This gop field are a bunch of whining spineless sissies, except for Trump apparently

OldBrownsFan

@gftchris said:
Or do you think the republicans would never start throwing baseless things around to smear the opponent? A certain "african muslim" might disagree.

Did you know the whole Obama not being born in the United States or that he is a Muslim (Okay I have some reservations he might be) but all this started with the Hillary Clinton 08 campaign when she was up against Obama? It was out of her own campaign these charges originated.

gftChris

@oldbrownsfan said:

Did you know the whole Obama not being born in the United States or that he is a Muslim (Okay I have some reservations he might be) but all this started with the Hillary Clinton 08 campaign when she was up against Obama? It was out of her own campaign these charges originated.

I did, yes. Though, it wasn't really her that started it, and it mostly revolved around birthplace. To which the republicans presumably said "hold on folks, if he's not eligible to run for office then our due diligence checks will highlight that fact and we'll know for certain well before he takes office" right?

bbedward

The moderation of the CNBC debate was pretty bad, but I don't think the GOP is giving themselves a good image by the way they're handling it.

Now Trump is personally negotiating the next one? They should have called them out and left it at that, I didn't expect it to become this huge issue.

MLD Woody

@oldbrownsfan said:

Did you know the whole Obama not being born in the United States or that he is a Muslim (Okay I have some reservations he might be) but all this started with the Hillary Clinton 08 campaign when she was up against Obama? It was out of her own campaign these charges originated.

Haha of course you do.

I'd bet on no affiliation at all over Muslim

OldBrownsFan

@mld-woody said:

Haha of course you do.

I'd bet on no affiliation at all over Muslim

There is no denying Obama had huge Muslim influences in his life. As for his Christian influences he went to a church led by Pastor Jeremiah Wright who taught a black liberation theology which is not the true gospel. Obama's claims he didn't really know what Wright was teaching was ludicrous in that he went to that church for 20 years and considered Wright a mentor. He knew what Rev. Wright was all about.

Obama's Muslim Childhood

by Daniel Pipes

The Washington Times

September 10-14, 2012

http://www.danielpipes.org/11952/obama-muslim-childhood

MLD Woody

I've had huge Christian influences in my life. What's your point?

bbedward

One of the popular GOP candidates round here is part of a religion that has had some controversies in the past...And they have non-orthodox views of the trinity which many Christians would say is "not true gospel"....

OldBrownsFan

@mld-woody said:
I've had huge Christian influences in my life. What's your point?

My point is what I said earlier about concerns that Obama is a Muslim. I posted an article with the Muslim influences in his life as well as statements he himself has made. To balance that the Church he attended teaches black liberation theology and honors someone like a hateful radical anti Semite like Louis Farrakahn. There are red flags all over this.

That Obama would claim to be a Christian to get elected does not surprise me because until recently he strongly proclaimed marriage was between a man and a woman until he "evolved" on the subject. Does anyone really believe that? He was always for gay marriage but the political winds had to change before he would take that position.

Clevfan4life

If he was "always' for gay marriage that wouldn't make him a very good mooslim would it? cause we all know mooslims want to throw fags off tall buildings. For fun

OldBrownsFan

@clevfan4life said:
If he was "always' for gay marriage that wouldn't make him a very good mooslim would it? cause we all know mooslims want to throw fags off tall buildings. For fun

Probably not but if there are weren't any gay Muslims there wouldn't be any tossed from the buildings in the first place.

gftChris

MLD Woody

Do you ever confuse me for being Christian?

OldBrownsFan

OldBrownsFan

@mld-woody said:
Do you ever confuse me for being Christian?

No. Why would I? Just because you said you had some Christian influences in your life? Read the article I posted. Muslim influences are not the only thing I base believing Obama is a Muslim on. It is the words he himself has spoken to go along with the influences. What pro Christian statements have you ever made to make me believe you were a Christian Woody?

gftChris

Funny how people only tend to bring up his middle name when trying to convince us he's muslim. As if Cruz and Rubio are good old american names. RAFAEL Cruz, yeah, he sounds like a real american patriot, doesn't he?! huh?! HUH?! And PIYUSH Jindal! Real christian sounding name there, bobby.

One day, people such as yourself will understand that defending something does not make you a part of it. I will defend gay rights, but I'm not gay. I will defend women's rights, though I'm not a woman. I will defend religious freedoms, yet I am not religious.

MLD Woody

It is time to leave the call of violence and the politics of division behind. On so many issues, we face a choice between the promise of the future, or the prisons of the past. And we cannot afford to get it wrong. We must seize this moment. And America stands ready to work with all who are willing to embrace a better future.

The future must not belong to those who target Coptic Christians in Egypt it must be claimed by those in Tahrir Square who chanted, "Muslims, Christians, we are one." The future must not belong to those who bully women it must be shaped by girls who go to school, and those who stand for a world where our daughters can live their dreams just like our sons.

The future must not belong to those corrupt few who steal a country's resources it must be won by the students and entrepreneurs, the workers and business owners who seek a broader prosperity for all people. Those are the women and men that America stands with; theirs is the vision we will support.

The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam. But to be credible, those who condemn that slander must also condemn the hate we see in the images of Jesus Christ that are desecrated, or churches that are destroyed, or the Holocaust that is denied.

Let us condemn incitement against Sufi Muslims and Shiite pilgrims. It's time to heed the words of Gandhi: "Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit." Together, we must work towards a world where we are strengthened by our differences, and not defined by them. That is what America embodies, that's the vision we will support.

gftChris

@mld-woody said:

It is time to leave the call of violence and the politics of division behind. On so many issues, we face a choice between the promise of the future, or the prisons of the past. And we cannot afford to get it wrong. We must seize this moment. And America stands ready to work with all who are willing to embrace a better future.

The future must not belong to those who target Coptic Christians in Egypt it must be claimed by those in Tahrir Square who chanted, "Muslims, Christians, we are one." The future must not belong to those who bully women it must be shaped by girls who go to school, and those who stand for a world where our daughters can live their dreams just like our sons.

The future must not belong to those corrupt few who steal a country's resources it must be won by the students and entrepreneurs, the workers and business owners who seek a broader prosperity for all people. Those are the women and men that America stands with; theirs is the vision we will support.

The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam. But to be credible, those who condemn that slander must also condemn the hate we see in the images of Jesus Christ that are desecrated, or churches that are destroyed, or the Holocaust that is denied.

Let us condemn incitement against Sufi Muslims and Shiite pilgrims. It's time to heed the words of Gandhi: "Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit." Together, we must work towards a world where we are strengthened by our differences, and not defined by them. That is what America embodies, that's the vision we will support.

That bastard.

OldBrownsFan

Contradictions

Asked about the religion of his childhood and youth, Obama offers contradictory answers. He finessed a Mar. 2004 question, "Have you always been a Christian?" by replying: "I was raised more by my mother and my mother was Christian." In Dec. 2007 he confirmed this in stronger words: "My mother was a Christian from Kansas. … I was raised by my mother. So, I've always been a Christian." In Feb. 2009, however, he offered a completely different account:

I was not raised in a particularly religious household. I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion. I didn't become a Christian until … I moved to the South Side of Chicago after college.

He further elaborated this answer in Sept. 2010, saying: "I came to my Christian faith later in life."

Which is it? Has Obama "always been a Christian" or did he "become a Christian" after college? Self-contradiction on so fundamental a matter of identity, when added to the general questioning about the accuracy of his autobiography, raises questions about veracity; would someone telling the truth say such varied and opposite things about himself? Inconsistency is typical of fabrication: when making things up, it's hard to stick with the same story. Obama appears to be hiding something. Was he the areligious child of irreligious parents? Or was he always a Christian? A Muslim? Or was he, in fact, something of his own creation – a Christian/Muslim?

Obama provides some information on his Islamic background in his two books, Dreams and The Audacity of Hope (2006). In 2007, when Hillary Clinton was still the favored Democratic candidate for president, a number of reporters dug up information about Obama's time in Indonesia. Obama's statements as president have provided important insights into his mentality. The major biographies of Obama devote little attention to this topic, both the friendly ones (such as those by David Maraniss, David Mendell, and David Remnick) and the hostile ones (such as by Jack Cashill, Jerome R. Corsi, Dinesh D'Souza, Aaron Klein, Edward Klein, and Stanley Kurtz).

I shall establish his having been born and raised a Muslim, provide confirming evidence from recent years, survey the perceptions of him as a Muslim, and place this deception in the larger context of Obama's autobiographical fictions.

OldBrownsFan

"I Have Never Been a Muslim"

Obama readily acknowledges that his paternal grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, converted to Islam. Indeed, Dreams (p. 407) contains a long quote from his paternal grandmother explaining the grandfather's reasons for doing so: Christianity's ways appeared to be "foolish sentiment" to him, "something to comfort women," and so he converted to Islam, thinking "its practices conformed more closely to his beliefs" (p. 104). Obama readily told this to all comers: when asked by a barber (p. 149), "You a Muslim?" for example, he replied, "Grandfather was."

Obama presents his parents and stepfather as non-religious. He notes (in Audacity, pp. 204-05), that his "father had been raised a Muslim" but was a "confirmed atheist" by the time he met Barack's mother, who in turn "professed secularism." His stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, "like most Indonesians, was raised a Muslim," though a non-practicing, syncretic one who (Dreams, p. 37) "followed a brand of Islam that could make room for the remnants of more ancient animist and Hindu faiths."

As for himself, Obama acknowledges numerous connections to Islam but denies being a Muslim. "The only connection I've had to Islam is that my grandfather on my father's side came from that country," he declared in Dec. 2007. "But I've never practiced Islam. … For a while, I lived in Indonesia because my mother was teaching there. And that's a Muslim country. And I went to school. But I didn't practice." Likewise, he said in Feb. 2008: "I have never been a Muslim. … other than my name and the fact that I lived in a populous Muslim country for 4 years when I was a child I have very little connection to the Islamic religion." Note his unequivocal statement here: "I have never been a Muslim." Under the headline, "Barack Obama Is Not and Has Never Been a Muslim," Obama's first presidential campaign website carried an even more emphatic statement in Nov. 2007, stating that "Obama never prayed in a mosque. He has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian."

OldBrownsFan

"Barry Was Muslim"

But many pieces of evidence argue for Obama having been born and raised a Muslim:

(1) Islam is a patrilineal religion: In Islam, the father passes his faith to the children; and when a Muslim male has children with a non-Muslim female, Islam considers the children Muslim. Obama's grandfather and father having been Muslims – the extent of their piety matters not at all – means that, in Muslim eyes, Barack was born a Muslim.

(2) Arabic forenames based on the H-S-N trilateral root: All such names (Husayn or Hussein, Hasan, Hassân, Hasanayn, Ahsan, Muhsin, and others) are exclusively bestowed on Muslim babies. (The same goes for names based on the H-M-D root.) Obama's middle name, Hussein, explicitly proclaims him a born Muslim.

Obama's registration document at Santo Fransiskus Asisi, a Catholic school, in Jakarta. (Click to enlarge)

(3) Registered as Muslim at SD Katolik Santo Fransiskus Asisi: Obama was registered at a Catholic school in Jakarta as "Barry Soetoro." A surviving document correctly lists him as born in Honolulu on Aug. 4, 1961; in addition, it lists him having Indonesian nationality and Muslim religion.

(4) Registered as Muslim at SD Besuki: Although Besuki (also known as SDN 1 Menteng) is a public school, Obama curiously refers to it in Audacity (p. 154) as "the Muslim school" he attended in Jakarta. Its records have not survived but several journalists (Haroon Siddiqui of the Toronto Star, Paul Watson of the Los Angeles Times, David Maraniss of the Washington Post) have all confirmed that there too, he was registered as a Muslim.

(5) Islamic class at SD Besuki: Obama mentions (Audacity, p. 154) that at Besuki, "the teacher wrote to tell my mother that I made faces during Koranic studies." Only Muslim students attended the weekly two-hour Koran class, Watson reports:

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. "Muslim students were taught by a Muslim teacher, and Christian students were taught by a Christian teacher," said Effendi.

Andrew Higgins of the Washington Post quotes Rully Dasaad, a former classmate, saying that Obama horsed around in class and, during readings of the Koran, got "laughed at because of his funny pronunciation." Maraniss learned that the class included not only studying "how to pray and how to read the Koran," but also actually praying in the Friday communal service right on the school grounds.

Obama with his class at SD Besuki, a public school, in Jakarta.

(6) Mosque attendance: Maya Soetoro-Ng, Obama's younger half-sister, said her father (namely, Barack's stepfather) attended the mosque "for big communal events," Barker found that "Obama occasionally followed his stepfather to the mosque for Friday prayers." Watson reports:

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. … Sometimes, when the muezzin sounded the call to prayer, Lolo and Barry would walk to the makeshift mosque together, Adi said. "His mother often went to the church, but Barry was Muslim. He went to the mosque," Adi said.

(7) Muslim clothing: Adi recalls about Obama, "I remember him wearing a sarong." Likewise, Maraniss found not only that "His classmates recalled that Barry wore a sarong" but written exchanges indicating that he continued to wear this garment in the United States. This fact has religious implications because, in Indonesian culture, only Muslims wear sarongs.

(8) Piety: Obama says that in Indonesia, he "didn't practice [islam]," an assertion that inadvertently acknowledges his Muslim identity by implying he was a non-observant Muslim. But several of those who knew him contradict this recollection. Rony Amir describes Obama as "previously quite religious in Islam." A former teacher, Tine Hahiyary, quoted in the Kaltim Post, says the future president took part in advanced Islamic religious lessons: "I remember that he had studied mengaji." In the context of Southeast Asian Islam, mengaji Quran means to recite the Koran in Arabic, a difficult task denoting advanced study.

In summary, the record points to Obama having been born a Muslim to a non-practicing Muslim father and having lived for four years in a fully Muslim milieu under the auspices of his Muslim Indonesian stepfather. For these reasons, those who knew Obama in Indonesia considered him a Muslim.