Alright, I have a thought/question/observation for my readership. I know some of you personally and most via the writings on your own blogs, and I feel fairly safe in saying that we are, by and large, a conservatively bent group of folks. There is at least one libertarian among the group, but I think he will understand where I am going with this.
Here lately, the whole subject of whether or not President Obama is a Christian seems to be gaining steam again.Or, at least, it seems to be getting some press. Which is the same thing in my opinion. It seems that Mr. Obama doesn’t want to disrupt local congregations with his attendance; however, he is only too happy to disrupt your local golf course on a Sunday morning.
Further, it seems that about one in five people in our great nation think that PrezBO is a Muslim.The Queen and my inlaws would be among that 20%. Personally, I think everyone, whether they argue for him being a Christian or a Muslim, is missing the mark.
Granted, Obama hasn’t really done much of anything to convince us to the contrary of his Muslim leanings or lack thereof. His 20 year attendance at Trinity Universal under the ministry of Jeremiah Wright isn’t exactly helping his cause either.
Let’s take a look at some minor details for a moment and see if anything sticks to the wall.
A good Muslim is supposed to pray 5 times a day in the general direction of Mecca. These prayers are said to be compulsory; however, it appears that there is some leeway or flexibility allowed under certain circumstances for a Muslim to get those prayers in without being tied to a specific, dogmatic schedule. To my knowledge, there has been no evidence that Mr. Obama has engaged in the practice of praying 5 times daily…ever.
Next up, a good Muslim is supposed to fast during the month of Ramadan from dawn to dusk. Here again, I think our media, no matter how liberally bent, would have a hard time failing to observe Mr. Obama conspicuously abstaining from food and drink during daylight hours for an entire month without making some comment.
Alms-giving. Nope, no indication of that that I’ve heard about. The residents of the Gulf Coast sure would have appreciated that after the BP disaster.
Finally, there’s the Hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca all Muslims are encouraged to make at least once during their lifetime). While I suppose it is possible that a devious Muslim could wait until after he’s finished with his life’s work of doing whatever it is devious Muslims do to make the pilgrimage, I would think that a devout Muslim would have made some reference to it at some point in his life.
On the Christian side, I feel safe in saying that a devout Christian would have a hard time justifying spending his day of worship anywhere other his chosen place of worship. That place of worship would not be a golf course and most certainly would not include yelling “Oh God, please let it go in.” to a little white, dimpled ball.
So, I think we can safely say that President Obama is neither a devout Christian nor a devout Muslim. So, dear readers, what does that leave us with?
You’re pretty much left with atheist, agnostic, “fallen” Muslim/Christian and/or secular humanist.
I obviously don’t know the man’s heart and can’t say this with any authority; but, I would say that the evidence would tend to support the conclusion that Mr. Obama is either a secular humanist or an agnostic with some religious (possibly Christian) leanings. Does anyone in the congregation have an opinion or evidence to the contrary?
K,
ReplyDeleteI think there are a couple of questions here.
First, what is the faith that President Obama professes to believe?
According to the evidence so far, that would be some form of Christianity.
Second, what is the faith that President Obama was born into?
For many people, especially Muslims, this is a NON-Trivial matter. Again, from the evidence I've seen, he was born into the Muslim faith.
Third, What is the faith that President Obama practices?
For Christians, this should be the same as the first question and there should be strong evidence for President Obama believes in word and deed.
As you say, there is little evidence of him practicing any religion.
I'm not buying the 'no-disruption' line, not a bit. He's shown that he doesn't mind disrupting New York City air traffic just to take Michelle on a date so to think that he is humble enough to avoid notoriety at a church is bunk. There are also many other ways of corporate worship that he could manage.
Fourth and most important question --- Could there be a basis for President Obama's actions in one or the other of the faiths in question?
Sadly to say, the answer is yes. According to what I know, admittedly limited, it is perfectly acceptable for a Muslim to lie concerning just about anything and everything if it advances the Muslim faith/agenda.
I think this is where most people get the idea that President Obama may be a Muslim -- his words, deeds and behaviors certainly indicate support of the Muslim faith over the Christian faith.
Fifth, Is there an explanation outside of the two faiths in question that could explain his actions?
Yep, again sadly to say yes there are. He could be a secular humanist or agnostic who learned to play the expected roles in order to get elected. Notice that he attended Rev. Wright's church when that (in my opinion) was required to get him elected to the Senate. When that was a detriment to his presidential aspirations, he dropped attendance there.
I think this is the most probable explanation of the ones I can come up with.
Bob,
ReplyDeleteAll excellent points, as usual, and much more thoroughly thought out than my own (although, in my defense, I was in a hurry). In response, I offer the following:
“First, what is the faith that President Obama professes to believe?” Yes; but, what a politician professes versus what he believes are invariably two different things.
“Second, what is the faith that President Obama was born into?” Perhaps to a Muslim he was born into the Muslim faith; however, from what I can tell, they are trying to create the impression that he was born into a non-religious household.
“Third, What is the faith that President Obama practices?” You and I seem to be of the same mind here.
“Fourth and most important question --- Could there be a basis for President Obama's actions in one or the other of the faiths in question?” I agree with most of what you say here; however, I would take it one step further to say that it is also possible that he could also be a New World Order globalist trying to weaken American exceptionalism to pave the way for a UN style one world government.
“Fifth, Is there an explanation outside of the two faiths in question that could explain his actions?” Here again, you and I seem to be of the same mind even if I didn’t communicate my thoughts as fully as I should have.