CAIR's Dougie Hooper says, "while the tension between Muslims and Christians has not been as public since the “Ground Zero Mosque” controversy, he has seen “a steady erosion of tolerance and mutual understanding based on this relentless campaign of Islamophobia” --- Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum all declared that God asked them to run for higher office. Together with Newt Gingrich, they have deployed various methods of appealing to their constituencies, but none is more potent than religion.
Rick Santorum, a Catholic and the favorite of the evangelical community, has been particularly adept at using his soapbox as a pulpit. The president subscribes to a “phony theology,” Santorum has claimed, “not a theology based on the Bible, a different theology.” Although he occasionally asserts that “Obama’s personal faith is none of my concern,” he nonetheless speaks of the president’s attempt to “impose values on people of faith”– implying that the president is certainly no member of that community. In his attacks on the president’s spirituality, Santorum is cleverly attacking Mitt Romney’s Mormonism as well (a theology also based on text other than the Bible). At the same time, the suggestion that Obama is somehow “other” operates as a code word for “black” in a race in which race goes largely unmentioned. It’s an odd set of charges. Obama, after all, did everything possible during his first presidential campaign to foreground his Christianity. He was repeatedly seen praying in churches and assiduously avoided mosques. He never made a campaign appearance with a prominent Muslim. He talked about his “personal relationship” with Jesus Christ. The day after he clinched the Democratic Party nomination in 2008, he gave a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in which he reaffirmed that he was “a true friend of Israel.” Although he would occasionally mention his Muslim relatives and the time he spent in Indonesia as a child, he generally did whatever he could to emphasize only two out of the three major monotheisms. As president, Obama has certainly “reached out” to the Muslim world. In Cairo, in June 2009, he spoke of seeking “a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition.” That new beginning, however, has yet to come. At home, for example, the Obama administration provided federal funds that the New York City Police Department then used to expand its surveillance of Muslim American neighborhoods. (Even the CIA was involved in this “human mapping” project.) The FBI has spent the Obama years rounding up suspected Muslim terrorists in operations that flirt dangerously with entrapment. The administration has expanded the no-fly list, though because the list is secret it’s difficult to know whether Muslim- Americans are specifically profiled. Anecdotal evidence, however, suggests that they are. The administration’s record internationally is even more disappointing. The conduct of U.S. troops in Afghanistan — the night raids, massacres (including the recent murders of 16 Afghan villagers), and the Qur’an burnings — have enraged local Muslims. Obama has expanded the CIA’s drone air campaign by a considerable margin in the Pakistani borderlands. Civilian casualties, overwhelmingly Muslim, continue to occur there and in other “overseas contingency operations” as U.S. Special Operations Forces have dramatically expanded their activities in the Muslim world. Despite right-wing charges, Obama has maintained a tight relationship with Israel and the Israeli leadership. As former New Republic editor Peter Beinart concludes, “The story of Obama’s relationship to [Prime Minister] Netanyahu and his American Jewish allies is, fundamentally, a story of acquiescence.” http://www.salon.com/2012/03/29/the_gops_new_islamophobic_narrative/ On Jul 31, 8:01 am, Travis <[email protected]> wrote: > ** > New post on *Bare Naked Islam* > <http://www.endtimestoday.com/?author=1> Los Angeles Slimes says, “If you > think Barack Hussein Obama is a Muslim, then you are too stupid to > vote”<http://barenakedislam.com/2012/07/30/los-angeles-slimes-says-if-you-t...>by > barenakedislam <http://www.endtimestoday.com/?author=1> > Well, I guess they think 1.5 billion Muslims are stupid too, because under > Islamic law, the child must take the religion of the father, and apostasy > is punishable by death. The reason there has been no call for Obama's head > as an apostate, is because Muslims know he is only pretending to be a > Christian, which Islam sanctions when it's done for jihad. LA > TIMES<http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-obama-pew-survey...> > Forget voter ID laws. What this country needs are laws to keep stupid > people from voting. Now, I’m not talking about folks who can’t recite the > preamble to the Constitution, or who can’t tell you what the 1st Amendment > covers, or how many Supreme Court justices there are. I’ll even exempt > those poor souls who don’t know who the first president was, or can’t name > the two houses of Congress, or don’t know the name of their > representative. But, > if you were to show up at the polls in November, and the poll worker were > to ask you “Is President > Obama<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/barack-obama-PEPLT00...> > a > Muslim or a Christian?” and you answered “Muslim,” then — bzzzzzt — you’d > be automatically disqualified from voting, on the grounds you’re just too > dumb. ABC > News<http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/07/half-of-americans-do-not...> > Three and a half years into President Obama’s first term as president, half > of Americans cannot accurately say what religion he is, according to a > poll<http://www.pewforum.org/Politics-and-Elections/Little-Voter-Discomfor...> > released > this week. Nearly one in three Republicans said Obama was Muslim, twice as > many as in 2008, the Pew study shows. Unfortunately there has been a > development of a bizarre echo chamber within right wing of the political > spectrum that truth and reality have failed to penetrate,” said Ibrahim > 'Dougie' Hooper, communications director at *terror-linked* CAIR > Council onAnti-American > Islamic Relations. “It’s a self-perpetuating, self-reinforcing delusion.” But > this seemingly large lack of basic knowledge about the president may have > more to do with people’s low opinion of Obama than how much they know about > religious beliefs, said Alan Cooperman, associate director for research at > the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. > > “It’s entirely possible that what people are telling us isn’t exactly what > they know but they are expressing an opinion,” Cooperman said. “We suspect > — it’s hard to prove it– that some of the people who tell us that the > president is a Muslim are using the question as a way to express their > distrust or dislike for the president.” *(And smart people know, Muslims > cannot be trusted)* Cooperman said the results do not “just show whether > people are ignorant on the president’s religion but more that they have an > opinion on his religion.” CAIR's Dougie Hooper says, "while the tension > between Muslims and Christians has not been as public since the “Ground > Zero Mosque” controversy, he has seen “a steady erosion of tolerance and > mutual understanding based on this relentless campaign of Islamophobia” > since Obama was elected. “It is visceral hatred for President Obama and to > justify it they have to come up with these reasons: he is the other, he’s > Muslim, he’s foreign born.” > > OBAMA ON LEFT > > *barenakedislam <http://www.endtimestoday.com/?author=1>* | July 30, 2012 > at 5:27 pm | Categories: > ISLAMOBAMA<http://www.endtimestoday.com/?cat=13150593>| > URL:http://wp.me/p276zM-Kdu > > > Comment<http://barenakedislam.com/2012/07/30/los-angeles-slimes-says-if-you-t...> > See all > comments<http://barenakedislam.com/2012/07/30/los-angeles-slimes-says-if-you-t...> > > Unsubscribe or change your email settings at Manage > Subscriptions<https://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=80d8873ee52adffe4e178d01c25562cf...>. > > *Trouble clicking?* Copy and paste this URL into your > browser:http://barenakedislam.com/2012/07/30/los-angeles-slimes-says-if-you-t... -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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