Dear Rev. Graham: Obama was not born a Muslim and neither is anyone else

[kpete]

Dear Rev. Graham: Obama was not born a Muslim and neither is anyone else
Posted on August 22, 2010 by Juan Cole

Evangelist (and hateful bigot) Franklin Graham said this weekend that President Obama was ‘born a Muslim’ because, he said, Islam is transmitted through the father just as Judaism is transmitted through the mother.

Presumably it is this sort of thinking that has led an increasing number of Americans to believe, incorrectly, that Obama is a Muslim.

Graham as usual is not only hateful but also plain wrong. The Talmudic rule that one is a Jew by virtue of having a Jewish mother has been responsible for imagining the Jewish people as a race as well as a religion. (They are not actually a race, of course, and most Jewish women are descended from a Gentile ancestor).

But Muslims are not a race even in the imagining, but rather a world-religion to which belong people of virtually every ethnic group in the world. Thus, unlike in Judaism, one is not born a Muslim. Rather, children of Muslim parents who embrace Islam typically recite the confession of faith around puberty and undertake to fulfill the obligations of Islamic law at that time. Until that time, they are not mukallaf or obliged to perform the rituals of the religion. Franklin’s allegation would imply that children are Muslim by birth and have to fast the month of Ramadan when they are 5. It is ridiculous.

more:
http://www.juancole.com/2010/08/dear-rev-franklin-obama-was-not-born-a-muslim-and-neither-is-anyone-else.html

[rfranklin]

1. Graham was born an asshole....

and has not converted.

[babsbunny]

4. That's funny!!!!!!

You made me laugh! Thank You!

[olegramps]

10. He was born ignorant and has chosen to stay that way.

[DCBob]

2. Of course... religion is not genetic..

Rev Graham must be suffering from dementia.. which is genetic.

[Ruby the Liberal]

3. Judaism is a race as well as a religion. Muslim is not.

Turks, Egyptians, Lebanese, Syrians, Arabs, Persians, Indians, Pakastanis, Indonesians - these are nationalities/bloodlines.

[Demeter]

5. Current studies suggest the Ashkenzi Are All Descendants of Converts

Which can be easily verified by comparing genetics of Semites with the Jews of Central European descent...

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. As one who lost family in the Holocaust (well before my birth), I welcome the DNA tests.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. It Has Elements Of A Race, Religion, And Ethnic Group But It Is Not A Race

~

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. Juan is wrong

The children are presumptively muslim under muslim tradition and in some nations legally. At which age they start to follow muslim traditions varies considerably. 2nd-3rd grade in many muslim private schools in this country is what I have read.

[mr blur]

8. We're ALL born atheists - many of us just can't resist the subsequent conditioning.

[quaker bill]

9. A local Imam

put it to me that his understanding of the faith is that all are naturally Muslim, that one does not convert but rather "revert" to Islam. None the less, it is a path chosen, not one that a person is born to.

Quakers on the other hand can be birthright.

[dgibby]

12. What could you expect from a shill like Franklin Graham,

who wants to bury his parents at a "South of the Border" style amusement park instead of where they wanted to be buried (Montreate,NC). He's nothing more than a Carnival Barker, sleight of hand artist, who will do anything for a buck,IMO.

[Sea Witch]

13. Bravo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The ignorance within our populace is frightening at times.

[Name removed]

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