Even if true, it would mean that he attended the Muslim school from ages 6-10 (the years he lived in Indonesia) - not necessarily that reflective of one's actual religious beliefs.

(And, in any event, Mormonism is a whole lot kookier than Islam even if Islam has a far worse reputation...)

Not agreeing or disagreeing with you on relative kookiness of different belief systems, Alceste, but while in general I think American voters aren't as Pavlovian as Conventional Wisdom suggests, any revelation that Obama has a hidden Islamic background pretty much sinks him as a candidate.

Devastating if verifiable.

Yes, I wonder why that is.

Do you feel at peace?

How about now?

Don't worry though, there's a solution.

Yeah, I saw this at the Corner yesterday and even Jonah seemed to be thinking something was wrong with the story:

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MzZlZTNjMjNjOTNhOWIzY2YzNGM4MjI1OTJjMTc4Mjk=

Did he go to a Muslim school while in Jakarta ? Probably. If he were a closet Muslim, would it sink his chances ? Probably. And with his skills, if Barak Obama told us that he was a Muslim until the age of 12 when he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior, would the American people swoon over his converstion out of the darkness and into the light ? Yeah, probably.

Agreed with VB on the last point - from what I have read, he's a pretty active member of the United Church of Christ and does have an articulate story about his spiritual awakening - what does seem to trouble him are questions about evangelicalsim (but the UCC is not really the most evangelical of denominations anyway).

Cliche time: It's not the "crime", it's the coverup.

If the Madrassa thing is true, Obama needs to be telling the story now, and even that might not save him for '08.

This sounds like a total knee-jerk, "let's-generate-some-controversy" BS to me.

"He was raised Muslim! OH NOES!!!!1!!!1!!ELEVENTYONE"

Give me a break. So, are they going to find people who were raised Catholic and start busting their chops about it too?

An aside, but does this bombshell feel Clinton-esque, or what?

Let's say he was raised Muslim until age whenever, and at some point he became a Christian of some point. Fine and dandy, and I really don't care personally if he considered the former to be nobody's business.

That said, would the leaders of the various Islamic states he would be dealing with consider him an apostate?

A) Go to "Insight" magazine and look at its "Sites We're Watching." The fact that Washington Times, Drudge Report and Breitbart are listed should be a tipoff. I know folks over at Ace's site get hyperdefensive about the Washington Times, but that papers predictions come true about as often as the Northeast Intelligence Network. And while I love Drudge Report, Breitbart is nothing more than an aggregator of AP and Reuters feeds and someone who used to work for Drudge.

B) I don't know what the bombshell feeling Clintonesque means. Right there in Insight's bit of jujitsu it says all this was dug up by Clinton operatives. That's a pretty slick move as they can hit Clinton and Obama and pretend to just be reporting what Clinton's team dug up.

C) Obama's answer doesn't seem particularly tongue-tied as honest. If I were a Christian from the black tradition, I'd probably be conflicted as well. There are elements of evangelicalism in black churches, but they're also not the sort to start handling snakes. Many Christians pick and choose and I'd expect a man who went to Muslims schools and went to Harvard would have a slightly more nuanced view to religion. And he IS a Democratic politician after all. He's got to back off some.

D) I went to a Catholic school my whole life and don't consider myself Catholic. At that Catholic school were a handful of Jews, who went there cuz the public schools sucked. Does that suddenly make them Catholic? Less Jewish? Sneaky conniving Irish-men, perhaps?

E) For the record, I think Obama is being completely overhyped and working from within the MSM I think it's funny to watch them fawn over him. That said, when Hillary's team does decide to strike, it's gonna be much more effective than something like this.

F) Alceste, I'll take kooky over explodey any day of the week.

"Alceste, I'll take kooky over explodey any day of the week."

Ding ding ding. We have a winner!

It's not the crazy beliefs; it's the crazy actions.

Click here for a quick drive-by illustration of what I mean by "Clinton-esque".

So, are they going to find people who were raised Catholic and start busting their chops about it too?

When Pope Benedict XVI starts declaring crusades against "infidels" and unbelievers, and Roman Catholics start piloting jetliners into skyscrapers filled with thousands of people and beheading anyone who doesn't subscribe to their faith, perhaps.

Look, the analogy to other Christian sects-unless you're referring to the Lord's Resistance Army-is absurd on its face.

There's no other organized religion that exhorts its adherents to murder everyone who refuses to undergo conversion, or which spawns hundreds of thousands of individuals willing to kill themselves in order to propagate their demented ideology.

Even the comparison to unreformed, schismatic branches of the Church of Latter Day Saints-which is more plausible, considering their history of sexual abuse, pologamy/non-traditional marriage-is far-fetched.

The fact that Obama's mother married not one but two foreign-born Muslims, the fact that he bears the same name as a caliph that is part of blood-drenched Shia' iconography, or the late Saddam Hussein-I'm not sure how it's spelled-and the fact that he attended a madrassa during his formative years, are all pivotal issues.

The Obama camp can sweep this under the rug, but I can guarantee you that HRC and her slick campaign operatives aren't going to follow suit.

What is it that the religion of peace does to people who try to leave the religion of piece? Oh, I remember, they remove their heads with a dull knife.
The only one to worry about this coming out is Osama Hussien Obama.

Yeah. Cause Obama is the same as Osama!

Oh wait. One is a bloviating liberal while the other is the most dangerous man in the world and led efforts to murder 3,000 people in cold blood. Never mind.

That wasn't an honest answer he gave to the evangelical question. It was a weasely answer. Now that he's been able to use mega-church pastor Rick Warren to gain some credibility with evangelicals (see Kevin McCullough's relentless coverage on that topic), he can't afford to come right out and

The real answer is that he's a member of a church that just falls short of Unitarianism and is more about liberal political action than about worshipping the Almighty. If he were an evangelical Christian, there are plenty of good Bible-believing, Gospel-preaching churches in Chicagoland he could join.

His church has ties with a hospital that performs post-partum abortions, which might explain his extremist opposition as an Illinois legislator to a bill protecting babies who are born alive during an abortion attempt.

So Gerard, if your mom, for some whacky reason, gave you the middle name of Lenin, would that automatically make you a commie sympathizer?

Obama is a socialist, not a liberal.

There's a fine distinction.

One is willing to work with anyone-including Stalinists and the crescent Nazis-in order to achieve their narrow political goals, even if it ultimately is to his detriment.

Look at Obama and tell me how the forces coalescing behind him are any different from those that put our favorite NOI Islamist Keith Ellison and SWP/atheist jihadi George Galloway into office.

I've read several articles questioning why the American black leaders weren't warming to Obama. Could they be the only ones to realize his is not a black as in American/Africa black but it more Arab?

The reason black "leaders" don't like Obama is because he's spent less than six years in the U.S. Senate and already has more credibility, national recognition, and a better opportunity at wielding real political power than they would have if they lived six lifetimes over.

I don't think it's anything more than envy magnified onto a national stage.

Oops. That should read, "he can't afford to come right out and say he's not an evangelical."

I agree with an earlier poster though.

The United Church of Christ-I might be confusing it with another church that goes by the same, or a similar, name-is one step removed from Unitarian-Universalism.

The fact that he's a member of their congregation-when he does attend church-should be cause for concern, not relief.

Despite the febrile assertions of clueless leftists, radical militantly secular "Christian" churches, or post-modern, rabidly secular institutions like Reconstructionist Judaism and the Ethical Culture Society have much more in common with salafi and Wahabbi strains of Islam than evangelicals or Pentecostals do.

For those who doubt I ask, where are the Southern Baptist or Assembly of God counterparts to Adam Gadahn, Johnny Talabani, and the rest of the aimless California spawn of RDBs that have proven to be such pivotal recruiting tools for Al Qaeda?

???

"Osama Bin" Obama is dangerous and devious. He conceals information about his history that the electorate needs to know. As a former Muslim, he should be subject to a complete background investigation. I don't trust him, and he is obviously under qualified, and I would never vote for him,

I can not believe this is even an issue. you have to be kidding me. 1st off who cares if he was raised a Muslim. Second, if he was i want one person to quote me one verse from the Quran about violence or terrorism. The bottom line is that Islam forbids terrorism and such acts. PROVE ME WRONG PLEASE FIND ME JUST ONE VERSE THAT SAYS OTHER WISE.
People need to wake up and stop swallowing everything CNN and FOX feeds them. The man said he is Christian he converted a long time ago. When asked about his beliefs and he became "tongue tied" that is because Christianity s the most confusing of the the 3 Abrahamic religions. I mean you worship God and Jesus, but Jesus is God and his son at the same time, Meanwhile Jesus prays to God himself? just doesn't make sense so of course someone would become tongue tied.
All these suicide bombing and what not. People are failing to research the fact that 2 3rd s of the suicide bombings in 2006 were executed by NON Muslims. But since CNN and FOX is only showing it happening in a Muslim world we are forced to associate the events and images. The bottom line is this; he is a Christian. Who cares what he used to be. Not one word in the Quran demotes women, promote terrorism and war. Pick the book up and actually read it for ourself instead of being a country full of lemmings. he is a good man and has a positive idea for the country. Why doe sit matter what his religious beliefs are? I mean all those crazy suicidal Muslims are not REAL Muslims and way as well as those who force their women to cover up. THAT IS COUNTRY LAW NOT RELIGIOUS LAW.
AMERICA IS FILLED WITH IDIOTS WHO WIL BELIEVE ANYTHING THERE GLORIOUS CNN AND FOX NEWS WILL TELL THEM. AND THATS THE BOTTOM LINE

VOTE OBAMA 08

Quran 3:28 Don't have unbelieving friends unless it is to deceive them. Remember the final goal is to Allah.
Quran 4:89 Have no unbelieving friends. Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them.
Quran 9:33 ISLAM WILL PREVAIL OVER ALL RELIGIONS
"Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran ... should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth. Everthing we need to know is in the Koran. We don't need to look somewhere else." Omar M. Ahmad, chairman of CAIR, the mainsteam Muslim advocacy group.
Public execution of women: http://rawa.org/zarmeena.htm
Wife Beating in Islam - Only a rod will help!
http:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWGA8i6scYY
Female cirumcision (scraping off external organs)is practiced in the Islam religion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbD5UZOrTnc&NR
Why women shouldn't be allowed to drive http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9cAa6SP79M&NR
Islam is able to keep the world’s attention on the terrorist attacks while "peaceful Islam" quietly goes about the business of taking over entire countries and working its way into the fabric of the legal and governmental systems of others. American Muslims are now petitioning that the call to prayer be blasted over loud speakers five times a day in quiet neighborhoods and towns. This is Islam’s next step in using democracy to destroy democracy. Always on the move, the quiet side of Islam is every bit as dangerous as the terrorists. The goals are the same, only the method varies.

Coming to America: http://youtube.com/watch?v=JKUoxbR9mwA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7QLomLsArm4
Sharia law: http://youtube.com/watch?v=MLik8VciUMU