It is well documented that Barack Obama is a Christian. In fact, some of you may remember a dust-up during the primaries in which his Christianity was critiqued via the minister of his Church, one Reverend Wright. So how is it that his detractors are now so invested in propagating the misinformation that he is Muslim? It hardly seems fair.
But what's worse to me is the fact that I have not heard anyone until now, say, "SO WHAT IF HE WAS A MUSLIM?"
First of all, I'm not naive, and I am well aware of the political ramifications and the reason why no Muslim in my lifetime will probably ever be president. But there you go. Folks need to stop pretending that race, ethnicity, religion, mother tongue, class and education magically don't matter anymore in America and we're all past that now. If we were past that, a biracial man whose mother and grandmother and grandfather were all poor, midwestern white people would not be considered to automatically be "anti-white" or to "think white people are all trash." If we were past all that, no one would care if or where Obama went to church or who his preacher was. "Muslim" would not be a politically dangerous label. No one would call him an "Arab" and have it mean something so dirty that John McCain would have to tear the microphone away from her before she could repeat it.
Islam is neither synonymous with terror nor is it unAmerican. There are at least 5 million Muslims in the United States. The largest Muslim organization in the United States at the time endorsed George W. Bush in his first campaign for the presidency. If you recall, the margin of victory in that election was somewhat short of 5 million. It would be fair to say Bush owes his presidency to American Muslims. Islam is the fastest growing religion in this country. It is an American religion.
There is no religious test for political office in this country. We have this little thing called a First Amendment. All together now:
"Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
image: sacreddestinations.com
