When religion collides

Was watching this episode of Comedy Central the other day, this comedian was talking about how great it was when Tiger Woods won his first major, The Masters, becoming the first winner of an African-American descent. How great the African-Americans felt to have its first black golfer to make a mark in history. Tiger Woods went on winning more tournaments and the world too wanted to be associated with him. The Asian part of the world would have headlines going ‘The first Asian-American to win the Masters’. As you know Woods is of African and Asian heritage. The more titles he won, the less black he would get. The only time when he was really black was when his father was standing next to him. And if ever Woods did something terrible, headlines would go, ’Black Golfer …’ That’s when Woods is back to being all black again.

I started to think about the recent elected black president of the United States. Barack Obama’s father was from Kenya and his mother was a white Christian. His middle name is Hussein and his late, estranged father was of Muslim descent. The global media started questioning whether Barack Obama is a Muslim. He however identifies himself as a Christian and responded that he was not raised by his Kenyan father but rather his stepfather from Indonesia. The world knows that Obama is moving towards his Kenyan heritage, even the Kenyan government called it a public holiday when Obama won the election. But is he all that black after all?

With a middle name like Hussein, the Islamic law would say, ‘if your father is a Muslim, so are you. And once a Muslim, always a Muslim. You cannot go back. In Islamic eyes, Obama is certainly a Muslim. He may think he's a Christian, but Muslims do not.’

The media questioned: How would it be like when America is fighting the war of their lives against Islam?

"What you won't hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon -- that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize." – Barack Obama, June 3, 2008

I guess, there may be many Americans who are scared of Muslim terrorist; the numbers who are scared of Muslim congressmen is small indeed.