The fact that a sizable chunk of the American population continues to believe that President Obama is a Muslim is appalling to me. What saddens me more is that sixty million of my fellow-citizens believe everything they hear or read. We claim that we are the greatest nation on earth. How can a nation be the greatest when twenty percent of its citizenry is ignorant?
Now the facts: In his book, The Audacity of Hope, (pp:207-8), Obama says this about his personal faith: "I was able to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death; rather, it was an active, palpable agent in the world. In the day-to-day work of the men and women I met in church each day, in their ability to "make a way of no way" and maintain hope and dignity in the direst of circumstances, I could see the Word made manifest...Faith doesn't mean that you don't have doubts, or that you relinquish your hold on this world... It was because of these new found understandings- that religious commitment did not require me to suspend critical thinking, disengage from the battle for economic and social justice or otherwise retreat from the world I knew and loved - that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ one day and be baptized. It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany. The questions I had didn't magically disappear. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side of Chicago, I felt God's spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth."
During an interview with pastor Rick Warren before the election, Obama said this: "I believe Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior; He redeemed me; he gives me the strength to go on." The President actually demonstrates qualities of a mature faith, a faith that was consciously chosen rather than something that was automatically inherited from family of origin or religion.
I heard Bill Bennett, an otherwise intelligent man say on CNN yesterday: "...but his father was a Muslim." First of all, his father was not a practicing Muslim. Secondly, he was more of a sperm donor than a father, who had limited if not zero influence on his son. It is true that, for a few years as a child, Obama lived in Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population. He had no choice but to go there with his mother and step-father who in fact was a Muslim. True religion is not something that you catch like a flu, but an experience that is hatched at the depths of your soul through deep study, reflection and prayer. I think Obama made a conscious choice to be a follower of Christ through such a process. I heard Rush Limbaugh say that the President knows Muslim prayers. Having been born and raised in India, I know some Hindu prayers, but that doesn't make me a Hindu.
As the late New York Senator, Patrick Moynihan said; "Everybody is entitled to his or her opinion, but every body is not entitled to their own facts." In this era of uncensored or unverified data and information, and round the clock multi-channel oral diarrhea by shamelessly partisan pundits, it is extremely hard to sift fact from fiction, and separate reason from emotion. I feel that we need to look beyond what we see, listen beyond what we hear, read between the lines and feel beyond raw emotions.
I am biased because I like President Obama. I was first inspired by him during the Democratic National Convention in 2004 when he said this: "There are no red states, there are no blue states, but there is the United States of America; there is no Black America, there is no White America, there is no Latino America, there is no Asian America, but there is the United States of America." That was a clarion call for peace and national unity, a dream President Obama still has. But the only word he has heard from the opposition party in the last 18 months is 'NO" and the torrent of unfiltered vitriol from his critics are just poisonously uncharitable.
I had the privilege of meeting President Obama and taking a picture with him this week in Miami thanks to the kindness of Senator Bob Graham. While shaking his hands I said: "Mr. President, I pray for you everyday." And he said: "Thank you, I need it." I call upon the whole nation to pray for our president. He is our leader; his task is huge; his responsibilities are burdensome. Heartless criticism based on half truths and lies and unadulterated hate based on negative emotions, are unbecoming of a people who consider themselves civilized and evolved.
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