Obama the self-hating Muslim
One day, Barack Osam ... er, Obama, is a madrassa-educated closet Muslim whose outward Christian faith is merely overcompensation. Next thing you know, the Democratic presidential candidate is hurting Muslims by being seen at every kind of worship house but a mosque.
Some of the recent criticisms of Obama are more fair than others; take the Times Op-Ed today by Salam Al-Marayati and Rabbi Steven B. Jacobs, which rakes both John McCain and Obama over the coals for alienating Muslims in their rush to draw support from Jewish groups:
Just one day after Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton dropped out of the Democratic race, Sen. Barack Obama rushed to receive the blessing of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Last week, his campaign volunteers rushed to remove Muslim women wearing head scarves from a Detroit rally. Though Obama apologized, Muslims felt stung by a candidate supposedly running on a platform of inclusion and change.
But the snubs aren't limited to Obama. Sen. John McCain recently dismissed a Muslim American businessman from an important campaign committee. In March, McCain visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem but made no similar visit to the adjacent Muslim holy site, the Dome of the Rock. And although both candidates have made frequent stops at churches and synagogues, neither has made a campaign stop at a mosque.
Some pundits, however, spare the rod on McCain. In the New York Times today, columnist Roger Cohen employs the "campaign stop at a mosque" criticism, but aims it only at Obama. For Cohen, the stakes are high — a casual drop-in by Obama to a mosque could save (wait for it) ... the world!
As Andrea Elliott chronicled in an important article in The Times, Obama has visited churches and synagogues, but no mosque. He had to apologize after two Muslim women wearing head scarves were barred from appearing behind him at a recent rally in Detroit.
Obama should visit a mosque. He has repeatedly shown his courage during this campaign; Americans have responded to his intellectual honesty. One of the important things about him is the knowledge his Kenyan and Indonesian experiences have given him of Islam as lived, rather than Islam as turned into monstrous specter....
Fear-mongering about Islam is a global industry. It thrives on ignorance. Obama has a unique power to break the cycle, not least by emboldening moderate Muslims to denounce terror. Nothing would do more in the long run for the security of the world.
It must be beyond frustrating for Obama that his exotic-sounding name and globe-trotting childhood saddle him with some kind of "responsibility" just as much as they lend themselves to foolish rumors. Just last March, the Pew Research Center released a poll showing all kinds of confusion over Obama's religion: 10% of Americans thought he was a Muslim, a whopping 79% had heard rumors to that effect and barely half could identify his true faith, Christianity.
Considering how the faith pendulum has swung from an irrational fear of his inner Muslim to furor over his exclusion of Muslims in a matter of a few months, I'm surprised Obama hasn't decided to become an atheist — but that conversion would really ruin his chances.
Photo: Associated Press
Barak Hussain Obama had muslim influence without a doubt. He was born a muslim and claims he is Christian. We have seen his pastor of the church that he attended for twenty years, and we have seen how quickly he resigned from that church of twenty years when it affected his campaign. Amazing that someone could switch their years of DEDICATED FAITH in an instant! Think about it... Faith is the interwoven fabric of the core of the person. It is clear that he wants your vote at any cost. It is clear he is attempting to hide his true colors that are transparent if you will just look past his deception. Who knows what faith lurks in his closet. I am not trying to cast doubts just clearly look at the facts in front of you.
Posted by: Patricia | July 21, 2008 at 10:46 AM
This is an offensive article. I am sure you think you are clever but to me you are disgusting.
What you might not know is that so many of our citizens believe all the garbage passed around through email and you have played into every stereotype.
Posted by: RedNane | July 18, 2008 at 03:35 PM
I suspect the main reason Obama has kept his distance from the Arab/Muslim community is due to his appeasement of Jews.
Obama isint going for the votes of the Southern hicks, but the Jewish racists would definitely be put off by any closeness to the Arab/Muslim votes.
Judaism is a mental disorder. Why cant people understand that is a mystery to me.
I fear that only Ralph Nader has the courage to stand up to Jewish and Israeli menace.
Posted by: Marcus | July 04, 2008 at 05:36 AM
In response to the post by The Truth About Islam at June 27, 2008 at 05:56 PM:
"Islam is a mental illness. It needs to be thrown into the garbage dump. I don't blame Obama at all for not wanting to be associated with Islam."
I think you are confused about Islam. Perhaps what you really meant to say is that "terrorism is a mental illness. It needs to be thrown into the garbage dump [along with the terrorists themselves of course].
Perhaps you need to take some time to properly understand what you are talking about before speaking out. The Islamic religion is no more frightening, nor less valid than Christianity, Buddhism, or other broadly practiced religions. Perhaps you are not aware that Islam is perhaps practiced by more than any other faiths. If they were all terrorists, we would've faced Armageddon a long time ago. Or, perhaps you do understand all of this, and you have some nefarious purposes in mind.
I think your comment may only serve to further incite the terrorists who claim to be of the Islamic faith. In fact they are not of the Islamic faith -- they are of a twisted, misleading, selfish, and horrible "faith" that they claim to be Islam when it is clearly not. Terrorists are hell-bent on no less than inciting global war and the destruction of mankind. Terrorists come in all denominations and shapes and sizes.
Their principle methods include confusing the issue and confusing people. As you can see, they are succeeding with some people. This raises the temperature of course -- and lowers the level of discourse. Perfect if you're looking for a fight. And they are of course. Are you?
Another principle method of course is the use of their own lives as instruments for the "greater good" and a reward in "heaven". Clearly, this terrorist's heaven in fact, is hell. The Bush response of moving towards the same level as the terrorists in terms of human treatment is the perfect response. If you want to fuel the fire.
Your comment is furthering the wrong cause. Let us all get on a path on the high road, use our human intelligence, and our collective global [underscore the global] energy and resources. Let's join with all peoples of all religions [including atheists and agnostics] everywhere in an open and unbiased way in order to eradicate terrorists. Now.
There needs to be a surgical strategy -- not an occupation strategy. We are talking about a spider's web here. Or maybe it's stinger bees. This does not involve nationbuilding either i.e. -- taking out leaders that we don't like in certain countries. It does involve working with all nations to aggressively pursue terrorists -- find them, and neutralize them.
I say neutralize because it may be better to keep them incarcerated for the rest of their natural lives as opposed to taking them out because the last thing you want to do is "martyr" them, which furthers their own ends, including their recruitment efforts. And anyway, giving them what they want and ending it so quickly is too good for them. Much better to give them an "life" penalty than a death penalty. Albeit it should not be a comfortable "life" -- appropriately sterile and limited.
I believe Obama understands this. And that he also understands the fear that people, perhaps like you, have when they don't understand something. His leadership will be about gaining in spreading understanding as opposed to the current administration's fueling of ignorance as a bludgeon to fearmonger people into voting for them.
If Obama does not visit a mosque before the election, it is because it will be misused by the Republicans in their whisper campaign: "Obama is a Muslim" and "Muslims are bad [read as terrorists]". If he doesn't -- I believe this will be understood by a majority of Americans, and by Muslims. I think the latter will vote for him in any event. And they would be disappointed only if, after he is elected President, Obama as not follow through on what I said in the preceding three paragraphs.
In conclusion, I ask that before you throw anybody else's religion in the trash that you think first. Next thing you know, someone will be asking you to trash yours. I imagine you wouldn't be too happy about that. Many would get "fighting" mad.
Posted by: Paul Stewart | June 29, 2008 at 09:22 AM
"Christian" Americans have been held ransom by the Jews. It is the Jews that dictates the foreign policies of the USA and there was no one other than the man himself, Ariel Sharon, who blurted this in the Knesset. Shame on America. You are really a donkey that Israel ride on.
Posted by: MYM | June 29, 2008 at 01:09 AM
It is supremely ironic that so much criticism of Muslims and Islam comes from people who call themselves Christians, for as even the most cursory perusal of history shows all too clearly, Christians are the single most bloodthirsty, cruel and avaricious people in all of human history. No one else even
comes close, not Nazis, not Bolsheviks, not Aztecs, not the Mongol Horde, not anyone, and *certainly* not Muslims. It's not like Muslims haven't tried, either. They've tried, but no one, not them not anyone, is as good at it as Christians. ###Christians have stolen entire continents and enslaved entire races. The only thing the seem to like better than killing other people, is killing each other. Fifty million died in a single war, once, and that was only one war out of thousands. Christians have waged thousands of wars, some great, some small, all deadly. The body count does not lie. These people are mass murderers of the first order and the highest degree. Blood drips from their fangs.
They're shameless about it, too. Most people who had just murdered half a million Muslim children, would hide their faces or at least try to deny it. Not Christians. They say it was "worth it." That is the Christian mentality. Hard to believe, isn't it? But it's true. And it wasn't just any Christian, either. It was the official spokesperson of the mightiest nation in Christendom. Really, read for yourself:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1084
If history is not enough to convince you what an evil menace the Christians are, then read the holy scriptures upon which they base their lives and actions. What you will find is one atrocity after another, all of them sanctioned, and most of them directly ordered, by their twisted conception of deity:
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/donald_morgan/atrocity.html
Posted by: no gods, no masters | June 28, 2008 at 12:53 PM
"One day, Barack Osam ... er, Obama, is a madrassa-educated closet Muslim whose outward Christian faith is merely overcompensation."
Hmm, as a visitor the LAT's blogs it's not clear to the discerning reader whether Mr. Thorton is himself a member of the ignorant xenophobe crowd that falls for every internet conspiracy he's fed, or whether he's simply mocking these people. Or whether he's hoping to feed the ignorance by appearing to mock the know-nothing idiot crowd, while using the opportunity to backhandedly stoke the fearmongering machine.
Anyway you look at it, even after reading the rest of the piece (including the token recognition of reality buried down in the last paragraph), you come to the same conclusion: this blogger is one fairly ugly soul. I wonder what it's like to want a candidate (McCain in this case) to win so badly that one will move over to the side of evil. Alas, Mr. Thornton has made his choice.
Posted by: Mark | June 27, 2008 at 08:20 PM
Please stop with the outright lies - where are your "facts" - your opinion is not a fact. Really, after reading this dirt, I feel like I need a bath.
An "opinion" that "Obama, is a madrassa (sic) -educated closet Muslim whose outward Christian faith is merely overcompensation" is irresponsible. And, you are inciting hate with your lies. Thoughtful people, which is what the majority of Americans are, will see through your in-artful lies.
By serving up this kind of trickery and malice, and hiding under "free speech" in an "opinion" piece, you are not practicing, but rather destroying one of the bedrock foundations of Amercia.
And, what is more, you invite this kind of action against yourself - don't you think? You are really telling us all its okay to just make stuff up as a basis to attack someone and his values. You are, I suppose leaving some wondering if they are the ones you will attack next. When people who are supposed to be honest, thoughtful professionals, and respected leaders in this country stoop this low - that is what happens. You don't mind giving license to all to deal with you in a similar way?
Freedom of speech is not only a right - it is a responsibility that each one of us has. One that all Americans and the news organizations especially must take seriously. When we speak out, we are obliged to think first and to speak what is true. Freedom of speech is not a license to say whatever we want just because we feel like it and it will help our cause. That is the method of dictatorships not democracies.
If there is truth, what ever it is can and indeed must be spoken, and that is true freedom of speech. This is the essence to which "freedom of speech" speaks. It is to make it safe and correct to tell the truth. It is okay to say the emperor has no clothes for example - it is in plain sight for all to see despite it perhaps not being what the emperor wants.
It is also acceptable, no; imperative to speak the truth, even if that causes hardship. But what you say must be true and based on provable facts - not simply "opinion" out of thin air. The purpose of the "speech freedom" is to protect you in this respect. It is not a licence to lie as much as you like 'cause you can get away with it and it is the party line.
If you are trying to be sarcastic, or funny, it did not go over and is in less than poor taste. As a blogger for a "reputable" news organization, you especially have responsibility to make sure you do not create or propogate malicious falsehood. You as well as the rest of us must first determine if what we hear or what we just "opine" is true or not. Or, whether it is intentionally slanderous. Otherwise, what you are doing is called "propaganda" - we don't do "propaganda" - remember?
Posted by: Paul Stewart | June 27, 2008 at 07:31 PM
Islam is a mental illness. It needs to be thrown into the garbage dump. I don't blame Obama at all for not wanting to be associated with Islam.
Posted by: The Truth About Islam | June 27, 2008 at 05:56 PM
No Mitt, etc
I look forward to your willful exit from our country. The bell curve on IQs will no doubt benefit.
I'm curious as to what "crackpot cult" YOU belong to. (Wait, let me guess - it's the only "right and true" one. It says so, right in OUR book.) Whatever it is, it clearly doesn't embrace tolerance.
Whatever invisible being anyone chooses to worship, it CANNOT be a factor in government service, by law.
The Constitution of the United States, Article VI, section 3:
"...no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
Posted by: Mark | June 27, 2008 at 04:55 PM
I take issue with the title of this piece. "Obama the Self-Hating Muslim" perpetuates the lies and rumors being spread about Obama in a subtle, but effective, way to play on peoples prejudices. How many people will read the headline and recount later that they read "Obama IS a Muslim"? This kind of journalism is garbage!
Posted by: Eric | June 27, 2008 at 04:51 PM
Mormon--when was it you guys allowed blacks into the church again? Oh yeah, 1978. Your feelings of compounded white guilt are palpable. But then strange bedfellows? Nope: Like Islam, yours is another crackpot cult that goes around the world converting the gullible before incorporating their minds and their labor/money into their totalitarian organization. Golden tablets in upstate NY that only yer polygamous "prophet" Joseph Smith could read?!?! What-EVER!
I'll _absolutely_ leave the country if one of you folks is ever elected president. And I'm Republican, Mittie. Only one Muslim in office--thanks, MN--and believe me, he'll be out on his behind soon enough.
Posted by: No Mitt, No Barry, No Huck, No Bush | June 27, 2008 at 03:54 PM
Loonies (Republicans)......
OK I get it...
He is a half white, white hating Radical MUSTIAN...
A new secret radical christian, muslim group.....
They are coming for your children....
Posted by: veisalgia | June 27, 2008 at 02:17 PM
Clearly, the list of comments here are regurgitating all the ugly rumors and the article is irresponsible journalism. The person has not taken the time to read the facts. Just because you have a Muslim stepfather doesn't mean you are a Muslim, just as having Christian parents doesn't mean you are a Christian. What Obama is doing is what he believes in which is social change from the grassroots. I support him and believe that he can do it. If praying would have brought us peace, it would have come a long time ago. We need to stop arguing about religion and vote for who we think can lead the country on the path to constructive progress and rebuild our image in the world, get us out of this massive debt problem and stop the war. Go Obama! Go WHYOBAMA08.org
Posted by: G Green | June 27, 2008 at 01:51 PM
OK, now this story is really stupid, but that is exceeded by the ensuing comments. Read Barack's books or go to his website if you'd like to get to know the real Barack Obama.
To answer a previous comment, Barack chose Trinity on his own volition while he was a community organizer. While there, he felt very moved as the minister spoke about the Savior. Barack was surprised to feel a tear run down his cheek, as a little kid next to him offered a hankerchief.
As a Mormon missionary, I have seen many moments like this, and they are very real for the people who experience them. I suggest you leave him alone in his personal scripture study and realtionship with the Savior, and focus on who is best equipped to lead this country out of this huge mess that W has left for us and our children's children.
I would have to say Obama '08. God bless him.
Posted by: A Mormon | June 27, 2008 at 01:37 PM
Obama is not Muslim. Republicans have failed to misinform American people. They have run out of ideas and thus want to bring race,religion and sex as an issue with the help of FALSE network.Even he were a Muslim I vote for him because of his intelligence and mastery of the subject and clear direction he wants country he want to take.
Personally I do not beleive in religion. I do not mind any one who is a good and honest and can lead country to prosperirty. Very hard time are coming. Watch out.
Posted by: R.S.Kukreja | June 27, 2008 at 01:32 PM
Because you have German ancestry well then that makes you a Nazi.
Chinese? A Communist.
Thats what you people are saying. It has no basis or foundation and it make you look like an uneducated fool. You want to vote for 4 more years of Bush then I say it is you who needs to deliver the bad news to soldiers families when they die. Better yet I say YOU get to pay for my gas to go to work.
FOOLS. UNEDUCATED BLATHERING FOOLS. No wonder people hate Americans; there's so many of you f--ng idiots trolling around it makes me sick.
Posted by: Stormkrow | June 27, 2008 at 01:28 PM
What a bush headline for this fly-weight story. Incendiary, irresponsible, the sort of thing you would expect from a Murdoch owned paper. But then you do have that little twit from Chicago trying to sell the real estate out from under you. Shows what kind of businessman he is, trying to sell in a declining market.
Posted by: Richard P. McDonough | June 27, 2008 at 01:24 PM
by reading these posts it seems that ignorance runs strong and true. fear- mongering s working. how can a people who have probably never even met a muslim state accurately that THEY were resposible for 9/11 THEY are resposible for all the bombings in iraq. you idiots do realize that these are handfuls of desperate people living in some of the worlds poorest nations, with nothing to lose and everything to gain. MOST muslims DO NOT hate america they DO NOT view us as "the enemy". our government on tthe other hand who has continually supported the israel conquest of palestein and a government that went to war in iraq for oil are not on a favorite of the muslim people.
wake up! are all christians right wing zealots who shoot abortion doctors. do all chrisitians or americans for that matter hat e the muslim world? no! think logically it is God's gift to us. use it!
Posted by: gabe | June 27, 2008 at 01:15 PM
Some of the comments here are extremely misleading and full of ignorance. U.S. Muslims are silent about terrorism? Maybe if your news source is the 700 Club and other right wing media. Muslims and U.S. Muslims in particular have been very active in the fight against terrorism, how shameful for people to suggest otherwise. There has been no significant attack on American soil since 9/11 and it has everything to do with U.S. Muslims wanting to protect their fellow Americans. Many Muslims also died on 9/11 but for bigots their lives just don't count. Go out and ask Muslims for yourselves what they believe and how they feel about terrorism before coming to misinformed conclusions. Our aggressive foreign policy is part of this cycle of violence but not body speaks about reforming that!
Posted by: A Muslim | June 27, 2008 at 12:50 PM
If it is on the internet it must be true? Yep, the racist rants hiding behind anonymous blogs are the ones who keep perpetuating lies abour Barak Obama. Most people today do not even know how our government (J. Edgar Hoover - FBI) trumped up lies about Martin Luther King, calling him a communist, or "cominist" as southern politicians pronounced the slur. White brothers like me still have lots to get over when it comes to calling our black brothers equal. These anti-Obama bloggers are mostly scum, so pay no attention to them.
Posted by: Tom in Alabama | June 27, 2008 at 12:46 PM
Let's not forget that this is a blog, not journalism.
Posted by: Joe De Patta | June 27, 2008 at 12:44 PM
Well,it seems that Obama has not visited any Hindu temples, Buddhist temples, Gurdhwaras (Sikh temples), or others either. Hindus, Buddhist, etc. rise, and join Muslims in the "crusade" against Obama!
Do we need to reread the constitution about the separation of Church and state?
Posted by: sekhar | June 27, 2008 at 12:42 PM
I don't want any Muslim as president. Islam is a religion of death. Unlike Jews who are allowed to take usury and who only expect us to live by the Noahide Laws, the Muslims want the whole world dominated by their tyrannical system. I say leave Islam to Indonesia and the Middle East. Our presidents shouldn't concern themselves with religion too much anyway. I like both Obama and McCain, but I don't care who my representatives are. We have electronics and computers now. There's no need for representatives in the 21st century. We could just have a constitution, a bill of rights, a court system and a treasury that looks at what the people want from their online communications, take polls, and then deduce from these numbers what to spend tax money on. But we don't even have a fair tax program. People are taxed unequally. I say to hell with both Democrats and Republicans.
Posted by: Matthew Dickinson | June 27, 2008 at 11:58 AM
If you can publish this garbage article, you should certainly be willing to publish this garbage comment.
Posted by: Dan | June 27, 2008 at 11:39 AM