I have a real problem with the fact that Obama's middle name is "Hussein" and that his father was a radical muslim. Barack spent 4 years in a muslim seminary in Indonesia. Barack Obama has concealed the fact that he still has ties to Islam. I believe this is very deceptive politics and it should be addressed. We, the american people, have the right to know the background of a candidate and his/her families. Why has this issue not been disclosed in the political arena's?

I have a bad feeling that if Obama is elected president we are in for 4 more years of lies and deception, all because our fellow americans are not doing their homework!! I blame the media also for not disclosing Obama's muslim background more vigorously!!

According to Wikipedia, Obama attended "local schools in Jakarta from ages 6 to 10," which hardly qualifies as a "seminary." A seminary is, by definition, a college. However bright Mr. Obama is, he did not attend college as a six-year old. In fact, he attended Oxy in LA for two years, which is about as relavant as the man's middle name, the selection of which he had nothing to do with and is about as common in Muslim circles as John is in Christian ones.

His father was raised a Muslim, but did not practice his faith and was, for all practical purposes, per Wikipedia, an atheist. Obama was raised in a non-religious household in Hawaii and Los Angeles, so I don't see any overt Muslim influences there.

In Obama's 2006 book, The Audacity of Hope, he writes, "it was because of these newfound 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 that 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." To the best of my research, he remains a member to this day. Thus, he is a born-again, baptized Christian.

So, Obama is not a Muslim, did not attend a Muslim seminary, his father was not a radical muslim, with sources to support those conclusions. Perhaps the American people aren't alarmed about your "facts," because they aren't accurate.

Okay, I guess all the information on internet and on the television news is inaccurate also, ha?

Sounds to me like you work for the Obama campaign committee!!

Yeah, everything on the internet is true.

No, everything on the Internet isn't true, mostly your posts from what I can see. Neither of you have yet to cite any sources for your unsubstantiated claims and hysterical rants, however, and I have cited two reputable sources, one of which was not the Internet, but a book.

Do you think wild assertions and exclamation marks make up for reason and facts?

As I suggested earlier and in other posts, I support Edwards, but am thrilled with the Democratic contenders. However. even were I opposed to Obama, I wouldn't enjoy sharing that oppositions with obnoxious fools incapable of supporting their position with anything but lies and nonsense.

Which of my unsubstantiated claims are you referring to? I was only ridiculing Sly's claims re Obama's "Massadra" education.

sly:

I have a real problem with the fact that Obama's middle name is "Hussein" and that his father was a radical muslim. Barack spent 4 years in a muslim seminary in Indonesia. Barack Obama has concealed the fact that he still has ties to Islam. I believe this is very deceptive politics and it should be addressed. We, the american people, have the right to know the background of a candidate and his/her families. Why has this issue not been disclosed in the political arena's?

I have a bad feeling that if Obama is elected president we are in for 4 more years of lies and deception, all because our fellow americans are not doing their homework!! I blame the media also for not disclosing Obama's muslim background more vigorously!!

You keep repeating the same thing over and over again and have yet to give any proof to anything that you are saying, while others have given proof that what you claim is false. Give it up, no-one is clinging to your conspiracy theory.

Nor can claiming a massadra is a seminary make it true. If you want to write it a thousand times, please do reasonable people a favor and use a chalkboard, not the 'net.

Isn't anyone concerned about the radical ideas espoused by Obama's church? I have not believed a lot of the crap that's been floating around the net, but looking at the church's website was the final straw for me. I was such an active supporter, and so excited by his rhetoric, but now I feel duped and a bit silly to have glommed onto the new, big talkin' thing. Between the stories about the flights on private jets, his voting record, which is finally being talked about, and now this church--which espouses creationism, of all things!--I just cannot in good conscience give him my vote. Unfortunately, Edwards does not look long for this world, so I am going to swing toward Hillary. At least with her, I know exactly what I am getting. I also think she is the only one who can take on the republicans and quite frankly, I am sick of losing. Too much is at stake now to vote for the unknown.

I am also a white southerner and it sickens me to think that by the time all of these issues about Obama are finally brought forward, it will be Super Tuesday and we will painted as racists instead of just well-informed.

I do not know the answer to your quesion, ma'am, but given that he says that this church converted him to Christianity because it doesn't require its parishoners to "suspend critical thinking" I strongly suspect you have come across a serious falsehood. I agree that if it were true, it would be cause for alarm, but though one unconfirmed report on the 'net may be cause for further investigation, it is never cause for alarm.

Remember that 1) false sites have been set up before and 2) not every church in a denomination is the same.

I have cited two reputable sources, one of which was not the Internet, but a book

I agree with your suggestion that the others need to cite some sources to their claims, but I have to interject here that Wikipedia is not a reputable source and the book's author is the thread's subject, there is an obvious bias.

I do find this thread fascinating, however, and plan to research some actual reputable sources. So thanks to all of you : )

I wouldn't say an adult baptized UCC (that is if the "Trinity United Church of Christ" is a member of the national United Church of Christ) member is "born again" in the evangelical sense. The UCC in the northern states are the Congregationalists (Descendants of the New England Puritans) . They (the UCC) made the news a few years ago, by getting their ads rejected by CBS, ABC, and NBC (Fox ran it). One of these ads showed what looked like a single mother, a gay couple, and a black man getting ejected from the pews of a church, then showed these same people being welcomed into a UCC church. The UCC also has voted to affirm gay marriage in 2005, but I think this has caused some congregations to leave the order, and actually performing marriages are individual church choices.

Kathy, I don't know if I am to take your message seriously or not.

Are you telling me you didn't know his voting record until just recently? I've known it for a while, I went and looked it up when I was considering who to support. He's admitted his use of private jets in his first year in Senate, and has actually put things forward to make a lot of that impossible.

As for his church believing in creation, well, honestly, that's where you really lost me and made me wonder if you were even serious. He's never hidden his religious beliefs, or that he is a member of a church, so how that could be news to anyone is beyond me. A church believing in creation?! Wow!

As for Hilary, ok, you know what you are getting. Everyone knew what they were getting with Bush in 04, but he still won, quite easily too, and look where we are? If you think someone is the lesser of 2 evils and couldn't be a good leader, then why waste a vote on them? I think Obama could take on the Republicans as well, without being as divisive as Hilary, which is what is working against her now.

As for the subject of this whole thread, well, I find it funny making things up. He's never hidden his past about those things, so your lies about him attending things he hasn't and his father being something he wasn't is amusing. If that were the case it would have already been put out there by his rivals and by the Republicans.

While there are undoubtedly some members of the UCC who do believe in creationism, I venture to say that they are in the minority -- sure as hell a lot less likely than in, say, the Southern Baptists, in any case.