# NEWS FLASH: Obama not Muslim! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 20, 2010, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842 "2010-08-20T06:23:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/61 "2010-08-20T16:34:54Z")
"The Rev. Franklin Graham on Friday said that President Barack Obama was “born a Muslim” because the religion’s “seed” is passed from the father. Graham made the remark during an interview with CNN’s John King set to air Friday night after being asked about a new Pew poll showing that 31 percent of Republicans believe the president — a Christian — is Muslim." > **[Rev. Graham: Obama 'born a Muslim'](https://www.politico.com/story/2010/08/rev-graham-obama-born-a-muslim-041292)** > > The Rev. Franklin Graham argues that the religion’s “seed” is passed from the father. This looks like a credible source. It also looks like Rev Graham is completely full of poop. Has this kind of silliness EVER happened to any other POTUS? Did Hamilton accuse Jefferson of being an atheist? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/62 "2010-08-20T16:35:41Z")
When Graham says he was born a Muslim, I expect he means “he’s a black guy.” ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/63 "2010-08-20T16:40:41Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > There’s no such thing as being “born a Muslim,” in the first place, …and that’s where I think a lot of people slip into the “huh?” zone. Many people operate under a couple of misplaced assumptions, first and worst being that your religious formation is some sort of ethnic trait. That by analogy to how people are labled as “a Jew” by descent without believing or practicing Judaism themselves, you can be a Muslim or a Mormon or whatever just by bloodline (and as a corollary, that if you’re really integrated into American Christian culture, then your name had better be changed to Bernie Herbert Oberton or something like that). ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/64 "2010-08-20T16:42:38Z")
Actually, Rev. Graham was born a douche. He comes from a long line of them. I just can’t understand why folks _want_ Obama to be anything other than what he is. So they can hate him without feeling guilty? How fucked up is that? ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/65 "2010-08-20T16:48:40Z")
> [@Darth\_Nader](#): > > Actually, Rev. Graham was born a douche. He comes from a long line of them. > > I just can’t understand why folks _want_ Obama to be anything other than what he is. So they can hate him without feeling guilty? How fucked up is that? Nah, it just helps explain why he hates America. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/66 "2010-08-20T16:50:21Z")
I don’t think they feel very guilty about hating him in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/67 "2010-08-20T16:54:18Z")
> [@born\_too\_late](#): > > > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > > You donate money to a church whose tenets you no longer believe in? That’s… bizarre. > > Not bizarre. It just means he’s hedging his bets in case he decides he wants to run for office sometime in the future. Yeah, either that or I want to make sure they have the money to repair the leaky roof and I want to make sure they have winter jackets to give the dirt-poor kids during their annual appalachia trip. I’m sure it’s the politics, though. :rolleyes: > [@Marley23](#): > > So if I said I wouldn’t be surprised if you were Muslim, your response would be what? 😉 Anyway check out the post I made a few minutes ago. If I had my parents and grew up where I grew up? I’d say that’s an odd statement. If I had a muslim parent and grew up (even briefly) in a Muslim country? I’d say “I can see why you’d say that.” **Marley** , if Obama announced tomorrow that he is, in fact, an atheist that considers himself from a Muslim family, would you go :eek: or would you go “Figures”? Have you ever had a male coworker that watches Sex and the City, likes HGTV, has never seen a football game, has a high-pitched voice, but is married with kids? Would you think he’s gay? No. But if he came out and said “I’m getting a divorce. I’m gay.”, wouldn’t you go “I can’t say I’m shocked”? It’s like that. > [@Marley23](#): > > When Graham says he was born a Muslim, I expect he means “he’s a black guy.” Well of course you do. Despite no evidence, you liberals won’t stop pounding the “Racist!” drum. You won’t stop making the baseless claim that Republicans dislike the President because he’s black. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/68 "2010-08-20T17:02:06Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Well of course you do. Despite no evidence, you liberals won’t stop pounding the “Racist!” drum. You won’t stop making the baseless claim that Republicans dislike the President because he’s black. Some certainly [do](http://www.google.ie/images?q=racist%20obama%20signs&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=661) As to the whole living in a muslim culture point you make. What about non-christians in American. The States is a VERY christian country. Would you question the religion of a US Muslim/Jew/Hindu because they were brought up with lots of christianity around them? ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/69 "2010-08-20T17:02:53Z")
> [@Jolly\_Roger](#): > > Rev. Franklin Graham was on the news this morning saying that Obama was born a muslim but renounced it. I don’t remember obama ever saying he was ever a muslim and I don’t buy the whole “his father was a muslim so he must be too” thing either. I don’t have time right now to bother google mining info on it, and I don’t take much stock into what Frank or Billy Graham say anyway. He also said that the first Jewish synagogue in America was in NYC. It wasn’t. It was Touro Synagogue in Newport, RI. He ain’t the Southern Baptist pope and he ain’t infallible. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/70 "2010-08-20T17:08:01Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > He ain’t the Southern Baptist pope and he ain’t infallible. Maybe if we crucified the S.O.B., and he came back three days later, 800 feet tall? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/71 "2010-08-20T17:08:47Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > If I had my parents and grew up where I grew up? I’d say that’s an odd statement. > > If I had a muslim parent and grew up (even briefly) in a Muslim country? I’d say “I can see why you’d say that.” Even if you’d identified as a Christian for decades? [And again, he didn’t have a Muslim parent.] > [@](#): > > **Marley** , if Obama announced tomorrow that he is, in fact, an atheist that considers himself from a Muslim family, would you go :eek: or would you go “Figures”? On the atheist part, I’d be very surprised - partly because I wouldn’t expect a president to admit it even if it was true, and partly because it contradicts a lot of what he’s said about the subject. But I’d see where it came from because there are atheists and agnostics in the family. On the Muslim part I’d be bewildered. His father came from a Muslim family, but he only met him once. His stepfather was also an atheist from a Muslim family, but he wasn’t in their lives very long. Obama lived in Indonesia for all of four years and then went back to Hawaii and lived with his grandparents, who weren’t Muslims either. So yes, I’d wonder how having one non-Muslim parent, one not-really-a-Muslim parent who he hardly knew and one not-really-a-Muslim stepfather translated in his mind to “from a Muslim family.” If you just mean that he considers his family to be Muslim, I’d say some of them definitely are Muslim but I’d wonder why he was singling them out over the non-Muslim part of his family. [QUOTE=Chessic Sense] Well of course you do. Despite no evidence, you liberals won’t stop pounding the “Racist!” drum. You won’t stop making the baseless claim that Republicans dislike the President because he’s black. [/QUOTE] We’re not discussing Republicans, we’re discussing that small but confusingly persistent group of people who think Obama is a Muslim. And yes, it’s because he’s a black guy with a foreign name. It’s not a hatred thing, it’s about their discomfort with someone who doesn’t _feel_ like one of them because he looks different. It makes them more prone to accepting the notion that he’s a Muslim even though there’s no reason to think he is one. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/72 "2010-08-20T17:08:59Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > > [@Marley23](#): > > > > When Graham says he was born a Muslim, I expect he means “he’s a black guy.” > > Well of course you do. Despite no evidence, you liberals won’t stop pounding the “Racist!” drum. You won’t stop making the baseless claim that Republicans dislike the President because he’s black. Folks who attack Obama based on the policies he’s passing or trying to pass: not racist. Folks who attack Obama based on complete and utter fabrications that are repeatedly shown to be false: probably racist, and definitely stupid, divisive, small-minded, petty, and mean. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/73 "2010-08-20T17:09:26Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Well of course you do. Despite no evidence, you liberals won’t stop pounding the “Racist!” drum. You won’t stop making the baseless claim that Republicans dislike the President because he’s black. The only acceptable form of evidence is a signed/notarized or videotaped statement affirming “I am a racist Republican who hates Obama because he’s black.” Said evidence is in extremely short supply; ergo, almost none of the opposition to Obama derives from racism. Thank you, and here’s your crayon back. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/74 "2010-08-20T17:12:19Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > **Marley** , if Obama announced tomorrow that he is, in fact, an atheist that considers himself from a Muslim family, would you go :eek: or would you go “Figures”? > > Have you ever had a male coworker that watches Sex and the City, likes HGTV, has never seen a football game, has a high-pitched voice, but is married with kids? Would you think he’s gay? No. But if he came out and said “I’m getting a divorce. I’m gay.”, wouldn’t you go “I can’t say I’m shocked”? > > It’s like that. I’d be really fucking surprised, and so would most people. You are… unusual, in holding this view. Well, apparently not _that_ unusual, per the OP. ETA: Where, in this analogy, is the stuff you consider to be the Secret Muslim equivalent of watching Sex and the City/HGTV and having a high pitched voice? ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/75 "2010-08-20T17:16:13Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > > [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > > > Well of course you do. Despite no evidence, you liberals won’t stop pounding the “Racist!” drum. You won’t stop making the baseless claim that Republicans dislike the President because he’s black. > > The only acceptable form of evidence is a signed/notarized or videotaped statement affirming “I am a racist Republican who hates Obama because he’s black.” > > Said evidence is in extremely short supply; ergo, almost none of the opposition to Obama derives from racism. > > Thank you, and here’s your crayon back. It’d be nice if, for once, you could find _something_ even hinting at this supposed racism. But no, you just interject it into every conversation about the man. Bailouts? Racists. Oil spill? Racists. Deficit? Racists. War? Racists. No matter what the topic is, liberals assume that all opposition is based on racism with nary a bit of evidence. It’s cool, though. I already knew you were stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/76 "2010-08-20T17:22:53Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > ETA: Where, in this analogy, is the stuff you consider to be the Secret Muslim equivalent of watching Sex and the City/HGTV and having a high pitched voice? 1. Spent time out of the good old U.S.A. 2. Fox news says he was born in Kenya 3. Is black 4. Has a funny middle name Sadly, this is enough for a significant number of people to jump to entirely wrong conclusions, especially when a cable new network “helps them along” to these conclusions. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/77 "2010-08-20T17:23:18Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > It’d be nice if, for once, you could find _something_ even hinting at this supposed racism. Come on now. If you don’t know this stuff is out there, you’re not paying attention. [http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/conservative\_activist\_forwards\_racist\_pic\_showing.php](http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/conservative_activist_forwards_racist_pic_showing.php) > **[NY Gubernatorial Candidate Carl Paladino’s Racist and Sexist Email History -...](https://wnymedia.net/paladino/)** > > It’s been written countless times that Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino is something of a walking contradiction. But let’s take him at his > [@](#): > > No matter what the topic is, liberals assume that all opposition is based on racism with nary a bit of evidence. There are people who go overboard with the accusations of racism, but most people don’t. There is unquestionably some serious racism out there. The part that remains debatable is how much of the free floating, weird, almost unexplained anger out there is related to racism. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/78 "2010-08-20T17:25:39Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > We’re not discussing Republicans, we’re discussing that small but confusingly persistent group of people who think Obama is a Muslim. And yes, it’s because he’s a black guy with a foreign name. It’s not a hatred thing, it’s about their discomfort with someone who doesn’t _feel_ like one of them because he looks different. It makes them more prone to accepting the notion that he’s a Muslim even though there’s no reason to think he is one. I think there’s an important distinction in there. Republicans primarily dislike Obama because he’s a Democrat. The fact that he’s black (which removes a commonality with them) makes it easier to misattribute other false characteristics to him - he’s a Muslim, an atheist, a socialist, a fascist, a Nazi, a lizardperson. Clinton had a good ol’ boy vibe that muted some of that in the working class right-wing opposition. Obama’s a black intellectual - he’s got nothing in common with these people, and thus he could be up to _anything_ insidious. I do sometimes wonder when all these people who claim he is a secret Muslim (or secret anything) think he’s going to cast off his disguise and reveal his master plan. He’s in the White House - what is he waiting for? ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/79 "2010-08-20T17:32:26Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I’d be really fucking surprised, and so would most people. You are… unusual, in holding this view. Well, apparently not _that_ unusual, per the OP. > > ETA: Where, in this analogy, is the stuff you consider to be the Secret Muslim equivalent of watching Sex and the City/HGTV and having a high pitched voice? The equivalent is having one side of his family that’s Muslim, even though you guys want to hand wave that away, and having spent formative years in an Islamic culture. And I seriously doubt my view is unusual. I said he’s an atheist. A lot of people, in this thread even, agree with me. He’s putting on a show. He’s one of those guys that doesn’t spend much time thinking about the divine. When he says he meets with spiritual advisors, he’s lying. He’s playing politics. The guy’s idea of Sunday worship is cheering on the Bears. I never said he was a Muslim. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/80 "2010-08-20T17:37:16Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > We’re not discussing Republicans, we’re discussing that small but confusingly persistent group of people who think Obama is a Muslim. And yes, it’s because he’s a black guy with a foreign name. It’s not a hatred thing, it’s about their discomfort with someone who doesn’t _feel_ like one of them because he looks different. It makes them more prone to accepting the notion that he’s a Muslim even though there’s no reason to think he is one. This is, IMHO, the best explanation of the situation I’ve ever read. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842.md?page=5)