by the media and in common parlance. I suspect large numbers of American self-identifying “Muslims” are pretty tenuously connected to their religion — that was true of many of my students.
You may also want to [url=”http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/3665171/a-statement-or-an-aspiration.thtml”]check this out[/url]
I ment to say “paging John Wilkins” sorry senior monemt
JGeorge, that is interesting, sort of like campaigning in all 57 states?
Oh, Thanks, Dave B. I googled the other name and came up with somebody who deals with ambiguity, and it seemed to fit.
#20, austin, your students considered themselves Muslim, even though they didn’t pray, fast, etc. Non-practicing Catholics will identify themselves as Catholic even though they haven’t been to mass in years. Obama not only doesn’t practice Islam, but he doesn’t identify himself as Muslim. He says he’s some kind of Christian.
True enough. But my students had no compelling political reason to lie.