This was ably diaried yesterday by Stroszek here but didn't make the rec list so I wanted to reprise and at least give it some additional air time.
Bottom line, the New York Times published an abysmal hit piece recycling the Obama is a Muslim smear:
Senator Obama is half African by birth and Africans can understandably identify with him. In Islam, however, there is no such thing as a half-Muslim. Like all monotheistic religions, Islam is an exclusive faith.
As the son of the Muslim father, Senator Obama was born a Muslim under Muslim law as it is universally understood. It makes no difference that, as Senator Obama has written, his father said he renounced his religion. Likewise, under Muslim law based on the Koran his mother’s Christian background is irrelevant.
Or at least so claims the author ... (flip for the rest!)
Edward Luttwak (who is apparently Jewish, at least by birth).
Well, not so fast says Ali Eteraz in his forceful rebuttal onThe Huffington Post:
Islamic law recognizes abandonment by the biological father. Obama's Kenyan father abandoned Obama. As such, any religious imprimatur he may have had over Obama -- which is already a stretch since the man was an atheist -- is null and void. In such a situation, Obama's mother's religion is controlling. She was not Muslim. Even if someone makes the argument from patriarchy: that Obama's paternal grandparents were his rightful guardians, that would fail since they also constructively abandoned him.
So there. Perhaps most importantly - especially for Jews (like me) who are familiar with matralinial transmission of the Jewish faith he goes on to point out that:
Luttwack and the other fake experts promoting this new smear do not understand Islam. Religion is not hereditary as it is in Judaism. Islam is not a race. Just because a child has a Muslim father -- which, again, Obama didn't -- doesn't mean anything unless the child is being raised as a Muslim. At the time of birth, Muslims engage in a symbolic act -- of saying the Call to Prayer in the child's ear -- that renders a child Muslim. If Obama's father was agnostic/atheist, then he wouldn't have done such a thing.
Thank you so much Mr. Eteraz for debunking yet another round of Obama bashing.
PS Some folks on the Jews for Obama discussion group on ObamaforAmerica.com run JewsforObama.com where they are doing their best to catalog rebuttals to the smears making the Jewish e-mail network rounds and link to various good sources to aid individuals in their personal efforts to beat back this garbage.