Obama Is Not a Muslim...But Was He?

After the debacle of Barack Obama's former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and his racist, anti-American statements, most of us are aware that Obama has beeen attending a Christian church for about 20 years.

We've also been told that despite Obama's Muslim-sounding name and his time in Muslim Indonesia, Obama is beyond a doubt "Christian."

So I was surprised to see a report from WorldNetDaily today that essentially says, "Well, maybe not."

According to the WND piece:

Widely distributed reports have noted in January 1968, Obama was registered as a Muslim at Jakarta's Roman Catholic Franciscus Assisi Primary School under the name Barry Soetoro.

The Loatze blog run by an American expatriate in Southeast Asia who visited the Besuki school, noted, "All Indonesian students are required to study religion at school and a young 'Barry Soetoro' being a Muslim would have been required to study Islam daily in school. He would have been taught to read and write Arabic, to recite his prayers properly, to read and recite from the Quran and to study the laws of Islam."

Indeed, the Israel Insider online magazine points out in Obama's autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," he acknowledges studying the Quran and describes the public school as "a Muslim school."

"In the Muslim school, the teacher wrote to tell mother I made faces during Quranic studies," wrote Obama.

The article also cites other references to an Islamic background for Obama:

Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, notes the Tribune article – cited by liberal blogs as refuting claims Obama is Muslim – actually implies Obama was an irregularly practicing Muslim and twice confirms Obama attended mosque services.

In a free-ranging interview with the New York Times, Obama described the Muslim call to prayer as "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”

Maybe Obama "converted" from Islam to Christianity along the way. Or maybe he never took Islam that seriously. I don't know.

But it seems that efforts by Obama's campaign to distance himself from his Islamic roots may not present an entirely accurate picture.

Middle East Scholar: MAD Doctrine Won't Work for Iran

From the World Tribune comes a sober warning to those who are inclined to appease the Iranians in their pursuit of nuclear weapons.

"Iran's leadership comprises a group of extreme fanatical Muslims who believe that their messianic times have arrived," Lewis said. "This is quite dangerous. Though Russia and the U.S. both had nuclear weapons, it was clear that they would never use them because of MAD — mutual assured destruction. Each side knew it would be destroyed if it would attack the other."

"But with these people in Iran, mutually assured destruction is not a deterrent factor, but rather an inducement," Lewis said. "They feel that they can hasten the final messianic process. This is an extremely dangerous situation of w