The Obama religion issue

Washington Post:

In his speeches and often on the Internet, the part of Sen. Barack Obama's biography that gets the most attention is not his race but his connections to the Muslim world.

Since declaring his candidacy for president in February, Obama, a member of a congregation of the United Church of Christ in Chicago, has had to address assertions that he is a Muslim or that he had received training in Islam in Indonesia, where he lived from ages 6 to 10. While his father was an atheist and his mother did not practice religion, Obama's stepfather did occasionally attend services at a mosque there.

Despite his denials, rumors and e-mails circulating on the Internet continue to allege that Obama (D-Ill.) is a Muslim, a "Muslim plant" in a conspiracy against America, and that, if elected president, he would take the oath of office using a Koran, rather than a Bible, as did Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the only Muslim in Congress, when he was sworn in earlier this year.

In campaign appearances, Obama regularly mentions his time living and attending school in Indonesia, and the fact that his paternal grandfather, a Kenyan farmer, was a Muslim. Obama invokes these facts as part of his case that he is prepared to handle foreign policy, despite having been in the Senate for only three years, and that he would literally bring a new face to parts of the world where the United States is not popular.

The son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, Obama was born and spent much of his childhood in Hawaii, and he talks more about his multicultural background than he does about the possibility of being the first African American president, in marked contrast to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who mentions in most of her stump speeches the prospect of her becoming the first woman to serve as president.

"A lot of my knowledge about foreign affairs is not what I just studied in school. It's actually having the knowledge of how ordinary people in these other countries live," he said earlier this month in Clarion, Iowa.

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You mean Democrats are sponsoring a whisper campaign against a black candidate's religion? Who knew they were such bigots?

The church he currently is a member of bares little resemblance to the churches of Christ in the South.

Some have suggested that because of the Muslim background of some of his family he might be better able to deal with the Muslim world. I suspect the opposite is the case. The biggest problem with the Muslim world today is their religious bigotry. They are the most intolerant group on the planet and they are especially intolerant of apostates. For an example of that intolerance recall the treatment of the teacher in Sudan over the naming of a Teddy Bear.

People born of Muslim families are not permitted to have a change of faith. Recall the death sentence in Afghanistan for the former Muslim who became a Christian. My speculation is that many in the Muslim world would have a greater hatred for Obama because of his ancestors. Because they are so intolerant they may pose a significant personal risk to a President Obama.