In April, 2007 I wrote a diary about Freedom from religionpointing out that our Founding Fathers; forced to live under the dictates of the Church of England created by Henry the Eighth to serve his personal need for getting rid of wives that the Catholic Church refused to let him divorce; had inserted in the Bill of Rights one little phrase that took state religion out of realm of government by giving us freedom from being forced to practice someone else's religious ideology. And one of the most troubling aspects of this 2008 campaign is that religious ideology has surfaced as the most important "issue" of all the campaigns; from Republicans Romney and Huckabee to Democrats Clinton and Obama.
It doesn’t belong in the campaign. While we are arguing over whose the most "Christian", real issues that should be the most important to those wishing to represent the whole nation have taken a backseat.
I don’t care if Obama is a practicing Muslim or whether he took the oath of office on the Koran, but I do care if he or Huckabee or Romney intend to force their religious ideology down my throat. And from what I’ve been reading and hearing from the extremely religious candidates they are all quite willing to do that.
Both Romney and Huckabee are quite up front about outlining their religious agenda; they both intend to push the envelope on their Christian/Mormon philosophy. We aren’t buying any "pigs in a poke" there. Huckabee intends to work toward a new Constitutional "convention" that will redefine the Founding Father’s concepts of freedom by the Christian definitions he believes in. Romney is busy assuring us that being a Mormon is a lot like being a Christian, but Brigham Young’s version has some major differences from Huckabee's. Presidents take an oath to "protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" which means that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams left their very different religious ideologies at the White House door.
But the push to change not only our democratic way of life, but the founding principal of protection from a president’s religious ideology means that we have to think about the religious background of presidential candidates because, like honesty and integrity and leadership skills, the candidates have made it necessary to do so.
So, unfortunately, we must consider Barak Obama’s religious ideology in light of its impact upon the Constitution and we must ask for assurances that he will not practice that ideology while in the office of President of the United States. What, exactly, is Barak Obama’s religious philosophy? Frankly, I have no idea. I know that critics of Obama have put forth rumors of his Muslim association and accused him of attending a Muslim religious school but, considering his father and stepfather were both Muslim, to deny that there was a Muslim influence in his life is disingenuous. His official biography states that he had no stated religious affiliation until he joined the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago twenty years ago at around age 27. According to an article published in the International Herald TribuneDecember 17, 2007 "He [Obama] is known to invoke religious references in his speeches and has said he has a "personal relationship" with Jesus Christ. He often has said that religion has a place in public life and that faith and politics are not exclusively the domain of conservatives. He is also quoted as saying
During this holiday season and during this political season I'm continually reminded that the values that I learned at Trinity and as part of the UCC community are values that can't just stay in church but have to be applied outside of church.
and,
It is important for me to have people that I trust, that I can talk to," he replied. "Obviously, part of that is my religious life, my spiritual life as a Christian, a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ. Part of that is being surrounded by people who are not a bunch of yes men
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The author also pointed out that "Obama's campaign has made a point of reaching out to religious voters." thus making his religious ideology a part of his campaign.
There seems to be a lot of the "born again" ideology of George W. Bush here. Bush, too, thought he was in a "personal relationship" with his version of Jesus. God led him to invade Iraq. So Muslim or Christian, what sort of role will Obama’s ideology play in leading Our Government? What we didn’t get totally clear about GWB’s Christian ideology, we must get clear from Candidate Obama. The opaqueness of his religious ideology needs to become crystal clear and requires exploration of both his experience with Muslim ideology and Christian ideology.
From his official biography, he states that his mother was unaffiliated with any church; which is not a problem. But she married two foreign nationals, both Muslims, who impacted her son’s youth. From birth to age 10, he resided with his Muslim father (who married his mother although he had another wife and family he returned to when Obama was two), and an Indonesian stepfather, Lolo Soetaro, who moved the family far from the American multi cultural influence of Hawaii to Jakarta, Indonesia. One of the arguments used to prove that Obama was considered Muslim is that the religion of the father is the religion of the son; just as in the Jewish faith, the religion of the mother is considered the religion of the children. That is an indication that Obama could easily have been a participant in the Muslim faith as both his male influences were Muslim; however, as we all know, adult children can renounce their parent’s faith and if Obama did that he has nothing to hide.
He does indicate that he was not a practicing Christian until he moved to Chicago and joined the Baptist religion. None of this is relevant unless he intends to practice either the Muslim or Christian ideology while in office in the Senate or the Presidency. And from quotes, it appears that he joins Huckabee in believing that his values "can't just stay in church but have to be applied outside of church" and what those values are and where he plans to apply them are what we need to know before we cast that vote.
I have stated before that I tend to look at the public service of individuals before I delve too deeply into a candidate’s background and therefore, I missed most of the Obama-is-a-radical-Muslim rumors; however, after the Clinton/Obama public flurry of accusations, I felt it was time to find out just exactly who this chameleon like candidate really was. After the intense 8 year investigation into Senator Clinton’s life, plus all the additional coverage when she ran for the senate in New York, I felt we’d pretty much emptied out her closet; but Senator Obama’s is still locked.
He emerged in the political arena by giving the keynote speech at the Democratic convention in 2004. He had 8 years of political experience as a State Senator in Illinois (I lived in Chicago during that time and never heard of him) and half of a term as a Senator from Illinois when he decided to run for president. If he applied for a position as CEO of a company with this resume, he wouldn’t get very far. Sure, the president of the United States isn’t exactly a company (although it is being run like one) but we’ve had one candidate with a resume similar (two-term governor of Texas) and look where we are now. Perhaps that is enough for you, but "once burned, twice shy" and I’d prefer not to buy another "pig in a poke", so, risking the ire of Obama supporters, I am going to ask that the "poke" be opened and we take a look inside.
Barak (Barry) Hussein Obama (it is his name) may have found himself confused by his racial and/or religious identity; but looking at a photo of his class taken in 1972 at the private Punahou school you would think it would be easier to fit in there than, say, any school in the south. From my reading of his biography "Dreams of My Father", it appears he wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but he certainly wasn’t born into poverty either; and a college educated Indonesian isn't exactly living on the mean streets of Jakarta unless he did something to really irritate the government.
I have known many "Army brats" who have traveled the world, many whose step fathers were of a different culture, race, and/or religion. Many were biracial or had black fathers and white mothers. Many came from war zones and poverty yet it was remarkable how adaptable these children were. Why Barry Obama could not find acceptance in Hawaii of all places, where just about everyone you meet is biracial surprises me. But it is reasonable to expect a child thrown into three different cultures (American, Kenyan, Indonesian) plus immersed in a Muslim religious culture not counterbalanced by any other strong faith during his first ten years, might have trouble adapting to any new environment.
And perhaps part of the key is in the statements made by his family who say they "saw a more complex young man, a person whose racial confusion and feelings of alienation were matched with equal parts ambition, disquietude and lofty notions about where his internal struggles might lead." where, according to his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng "There was always a joke between my mom and Barack that he would be the first black president." Having been raised by two Muslim men in a culture far different from the African-American experience it is also strange that his identity was not with the people who raised him from the age of 10 until graduation from high school who were white. The joke indicates that his mother considered him not Kenyan, not Indonesian and not white.
Was Barry Obama seeking the American black experience when he immersed himself in black Chicago? From statements of his, and of others, he was an admirer of Malcolm X, founder of The Nation of Islam, not Reverend Martin Luther King. Malcolm X’s successor to the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, is based in Chicago. Is there any connection? I’d like to know; not because of the Muslim connection but because the Nation of Islam’s ideology is so very far from what our Constitutional Democracy represents.
And now, today, the headlines read
Obama Reaches for King’s Mantle Candidate invokes rights leader’s legacy as he asks black voters to believe
During the October 1988 debate between vice presidential candidates Lloyd Bentsen and Dan Quayle; Quayle said, "I have far more experience than many others that sought the office of vice president of this country. I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency..." to which Lloyd Bentsen replied, "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy." We would all do well to remember that Senator Obama is not Reverend King; they have chosen very different paths.
Senator Obama is reaching for the mantle of a president but so far he has only mentioned the path taken by Ronald Reagan. Martin Luther King and President Kennedy and his brother Robert Kennedy were allies in the war for racial equality. And Senator Obama's path remains obscured because actions do speak louder than words, no matter how eloquent those words may be.