On Jun 2, 9:19*pm, wrote:
On Mon, 02 Jun 2008 07:24:31 -0500, George Cleveland

wrote:

Richard, the whole apostasy thing is just another dumb GOP whispering
campaign.

No, it isn't. *Did you read my last cite:

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/857/eg9.htm

http://religiondispatches.org/Gui/Co...Page=AR&Id=272

Again, I don't claim or think that _all_ Muslims will or should care one
way or the other about Obama and apostasy, but for anyone, including
scholars, to say it won't matter to _any_ is, simply put, bull****. *I
would agree that a) Muslims of US citizenship should not let it
influence their vote, and b) that in the US, it goes without question
that his religious status is legally meaningless. *OTOH, I think that
for Dems to try and play this off as some "vast right-wing conspiracy"
is a mistake.

TC,
R

Not a right-wing conspiracy, but certainly typical religio-centric
paranoia.

Wikipedia (religious textual icon that it is) pretty strongly implies
that you have to be post-puberty and renounce Islam to be considered
an Apostate. AFAIK, Obama left the muslim faith about the time that
most of us were about the age that we thought Easter was about
chocolate. I think that among the vast vast majority of muslim states,
modern diplomacy will supplant any religious dictates (such as it has
with meeting with unveiled women in authority, etc). Among the Islam
lunatic fringe, they don't need any reason to attempt something
extreme, and we have entire secret organizations whose sole purpose is
to prevent such events.

I don't think the US voters should let our elections be affected by
some fear that our President might be a Target. If we do, then we lose
control of our own elections, and they win. There are always similar
irrational concerns about candidates: people who did not know
Catholicism feared that JFK would be more allegiant to the Pope than
the Constitution, and I remember Yankees fearing that Jimmy Carter
would be more allegiant to the Stars and Bars than the Union.

--riverman