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JERUSALEM – In an effort to combat what it calls Internet smears, Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign yesterday launched a website with the stated aimed of setting the record straight.One of the main issues addressed by Obama's "Fight the Smears" site is the contention the Illinois senators was once a Muslim."Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised as a Muslim, and is a committed Christian,"(hahaha...what a lie!!!!) states the site.But as WND reported, public records in Indonesia listed Obama as a Muslim during his early years, and a number of childhood friends claimed to the media Obama was once a mosque-attending Muslim.Obama's campaign has several times wavered in response to reporters queries regarding the issue of Obama's childhood faith.Commenting on a recent Los Angeles Times report quoting a childhood friend stating Obama prayed in a mosque – something the presidential candidate said he never did – Obama's campaign released a statement explaining the senator "has never been a practicing Muslim."The issue of Obama's personal faith has dogged the candidate amid multiple scandals involving his now former Chicago church and several spiritual advisers.The issue re-emerged in recent months following conflicting media accounts of Obama's enrollment as a Muslim during elementary school in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation. Widely distributed reports have noted that in January 1968, Obama was registered as a Muslim at Jakarta's Roman Catholic Franciscus Assisi Primary School under the name Barry Soetoro. He was listed as an Indonesian citizen whose stepfather, listed on school documents as "L Soetoro Ma," worked for the topography department of the Indonesian Army.Catholic schools in Indonesia routinely accept non-Catholic students but exempt them from studying religion. Obama's school documents, though, wrongly list him as being Indonesian.After attending the Assisi Primary School, Obama was enrolled – also as a Muslim, according to documents – in the Besuki Primary School, a public school in Jakarta.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 that 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 Indonesian media have been flooded with accounts of Obama's childhood Islamic studies, some describing him as a religious Muslim.Speaking to the country's Kaltim Post, Tine Hahiyary, who was principal of Obama's school while he was enrolled there, said she recalls he studied the Quran in Arabic."At that time, I was not Barry's teacher, but he is still in my memory" claimed Tine, who is 80 years old.The Kaltim Post says Obama's teacher, named Hendri, died."I remember that he studied 'mengaji (recitation of the Quran)," Tine said, according to an English translation by Loatze.Mengaji, or the act of reading the Quran with its correct Arabic punctuation, is usually taught to more religious pupils and is not known as a secular study.Also, Loatze documented the Indonesian daily Banjarmasin Post caught up with Rony Amir, an Obama classmate and Muslim, who describe Obama as "previously quite religious in Islam.""We previously often asked him to the prayer room close to the house. If he was wearing a sarong (waist fabric worn for religious or casual occasions) he looked funny," Amir said.The Los Angeles Times, which sent a reporter to Jakarta, quoted Zulfin Adi, who identified himself as among Obama's closest childhood friends, stating the presidential candidate prayed in a mosque, something Obama's campaign claimed he never did."We prayed, but not really seriously, just following actions done by older people in the mosque. But as kids, we loved to meet our friends and went to the mosque together and played," said Adi.
Friday prayers
Aside from the new site to fight purported smears, Obama's official campaign site has a page titled "Obama has never been a Muslim, and is a committed Christian." The page states, "Obama never prayed in a mosque. He has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ."But the campaign changed its tune when it issued its "practicing Muslim" clarification to the L.A. Times.An article in March by the Chicago Tribune apparently disputes Adi's statements to the L.A. paper. The Tribune caught up with Obama's declared childhood friend, who now describes himself as only knowing Obama for a few months in 1970 when his family moved to the neighborhood. Adi said he was unsure about his recollections of Obama.But the Tribune found Obama did attend mosque."Interviews with dozens of former classmates, teachers, neighbors and friends show that Obama was not a regular practicing Muslim when he was in Indonesia," states the Tribune article.It quotes the presidential candidate's former neighbors and 3rd grade teacher recalling Obama "occasionally followed his stepfather to the mosque for Friday prayers."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."The Times' Nicholos Kristof wrote Obama recited, "with a first-class Arabic accent," the opening lines of the Muslim call to prayer.The first few lines of the call to prayer state:
"Allah is Supreme! Allah is Supreme!Allah is Supreme! Allah is Supreme!I witness that there is no god but AllahI witness that there is no god but AllahI witness that Muhammad is his prophet... "
Some attention also has been paid to Obama's paternal side of the family. His father, described in some reports as an atheist, polygamist and alcoholic, was buried in Kenya as a Muslim. Obama Sr., also named Barack Obama, had three sons with another woman who reportedly all are Muslim.Obama's brother Roy is described as a practicing Muslim.Writing in a chapter of his book describing his 1992 wedding, the presidential candidate stated: "The person who made me proudest of all was Roy. Actually, now we call him Abongo, his Luo name, for two years ago he decided to reassert his African heritage. He converted to Islam, and has sworn off pork and tobacco and alcohol."Still, Obama says he was raised by his Christian mother and repeatedly has labeled as "smears" several reports attempting to paint him as a Muslim."Let's make clear what the facts are: I am a Christian. I have been sworn in with a Bible. I pledge allegiance to the American flag and lead the Pledge of Allegiance sometimes in the United States Senate when I'm presiding," he told the UK's Times Online earlier this year.Meanwhile, Obama's new anti-smear website also denies claims by bloggers and commentators of the existence of a tape in which Obama's wife Michelle is said to rail against "whitey." Other issues addressed by the site include claims Obama is hiding his birth certificate or that he won't recite the Pledge of Allegiance."The Obama campaign isn't going to let dishonest smears spread across the Internet unanswered," Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said."Whenever challenged with these lies we will aggressively push back with the truth and help our supporters debunk the false rumors floating around the Internet. This website is an action center that allows supporters to upload their address books and send emails to all of their friends. It's not enough to just know the truth, we have to be pro-active and fight back," Vietor said.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=66981
As in the days of Noah...
