A reporter asked me a question today: “What’s the number one conspiracy concerning the President – the birth records?” My automatic reaction was “yes.” It’s the centerpiece of every conspiracy theory lawsuit about Obama from Berg v. Obama in 2008 to this day (treating the two-citizen parent issue as a crank legal theory rather than a conspiracy theory).
That’s the answer most folks would give who got their information from this blog because it’s what I cover more than anything else. But to be honest, the belief that Obama is Muslim is probably as prevalent as belief that Obama is foreign-born. Remember that Obama released his first birth certificate in June of 2008 to prove that his middle name was not “Mohammed.”
I read a longish article at The Blaze today that dug up the old story of Obama’s Indonesian School Registration where six-year-old “Barry Soetoro’s” religion was listed as “Islam.” It’s worth reading because it has new interviews with some of the school officials in Indonesia that remembered Barack Obama from school. But I have to say: “why does an article that claims to be objective have to resort to such open-ended questions?”
Removing tongue from cheek, I did note the blot of these gratuitous open-ended questions:
Might Obama have tried to pass himself off as still more diverse? Could he even have lied to “seem more exotic” to an admissions officer at Occidental or Columbia?
The Blaze article plays around with the religion of Obama based on his Indonesian past, and leans, I think, towards making things sound a little more dramatic and sinister than necessary. Still this is not birther-style making stuff up.
If you watch the Twitter feed for #birther or read comments online, one thing you will see is the accusation that birthers are racists, all of them. While I don’t subscribe to the universal racism theory, it’s out there. “Racist” is a convenient label to put down a group, because it is a taboo in American society to be openly racist. However, it’s not so taboo to be intolerant of the Muslim religion. Condemning Obama for being a Muslim is not as socially ostracizing as condemning Obama for being black.
That brings me to an article that a commenter sent me by Dr. Philip N. Cohen noting that Google searches for “obama muslim” far outpace searches for “obama gun,” “obama socialist” and “obama citizen” and have done so for a long time.
You don’t hear much about Obama’s religion from mainstream news sources. That may be more because of their secular bias than from the lack of Obama talking about it. If you want to see what I mean, search for “Jesus” on the White House web site, where you will find (among many others):
Their call to fix what was broken in our world, a call rooted in faith, is what led me just a few years out of college to sign up as a community organizer for a group of churches on the Southside of Chicago. And it was through that experience working with pastors and laypeople trying to heal the wounds of hurting neighborhoods that I came to know Jesus Christ for myself and embrace Him as my lord and savior.
Barack Obama
Dr. C. said, “If you watch the Twitter feed for #birther or read comments online, one thing you will see is the accusation that birthers are racists, all of them. While I don’t subscribe to the universal racism theory, it’s out there.”
For the past 10 months I have been reading the comments at ORYR nearly every day. I have been appalled at their overt racism. Never has a birther or the moderator ever objected to even the most vicious of racist rants. In fact, in recent weeks, commentators have gleefully tried to outdo one another in their ugliness.
Like Dr. C, I don’t think that all birthers are racists, but within birtherism, racism is encouraged, allowed, even smiled at. Republicans should be condemned for not speaking out forcefully against the birther movement and its representatives.
All birthers may not be racist, but you won’t lose much money betting that way.
As a mathematician, I would posit that racists are dense in the set of birthers – draw a circle around any birther, no matter how small, and it will contain racists. 😉
The subject of Diane Rehm’s first hour today: religion and the Presidential race. The idea that Obama is a secret muslim is discussed. Racism as well.
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-11-06/religion-and-politics-2012
Curiously, it hasn’t been an ‘above-board’ topic, as it’s not considered polite to discuss religion in the face of a perceived difference (an alleged closet Muslim vs. a Mormon).
Religion in America is only an issue when a bunch of Christans are trying to out-Christian each other!