Electing Obama a Slap in the Face to Muslims Everywhere?

Daniel Pipes did a little research on the question of Barack Hussein Obama's youthful status as a Muslim. Is he one? Was he one? Was he a practicing Muslim, an indifferent one, not one at all? To Americans, this question seems rather ridiculous. Most would wonder why anyone would care? But, the answer to the question isn't one that affects Americans. It may not even bother American Muslims.

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However, it may mean quite a lot to Muslims outside our borders. And, it might not be a good thing, at that, making our relations with the Muslim world even more difficult than it now is. Here are the irrefutable facts about Barrack Obama's relative membership in Islam as a youth according to Pipes. In sum: Obama was an irregularly practicing Muslim who rarely or occasionally prayed with his step-father in a mosque. This precisely substantiates my statement that he “for some years had a reasonably Muslim upbringing under the auspices of his Indonesian step-father." Again, few voting Americans would find this childhood obedience to his Indonesian step-father of much concern. He was a kid, after all. Of course a young Barack would occasionally accompany his step-father who was a practicing Muslim to prayers... even if just once. Who could be in the least surprised? This fact, on its face and in normal times, should be of no concern and should be meaningless in the minds of the electorate. It's merely of general interest, but not in any way a decisive factor in whether one should vote for the man. But these are not normal times. To a serious Muslim, once a person accepts the practices of Islam they are a Muslim. Such a person doesn't ever have to become a seriously practicing Muslim. Just accepting the mantle, no matter how brief, solidifies that person as a Muslim permanently. Further, there is no such thing as a "lapsed" Muslim, or one who quit the religion. As far as Islam is concerned you are a Muslim quite regardless if you change your mind or if you never really became a practicing Muslim and just dabbled in the creed. This raises a troubling situation for Muslims, especially ones of radical bent, where it concerns how they will view a president Barack Obama and, as a matter of consequence, how they will deal with the U.S.A. I'll quote Pipes again to that point: All this matters, for if Obama once was a Muslim, he is now what Islamic law calls a murtadd (apostate), an ex-Muslim converted to another religion who must be executed. Were he elected president of the United States, this status, clearly, would have large potential implications for his relationship with the Muslim world. So, the main question becomes: is it wise to elect as president a man who, regardless of his policies or ideas, is marked for immediate death by peoples with whom we are in delicate negotiations, people with whom we are often in a shooting war? Is this a smart thing to do? Now, let me say here that I am not interested in bending over backwards to assuage the insane beliefs of Islam, nor am I advocating that we check with foreigners before we decide for whom we must vote. However, it IS a factor in our decision, none-the-less. It is something we must think about carefully before we cast that vote. Anyone pulling the lever for the murtadd, Barack Obama, must prepare themselves for the fact that many of those with whom Barack imagines he will carry on "diplomacy" won't even talk to him in the first place no matter what he has to say. Those who vote for Barack Hussein Obama must be ready to accept that the very fact that he is our president WILL cause peoples with whom we need to dialog to leave the table, not giving us even a first hearing. And, since Obama is claiming that he will be first and foremost a diplomat, the fact that he is a murtadd to those with whom he imagines he will negotiate, we may find that he is shut out from their negotiations before he even gets started. So, is it really wise to elect as president a man who has such negatives in the eyes of the entire Muslim world? It is certainly something to think about.