|
|
My Muslim President Obama
|
|
|
|
|
Shalom in Christ Jesus,
Sometimes commentary out of
a lost and deceived person's own mouth can sum up things much better than any
warning we could give concerning the true spiritual state our world is in. Here
is such a case.
BE/\LERT!
Scott Brisk
|
My Muslim President Obama
|
Why members of the Islamic faith see him as one of the flock
FORBES - Commentary by Asma Gull Hasan - February 25, 2009
I know President Obama is not Muslim, but I am tempted nevertheless to think that he is, as are most Muslims I know. In a very unscientific oral poll, ranging from family members to Muslim acquaintances, many of us feel, just as African-Americans did for the non-black but culturally leaning African-American President Bill Clinton, that we have our first American Muslim president in Barack Hussein Obama.
I know it's odd to say this. At first, I thought I was the only Muslim engaging in this folly, and I am reluctant to express it lest right-wing zealots try to use "Muslim" as a smear and cite my theory as proof of an Islamic traitor in the White House or some such nonsense. But, since Election Day, I have been part of more and more conversations with Muslims in which it was either offhandedly agreed that Obama is Muslim or enthusiastically blurted out. In commenting on our new president, "I have to support my fellow Muslim brother," would slip out of my mouth before I had a chance to think twice.
"Well, I know he's not really Muslim," I would quickly add. But if the person I was talking to was Muslim, they would say, "yes he is." They would cite his open nature and habit of reaching out to critics, reminiscent of the Prophet Muhammad's own approach, and also Obama's middle name, Hussein. Most of the Muslims I know (me included) can't seem to accept that Obama is not
Muslim.
Of the few Muslims I polled who said that Obama is not Muslim, even they conceded that he had ties to Islam. These realists said that, although not an avowed and practicing Muslim, Obama's exposure to Islam at a young age (both through his father and his stint in Indonesia) has given him a Muslim sensibility. In my book, that makes you a Muslim--maybe not a card-carrying one, but part of the flock for sure. One realist Muslim ventured that Obama worships at a Unitarian Church because it represents the middle ground between Christianity and Islam, incorporating the religious beliefs of the two faiths Obama feels connected to. Unitarianism could be Obama's way of still being a Muslim. (And let's not forget that the church Obama worshiped at for so many years had a minister who reminds most Muslims of their own raving, excitable ministers. Even if Obama really is Christian, he picked the most Muslim-esque minister out of the bunch to guide him.)
The rationalistic, Western side of me knows that Obama has denied being Muslim, that his father was non-practicing, that he doesn't attend a mosque. Many Muslims simply say back, "my father's not a strict Muslim either, and I haven't been to a mosque in years." Obama even told The New York Times he could recite the adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, which the vast majority of Muslims, I would guess, do not know well enough to recite.
I think many of us Muslims see Obama as Muslim, or at least of Muslim heritage, because his background epitomizes one of the major Muslim experiences--a diverse upbringing that eludes any easy classification as specifically one religion or one culture. So many of us Muslims around the world have Islam in common, but an altogether different culture from one another. Many Muslims share a culture with a Christian, Hindu or Buddhist community but not the same religion. When faced with such diversity, there are no hard and fast rules for Muslim identity.
The Qur'an speaks often of the umma, or the worldwide community of Muslims. In the early days of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad led the small umma. Every decision, every effort, everything was for the umma--people who were often unrelated by blood but had become related by choice as Muslims. In those early days, many Muslims had gone against the wishes of their own families in converting to Islam, pitting brother against sister, father against child. Perhaps that's why the concept of umma became so dear and is still echoed today--in my opinion, echoed more than that Western favorite jihad--in Muslim homes, whether those homes are in the United States or in Palestine.
Perhaps it is my--and most Muslims'-- loyalty to the umma that is behind our insistence on seeing Obama as Muslim. Islam survived and continues to survive because Muslims believe we have to respect and take care of each other, as members of the umma. If we were to start excluding members, or revising our broad guidelines for admittance, the very essence of the community feeling that is important in Islam, that gives me and other Muslims comfort everyday, would be undercut. So when Obama says he's not Muslim, my umma mentality says I know better. Once you have a Muslim parent, especially a dad, you're in. Whether you like it or not, Muslims all over the world see you as one of them.
I work with my father, and, once, we were seeking business with a white American man who had married a Muslim woman. Noticing how much fond attention my dad paid to this man, I asked him why he liked the man so much. My dad responded that, in his marriage to a Muslim woman (who wasn't related to us), "He's our brother-in-law!" So if that white, middle-aged man can be my brother-in-law, then Obama can certainly be my Muslim president.
Asma Gull Hasan is the author of Red, White, and Muslim: My Story of Belief.
Original Report
* Emphasis Original
* Emphasis Added
|
Where Will the Obamas Worship?
|
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL [News Corporation/Murdoch] - By Mark Tooley - January 16, 2009
Where will President Barack Obama attend church in Washington? Thanks to revelations about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his former pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ (UCC) in Chicago, Mr. Obama's church shopping requires more careful political contemplation than a new president typically needs. But his ultimate choice likely will be a noncontroversial church, suitable for young children, with a brief commute and tightly scheduled worship that gets the president back home early on Sunday mornings.
Even so, Washington provides such a wealth of opportunities that more factors than those will come into play. Mr. Obama's own background could point him in several possible directions. His mother, Ann Dunham, was a spiritual seeker drawn to many religions. Both of her husbands were nominal Muslims. Mr. Obama's maternal grandparents were Unitarians.
Mr. Obama's early Chicago activism took him to Trinity. At an altar call, he professed faith in Christ. Trinity is a black congregation within the nearly all white 1.2 million United Church of Christ. Although it originated with New England's Puritans, the UCC has mostly shed its strict Calvinism of past centuries and arguably is America's most liberal mainline Protestant denomination.
A UCC church in Washington could be a comfortable fit for a former member of Chicago's Trinity. Trinity's social liberalism -- on issues of gay rights and abortion rights, for instance -- is more like that of other UCC congregations than of historically black denominations, which typically are theologically conservative. The 2.5 million member African Methodist Episcopal Church, for instance, voted unanimously in 2004 to prohibit same-sex unions. Pastor Wright's flamboyant preaching style echoes that seen in many black churches. But his radicalized Social Gospel more resembles that of white mainline Protestants.
Mr. Obama seems to share the cool rationalism of the UCC's liberal New England roots more than the evangelistic and emotive black church tradition. Talking to the Chicago Sun-Times about his faith in 2004, he cited his "suspicion of dogma" and "too much certainty," and said he preferred a "dose of doubt" in religion. Somewhat deflecting questions about prayer, Jesus and the afterlife, Mr. Obama defined sin as "being out of alignment with my values."
In 2007, Mr. Obama addressed the UCC's governing synod. "Doing the Lord's work is a thread that's run through our politics since the very beginning," he told an enthusiastic audience of 9,000. Despite Mr. Obama's resignation from Trinity after the Wright controversy, John Thomas, president of the UCC, wrote to him after his November win, speaking of the denomination's pride and hope in the president-elect and offering him the "hospitality" of its congregations in Washington.
All this suggests that Mr. Obama could choose one of the UCC's seven churches in the nation's capital, two of which are predominantly black. Or, will he gravitate instead to one of the city's historically black denominations in a majority black city? Whatever denomination attracts him, will he choose a white or racially diverse church?
The guessing game has been going on for a while now, but it often ignores the importance of location and duration. Presidential churches usually lie within one short mile of the White House, and have short, one-hour services. Typical black-church worship is longer. Newly inaugurated George W. Bush learned this when he attended an exuberant two-hour service at a black congregation on Capitol Hill. Though he is a Methodist, Bush settled on convenient St. John's Episcopal, one block from the White House.
Time magazine has suggested that President Obama might attend the multiracial Church of the Epiphany, only three blocks away, noting that several members of Abraham Lincoln's cabinet worshiped there. But perhaps Time forgot that Confederate President Jefferson Davis was also a regular at Epiphany in the days before the Civil War. Now liberal and socially progressive, Church of the Epiphany nevertheless uses a liturgy that may seem too formal for Mr. Obama, accustomed to the UCC's minimal use of ritual.
So, how about First Congregational UCC, where Calvin Coolidge worshiped? Only six blocks from the White House, it was founded by abolitionists, is liberal politically, and has a multiracial congregation. But the old sanctuary is being replaced with a glass office building, whose ground floor will house worship in the future. President Obama may prefer a more settled venue.
If so, he could worship at Grace Reformed UCC, where Teddy Roosevelt attended services, just seven blocks away. The stately original sanctuary is now surrounded by a neighborhood of hip, condo-owning yuppies. A special room displays Roosevelt relics, and undoubtedly the church would like to add some artifacts of a more recent president to its collection.
A few blocks closer to the White House stands the imposing Washington City Church, which Lyndon Johnson frequented. Part of the Disciples of Christ (Christian Church), its nonritualistic, low-church worship resembles the UCC's. The church hosts annual rallies by liberal evangelical Jim Wallis, a strong Obama promoter.
Mr. Obama probably is not likely to attend Foundry United Methodist, where the Clintons worshiped (and whose then-pastor defended Bill during Monicagate). But nearby is First Baptist, where Harry Truman and Jimmy Carter prayed. More liberal than most Baptist churches, it has a female interim pastor.
If Mr. Obama prefers a black congregation, Asbury United Methodist Church, just seven blocks from the White House, promises a 55-minute, 8:30 a.m. service. Like Chicago's Trinity, Asbury is a black church in a 90% white denomination. But Asbury's clergy are traditional black preachers who mostly avoid controversy. And it touts a popular Sunday school that might suit Mr. Obama's daughters well.
My prediction? Even closer to the White House is New York Avenue Presbyterian, where Abraham Lincoln's original pew still sits. In Lincoln's day, the church was nonpolitical and traditionalist. Today, its liberal perspective might suit Mr. Obama well. And sitting where the Great Emancipator often sat might provide symbolism and inspiration that are impossible for the new president to resist.
Mr. Tooley directs the United Methodist program at the Institute on Religion and Democracy (www.theird.org) in Washington.
Correction & Amplification
A previous version of this article erroneously named Grace Episcopal Church as a Washington, D.C., church near the White House that Mr. Obama and his family might want to attend. The correct name is Church of the Epiphany.
Original Report
|
|
FAIR USE NOTICE
This Email newsletter
contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically
authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our
efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human
rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17
U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information
for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish
to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go
beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright
owner.
Important Disclaimer
Moriel Ministries does not
necessarily endorse everything that is transmitted to our email groups, as being
completely trustworthy or godly as some items are drawn from secular sources.
Nor does it suggest in any way that any individual or organization mentioned
should be followed or given any special credence. Be Alert! is for the
dissemination of information only and godly discretion must be applied
by recipients to every transmission received by them, from us.
Regarding "Conspiracy Theories"
Be Alert! and Moriel do not
necessarily endorse the views expressed by those deemed as "conspiracy
theorists" (nor do we necessarily always agree with the use of this terminology
used as a label by the establishment) when such an article reprinted or topic
covered. We present this in the interests of research - for the relevant
information, we believe it contains. We encourage the reader to prayerfully use
this information within the framework of reasoned and scriptural consideration
for the purposes of investigative journalism, research and sound bible study,
towards a greater, common understanding of the unanswered questions, concerning
intrigue and deception which have engulfed both the church as well as the
world.
|
Live Teaching Engagements
|
|
|
|
Contact Us
|
|
P. O. Box 100223
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
15233
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
