Obam is not a Muslim

[Erik Paterson]

Barack Obama is not a Muslim

In 2004 a certain well known anchorman from a well known network was summarily drummed from the corps of TV media elites for reporting false claims concerning the military service of President Bush. The information that he had gleaned was reported before it had been thoroughly researched and subsequently found to be completely false. The conservatives raised a hue and a cry and all but demanded the head of said anchorman.

Now in 2007, certain factions in the conservative movement and members of the religious right are spreading false information about Senator Barack Obama, some equating him to be the “anti-Christ”. According to CNN, Insight Magazine, which is owned by the same company as The Washington Times reported on its web site in mid January that associates of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, had unearthed information that Senator Obama attended a radical madrassa between 1969 and 1971. Here the young Senator Obama was allegedly taught the most fundamental form of Islam.

John Vause, the CNN Senior International Correspondent Traveled to Jakarta Indonesia to investigate these claims. He visited the Basuki School which Obama attended, and found that it was a Public School, which does not focus on religion. It is not an Islamic school, it does not promote Wahhabism, and in fact the students there include Christians, Buddhists, and Confucians.

Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ in Chicago, and has for over twenty years. I would remind those who spread false information that it is better to remain silent and thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.