# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/141 "2010-08-21T04:23:30Z")
Muslim in this case is not about religion. It is about him being black. It is about him somehow being different. He can not be one of us. There has to be an explanation . So he is a Muslim since most people don’t even know what it means or looks like. But it is exotic and different and even dangerous . Muslim is code for black. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/142 "2010-08-21T04:37:27Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Muslim is code for black. I think in many cases this is true, and can’t help but to shake my head when people say things like there’s “something” about him they don’t trust, but can’t put their finger on. The interviews I’d hear on NPR during the primaries were just A+ when you’d listen to people all out say they like him and his platform but “something” \ about Obama bothered them. I wanted to be all “Ooh! Ooh! I know!” raising my hand, shaking it vigorously, “I know what it is! Teacher, please call on me!” But anyway, yeah, almost all of the “Obama is a secret Muslim Kenyan” is pure racist claptrap. ---
**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 21, 2010, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/143 "2010-08-21T04:46:58Z")
> **[I love MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=575306)** > > MeanOldLady… I feel like a kid at Hot Topic finding his favorite band shirt for the first time. It’s like the time I discovered my wife likes a pinky up her ass at certain moments. Seriously, you rock, you are freakin’ awesome. We’re not rich. ... ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/144 "2010-08-21T04:50:10Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > > > … > > I never said he was a Muslim. > > Okay, so you’re not saying he’s a Muslim. You’re saying… he _might_ be a Muslim. Okay; he _might_ also be a Zoroastrian. So what? Now THAT would be cool. A little shrine to Ahura-Mazda in the Oval Office? Righteous. Secret Service made up of Zoroaster Priests in saffron robes with ceremonial scimitars? Awesome. ~~ I actually knew a Zoroastrian in college. And now I have an actual East German Communist living on my street. And a former Hitler Youth next door. And a Rotarian across our back yard. He’s the weirdest… ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/145 "2010-08-21T10:33:56Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > > [@Princhester](#): > > > > No, it was the implementation that lead to the complaints. I think it’s pretty accepted by atheists (if grudgingly) that the realpolitik is that you have to go through the motions of being Christian to be elected Pres in the US. The horror with Bush was that he seemed to do more than go through the motions. > > So everything’s fine, because Obama is lying; it was awful when Bush did it, because he was telling the truth. Despite this post, I think you are smart enough to understand: 1/ the difference between something being “fine” and something being grudgingly accepted 2/ that what I meant was that the horror lay in a powerful world leader implementing policy on the basis of his imaginary friend. The horror did not lie in a powerful world leader saying he had an imaginary friend. Sadly the latter is too common to warrant horror. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/146 "2010-08-21T13:19:03Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > > [@Bricker](#): > > > > So everything’s fine, because Obama is lying; it was awful when Bush did it, because he was telling the truth. > > Despite this post, I think you are smart enough to understand: > > 1/ the difference between something being “fine” and something being grudgingly accepted > > 2/ that what I meant was that the horror lay in a powerful world leader implementing policy on the basis of his imaginary friend. The horror did not lie in a powerful world leader saying he had an imaginary friend. Sadly the latter is too common to warrant horror. Nope. Most presidents from Washington through Kennedy, and to a lesser extent from LBJ through Clinton, gave varying degrees of deference (from sincere devotion to lip service) to a counterfeit American Judaeo-Christian ethic that was actually cobbled together from Christianity, Roman and Germanic traditional ethics, and the Enlightenment, that included things like: [ul] [li]Have some self-respect. Stand up foryourself.[/li][li]Stick up for the underdog against the bully.[/li][li]People should be generally free to live their lives, as long as they conform outwardly to some expected social norms.[/li][li]Be neighborly – when your neighbor really needs help, give it to him, with both hands, even if his pride won’t let him accept it.[/li][li]Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you – but in moderation.[/li][li]Deal out justice firmly, but be prepared to have mercy from time to time.[/li][li]Don’t let the bastards grind you down. This too will pass.[/li][li]Mind your own business.[/li][/ul] This was what the popular conception of God expected of people. Notice how different it is from Tea Party standards. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/147 "2010-08-21T13:31:24Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Yes. I mean, are you guys rich? No, but they have a pet St. Bernard with a scotch barrel attached to his collar. You know, for rescues. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/148 "2010-08-21T14:57:49Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > From the linked article: > > _“And so the President is obviously a–is Christian. He prays every day. He communicates with his religious advisor every single day. There’s a group of pastors that he takes counself from on a regular basis. And his faith is very important to him…”_ > > Hmm…Now, perhaps I’m wrong, but haven’t presidents Bush (GWB) and Reagan been pretty viciously assailed around here for saying and doing things like this? And less? 1. I always had the impression Reagan wasn’t very religious. He did a great job pandering to the religious, but that’s not the same thing. 2. I do not recall Bush being assailed for praying, not by anyone around here, anyway. Maybe Der Trihs, but he’s a bit hysterical on the subject. In this case, though, I have to admit gonzomax cuts to the heart of the matter; “Obama is a secret Muslim” is a code for “I hate niggers.” ---
**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 21, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/149 "2010-08-21T15:43:39Z")
> [@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. This post made me realize that I should admit to myself that sometimes I have had similar kinds of thoughts, but from “the other side”. That is, if someone claims something ridiculous and negative\* about a “NASCAR-white-trailer-trash-redneck”, I probably tend to filter it through my “discomfort” with those kinds of people, and so be more likely to believe the assertion without thinking it through or checking up on the facts. I’m so used to hanging out with the multi-hued “academic elite”, I sometimes forget that a lot of people, apparently, feel “discomfort” towards me and people like me. (\*I am NOT implying “Muslim” is anything negative. It would have to be a different sort of assertion, something _ **I** _ disapprove of, to work as an example of what I’m suggesting here. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/150 "2010-08-21T16:39:59Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > “Formative years” is vague but this is a battle you shouldn’t have fought. Age 6-10 is as “formative” as any, and Indonesia is definitely a Muslim country. Say your _mea culpa_ and move on to more salient points. Exactly. The fact that Obama is not a Muslim does not mean that anything you can possibly think of to support that is true. Typical **DtC** , though. We usually have a Pit thread about this every few months. I can kinda sorta see where someone who doesn’t pay attention to the news, or who is exposed to those right wing hate e-mails might think Obama is a Muslim. It’s not that unusual for Blacks to embrace their African heritage and become Muslim even if they were raised Christian. And Obama has more immediate African/Muslim heritage than most African Americans. However, that is a profoundly ignorant view. As is the rejection of evolution-- a stance embraced my more Americans that think Obama is a Muslim. ---
**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 21, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/151 "2010-08-21T16:45:24Z")
Islam doesn’t really have any more to do with “African heritage” than Christianity. Even the Nation of Islam doesn’t try to sell that idea. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/152 "2010-08-21T16:49:58Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Islam doesn’t really have any more to do with “African heritage” than Christianity. Even the Nation of Islam doesn’t try to sell that idea. Tell that to the African Americans who think Islam is part of their African Heritage. ---
**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 21, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/153 "2010-08-21T16:51:31Z")
Um… if I meet any, I will be sure to do so. Happy? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/154 "2010-08-21T17:18:49Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Um… if I meet any, I will be sure to do so. Happy? Only if you promise to PM me every time you do! 😉 ---
**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 21, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/155 "2010-08-21T18:12:37Z")
It’s a deal. Better clear your inbox. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/156 "2010-08-22T01:07:04Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > However, that is a profoundly ignorant view. As is the rejection of evolution-- a stance embraced my more Americans that think Obama is a Muslim. I’m not sure that’s the right comparison. It’s, what, 39% of Americans who believe in evolution, with a split between those who believe it’s false (25%) and those who don’t know or don’t care, right? And it’s 34% who believe Obama is a Christian, with a split between those who believe he’s a Muslim (18%) and those who don’t know? So, yeah, more Americans reject evolution than think he’s a Muslim, but more Americans are in the “Either he’s a Muslim or I don’t know” majority than are in the “Either evolution is false or I don’t know” majority. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/157 "2010-08-22T01:13:24Z")
The take away from all of that is that Americans are morons. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/158 "2010-08-22T01:16:39Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > The take away from all of that is that Americans are morons. Except you, though, right? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/159 "2010-08-22T01:19:16Z")
Yes, except for me. And your point is…? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842/160 "2010-08-22T01:20:56Z")
I’m at least a higher functioning moron. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-obama-not-muslim/550842.md?page=9)