In response to the ridiculous email that's going around:
In Obama's own words …
This guy wants to be our President and control our government. Pay close attention to the last comment!!
Below are a few lines from Obama's books … his own words:
From 'Dreams of My Father': 'I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.'
From 'Dreams of My Father': 'I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosityagainst my mothers race.'
From 'Dreams of My Father': 'There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself,maybe. And white.'
From 'Dreams of My Father': ; 'It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.'
From 'Dreams of My Father': 'I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa , that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.'
From his book 'Audacity of Hope': 'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.'
Barack Obama is not a Muslim. (And who cares if he is? If they’re such a horrible religion, why do they believe in the Old Testament? And why then do they believe that Jesus was a prophet?) He has stated many many times that he is Christian – United Church of Christ, to be specific. What more does he need to do for you people to prove himself? Does he need to nail himself to a cross in order to prove he’s really a Christian? Sometimes it seems that people will accept nothing less.
Or is it that people are so upset that this man has an Arabic last name? (And he’s a black man on top of that!) His name sounds Arabic, so he *must* be a radical Muslim. That’s like saying that all Mexicans must be illegals, so we have to start practicing racial profiling in order to get them out of the country. … Oh wait. We do that. … Ok, so it’s like if we said all Japanese people were out to get us so we have to lock them up because they bombed Pearl Harbor. … Oh wait. We did that too.
Oh America. Home of the free and the brave. Land of opportunity. … Well, as long as you’re not Muslim. … And your name doesn’t sound Arabic.
Here’s the explanation of what Obama really said: http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/ownwords.asp)
This statement is a rewording of a passage from page 261 of The Audacity of Hope, in which Barack Obama spoke of the importance of not allowing inflamed public opinion to result in innocent members of immigrant groups beingstripped of their rights, denighed their due as American citizens, or placed into confinement, as was done with Japanese-Americans during World War II. The original contains no specific mention of “Muslims”:In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific reassurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.
If you’re going to pass along damning “evidence” based on what he supposedly said, make sure you’re looking at his actual words. Don’t blindly believe what every right-wing fanatic tells you.
I am very excited about voting for him in the November elections. I’ve bought into Obama’s message of hope. I’m hoping that soon I’ll be proud again to say I’m American.
3 comments:
Of course, in America, many people believe that you have to believe everything that any group that you belong to believes in - be it political, social, religious, or whatever. Personally, I believe that individuals can and should develop their own set of beliefs rather than just swallow the party line, but not everyone feels that way. And it is those people that do who are causing problems for Obama.
And really, he is in a difficult position when it comes to religious beliefs. His father was raised Muslim and he lived for a while in Indonesia. He says he wasn't raised in a religious environment, but there was obviously some Muslim influence there. In order to distance himself from that, he pointed out how he had been going to a specific church for 20 years, and was more influenced by that. Then, it comes out that this church has a nutso pastor. So then he says that he didn't agree with that guy and wasn't influenced by him. That is where I see a problem - if he went for a church for 20 years, but wasn't influenced by a pastor there, then can he really consider himself a sincere follower of the faith of that church? You shouldn't go to a church if that is the case. So if that church wasn't influencing him, then it opens the doors to wonder about the Muslim influence on his life. He's in a tough spot there.
To me, it really does matter if we have a Muslim president. Obama is clearly not a Muslim, but it would matter if he was. Most Americans are pretty uninformed about Islam. I have actually read the Qu'ran. Well, it was in English, so most Muslims would tell me that it wasn't the true Qu'ran. You can only truly read it in Arabic, I'm told. But you can get an idea. And the Qu'ran does not support the American concept of democracy and freedom. Non-Muslims and women are lower class citizens in true Islam. There is just no way around it.
Now, most Muslims will tell you that they don't feel the need to make such radical interpretations of Qu'ranic verses such as you see in places like Saudi Arabia. But even those that do believe in political equality for all people will still tell you (if you press them) that a Muslim male is still a slightly better person than all others. That is just what you have in the Qu'ran, verses the Bible that teaches that all people are equal in the sight of God. To me, that slight difference matters.
Re: Obama not being a sincere follower of his faith -- There are many, many people who "subscribe" to a particular faith but do not truly believe in everything that faith dictates. Just as an example, look at Catholics. You walk into any Catholic church during mass, and you'll see a majority of families with one or two kids; whereas Catholic doctrine clearly states that we are absolutely not to use any form of birth control. A bit extreme? Yes. So many people, including myself, question and even break this rule, and yet that doesn't mean I am not a Catholic or that the Church is/was any less influential in my life. And by no means does that mean that I'm a Protestant since I grew up with my Dad, who is a Protestant. There was obviously that influence in my life. And yet I am a Catholic, even though I view some of the doctrine that comes out of the Vatican as a bit extreme.
So I completely understand and can relate to Obama's comments that he didn't completely agree with the leader of his church. His (and my) only sin in this is that he didn't question his teacher about these extremes.
Re: a Muslim man's belief that he is a slightly better person -- This is nothing new for Christians either. Many Christian faiths belief that their faith is the "true" faith. In fact, many/most Christians believe that in order to get into Heaven, one must accept Jesus as your savior. To me, that sounds very much like you're saying that you are a better person, and in fact you have to accept my faith in order to achieve eternal happiness.
Re: the Qu'ran not supporting democracy and freedom -- There are aspects of the Bible that do not parallel with what we see as "correct" in today's world. Just as an example, look at gender equality. Women in the bible tend to be second-class citizens, known only through their husbands. Many are seen as immoral. (Again as an example...) Catholics will not even allow women to be priests, even though there is a severe shortage of priests. My point is that there are aspects of biblical life that are not mirrored in today's world. We don't obliterate a city and its people just because they are immoral. Look at Vegas! It's still here. (Just kidding. My attempt at lightening the topic. :D)
I agree with you completely that we should not ever blindly follow any group. God gave us a brain for a reason. Just because you question does not make you less of a Catholic, less of a Christian, less of a Republican/Democrate, etc.
Of course, I forgot to say that I do believe that Obama is sincere in his beliefs. He is just going to have a problem convincing those that feel you have to believe the party line or change parties. His Muslim background and cuckoo former pastor put him between a rock and a hard place trying to gain votes with people that think that way.
Also, there is still a difference between the Muslim belief in being better than others and Christians that believe the same. The Bible directly says that all people are sinners and that all sin is the same in the sight of God. The Bible directly says we are all equals. The Qu'ran directly says that Muslims are better than non-Muslims, and that men are better than women. Christians can decide that they are better than others because they are "saved" or whatever other reason, but they do so in direct opposition to the book that they claim to follow. Muslims can choose to not think of themselves as higher than others, but they also do so in direct contradiction to the book they claim to follow. Which, I believe in freedom of religion and that they are free to not follow everything in there. For a rather funny (and scary) look at some of what the Qu'ran says about women, look at this list:
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/women/long.html
Re: women and the Bible - Katie and I have looked in to this, and women are actually not treated as second class citizens in the Bible. We actually shock people sometimes when we tell them that the Bible actively supports working mothers in the book of proverbs. What people don't realize about the Bible is the context that it occurred in - a male dominated world. Women that tried to lead nations were automatically killed in all nations at the time. Women were never allowed to be the subject of stories, much less the heroine. The Israelites came along, and they actually had women leaders, military commanders, and heroines of stories. The Bible should more be seen as the first book in the history of the world that promoted some sort of equality for women. It also promoted equal treatment of foreigners and illegal aliens - basically anyone of a different race. It also records how people got those commands wrong through the years. Now, women and minorities weren't given the same status and freedoms that we are used to in the US today, but it was the place where it all started. Of course, many Biblical teachings have been ignored or twisted through the years by many people, and these people tend to gain national attention, and then people start believing that the Bible says what these people say.
(as you can tell, I love studying historical religious changes and texts. I've read Buddhist writings, Vedas, what Protestants call "The Apocrypha", Gnostic Biblical writings, and several other shorter works.)
But, anyway, to bring this back to where it is supposed to be, Obama is a nice guy and people should stop sending around stupid emails.
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