Was Barack Obama a Muslim? – Part 1

Note: This article was brought to my attention.  I believe it first appeared on Newsmax.com.  This issue about our soon-to-be President should not be forgotten.  We will need to remember this when other world events emerge. – Fred

The issue of Barack Obama’s possible Muslim past has re-emerged with conflicting reports about the presidential candidate’s childhood in Islamic Indonesia.

The controversy was initially touched off in early 2007 when several media outlets reported that Obama had attended a radical madrasa, or Islamic school, when he lived in Indonesia.

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs quickly countered with a statement: “Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian.”

The reports about the radical madrasa turned out to be false. But in March 2007, Gibbs amended his previous statement, telling the Los Angeles Times: “Obama has never been a practicing Muslim,” the key word being “practicing.”

Obama, his Kansas-born mother and Muslim stepfather moved to Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, in 1967, and Obama lived there from ages 6 to 10.

The Times sent a reporter to Jakarta to investigate Obama’s childhood years there, and published an article on March 16 that included these details:

• A close boyhood friend of Obama, Zulfin Adi, said Barack “was a Muslim. He went to the mosque.”
• Obama’s first-grade teacher at a Catholic school, Israella Dharmawan, said: “Barry (Barack’s nickname) was Muslim. He was registered as a Muslim because his father was Muslim.”
• In the third grade, Obama transferred to a public school, where he was also registered as a Muslim. At the school, Muslim students attended weekly religion lessons about Islam.

In his autobiography, “Dreams From My Father,” Obama mentions studying the Koran and describes the public school as “a Muslim school.”