Need some help picking apart this crazy e-mail re: Obama

[faithfulcitizen]

Okay, so I get this e-mail from my very right wing mother-in-law and I need to know what is true, what is not true? (I haven't been here in a while, and I knew you guys would know.) Thanks for your help! Here's the e-mail she sent...

"Who is Barack Obama?

Probable U. S. presidential candidate, Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a black MUSLIM from Nyangoma-Kogel, Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white ATHEIST from Wichita,Kansas.

Obama's parents met at the University of Hawaii. When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced.

When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocated to Indonesia. Obama attended a MUSLIM school in Jakarta.
He also spent two years in a Catholic school. Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim.

He is quick to point out that, 'He was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school.'

Obama's political handlers are attempting to make it appear that Obama's introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence was temporary at best.
In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya soon after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over his son's education.

Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, introduced his stepson to Islam. Obama was enrolled in a Wahabi school in Jakarta. Wahabism is the RADICAL teaching that is followed by the Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the western world.

Since it is politically expedient to be a CHRISTIAN when seeking major public office in the United States, Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background.

Let us all remain very alert concerning Obama's expected presidential candidacy.

The Muslims have said they plan on destroying the US from the inside out, what better way to start than at the highest level - through the President of the United States, one of their own!!!!

ALSO, AND VERY IMPORTANT, keep in mind that when he was sworn into office - he DID NOT use the Holy Bible, but instead the Koran.

iF THIS CONCERNS YOU, please forward to everyone you know. Would you want this man leading our country?......NOT ME!!!"

[Deep13]

1. I think I read on Snopes that it is all horseshit.

Besides, if the point of the note is to suggest that a Christian president is better than an Islamic one, I am not aware of any evidence to support that supposition.

[Fierce]

2. Try Snopes.

And it was Keith Ellison who used the Koran, not Obama.

[meegbear]

3. Here yah go ...

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp

[faithfulcitizen]

15. Thanks! exactly what I needed!

[zanne]

4. I think that would have worked four or five years ago...

Now it will just appeal to the demented base.

[faithfulcitizen]

11. aka my mil :)

[Mass]

5. Very crazy letter. Have you looked at mediamatters.org

They have debunked all this story when it started.

[babylonsister]

6. Check this out-that e-mail is full of fallacies:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp

[BOSSHOG]

8. That is true

but any lunatic constitution hating christian who would spend the time sending that trash to anyone isn't going to believe a word in Snopes. Snopes deals in facts, lunatics deal in beliefs. Hell there was WMD and Valerie Plame was just so incredibly insignificant don't cha know.

[BOSSHOG]

7. Well why don't all the good motherfucking christians

in this country kill him after they torture his ass? That would be my response. If they are so excised by the fact that the American Citizen who is over the legal age to run for President is alive and breathing then fucking put an end to his life. Apparently that would seem the christian thing to do. Please ask her why not so she can stop sending you shit. Hell, the christians should just kill all the dem candidates.

Thank God, My mother in law is an ass kicking democrat who don't take much shit off "conservatives."

[faithfulcitizen]

16. um, this approach might be a little harsh for her :)

she really is pretty clueless.

[BOSSHOG]

19. I have no patience or compassion

for the ignorant garbage in this country who go through life with blinders on. Her dumbass email was pretty harsh. Give it right back to her. However, I do not chat politics with my brothers in law, or to be more exact, those chickenhawk war supporters make the wise decision of not talking politics with me.

[DemInBuckhead]

9. I'm sure a lot of people can do better than me here, but...

...here goes.

<b>Obama's parents met at the University of Hawaii. When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced.</b>

And this is all Barack Obama's fault. He was two years old and therefore, old enough to be able to stop his parents from divorcing. (/sarcasm)

<b>When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocated to Indonesia. Obama attended a MUSLIM school in Jakarta.
He also spent two years in a Catholic school. Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim.</b>

Indonesia's a largely Muslim country so there's a pretty good chance you'll be at a Muslim school. But again, since Barack Obama was at the ripe old age of 6 at this time, he should have been able to tell his parents to not send him to this school. (/sarcasm)

<b>ALSO, AND VERY IMPORTANT, keep in mind that when he was sworn into office - he DID NOT use the Holy Bible, but instead the Koran.</b>

Probably made up. Did Keith Ellison even use the Koran when being sworn in?

<b>iF THIS CONCERNS YOU, please forward to everyone you know. Would you want this man leading our country?......NOT ME!!!"</b>

[Democrat 4 Ever]

13. My daughter's reichwing father in law sent me this BS a couple of

months back. He had forwarded it to at least 50 people. I "snoped" it, got the truth and then replied back to everyone on his list. He then sent me a single sentence response (without responding to the rest of the group he sent this tripe to). All he said was, "Thanks, I was wondering about this."

I then copied his answer and replied to everyone in the original email, "If you had questions about the truth in this nonsense why on earth did you forward it to everyone before checking it out? There is too much garbage on the internet to just accept everything at face value."

Last I heard from the Daughter her MIL and FIL aren't speaking to me anymore. (They live in South Carolina so at least I don't see them on a regular basis.) Oh, darn. At least I'm off their forwarding list - Mission Accomplished.

[Lucinda]

18. Good for you for taking the time to do that!

There is going to be a lot of mud-slinging before this one is over. I hope the candidates all are as quick to repond to this sort of stuff as you were.

[SteppingRazor]

10. Well, you can start with this:

The Wahabi school thing is a total fabrication. It's a lie based on an article from Insight Magazine, a Moonie-owned online paper of very dubious reputation.

Obama has never said he was a Muslim, and in fact has attended the same church in Chicago for decades.

Also, Obama did not use a Koran when sworn into office. Perhaps the e-mail is confusing him with Keith Ellison, our nation's first Muslim congressman.

But more important than all of this, so what if Obama was a Muslim? The e-mail suggests that all Muslims want to destroy the U.S., a laughably wrong position hardly worthy of retort. The cause for concern here is not the faith of Obama, but the ignorant intolerance of this letter's writer, who obviously has xenophobic issues that go far beyond a presidential candidate.

[truebrit71]

12. Tell your MIL to stop forwarding her bigoted e-mails to you..

...and that you'll talk to her once she has re-gained her brain...

Does she think she's a "christian".....?

[rurallib]

14. FEAR, FEAR, FEAR, FEAR THE SCARY MUSLIM

Think that has been around for a year or so and no doubt it will be getting big play as the primaries near. Do not question its truth. Your job is to FEAR WITHOUT QUESTION!
Oh and when the time comes, turn in your radical friends.

[faithfulcitizen]

17. So, here was our exchange, maybe it will help someone else...

thanks for all the input!

“Yes, and Bush's "Christianity" has served us so well. :eyes: There are plenty of people running that claim to be "Christians" when in reality, their lives resemble nothing of what true Christians stand for. Republicans included. I worship & serve the Lord, not a political party. I don't know who I'll vote for, but it will be someone who I think will promote more peace and less killing, unlike our current administration.

I hope you have a very blessed day. Love, A”

“Hi A,
I think you might have misunderstood me. I did not send that in an effort to knit pick at any particular party. When I saw that what concerned me was the possible difference in mindset of a particular person-not a certain party. I won’t send this type of email to you again. Sorry if I upset you. “

“I know that is not your intention at all. What does upset me is that the originators of such e-mails ARE politically motivated and they prey on the "good Christian" people's fears. That's both the blessing and the curse of the internet. People say anything they want and send it to 1000's of people. The fact is Barack Obama has been a Christian for decades, attending church in Chicago. I found an article that addresses this very e-mail if you care to read it- http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp This article basically debunks this (hysterical, in my opinion) e-mail.

I guess what bothers me so much about these kinds of e-mails is that I feel like one party in particular thinks they control OUR faith and uses OUR faith for political gain. I really do appreciate your e-mails, but this kind really strikes a nerve with me. Anyway, I love you very much, A”

[ellacott]

20. Very good response