A Bright Blue Dot in a Big Red Sea

I received this email from a buddy of mine. It seems a number of my friends and colleagues see things differently than I do. Problem is, they think these things without thinking about them, and there seems to be a good deal of this kind of thoughtless thinking out there. Here's an example of what I'm talking about. This is my response to an email that outlined Railia Odinga's agreement discussing the relationship between his political party and Sudan's Muslim leaders. The email alleges that Barack Obama is cousins with Odinga:

Hey - Weigh in on this for me. I'm not passing judgment just yet, but this kinda stuff is what scares the bejesus right out of me.

My response:

You bet -

For starters, here's a snippet on Snopes.com that disputes that Railia is Barack's cousin:

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

Odinga was the opposition leader in the most recent Sudanese elections. Obama certainly hasn't campaigned with or for him.

On a broad basis, much has been made of Barack's background - my father-in-law even commented last weekend that he wasn't sure he could vote for him because of his background. "What do you mean?" I asked. He went on to tell me that his background as a Muslim makes him apprehensive about his intentions as President, among "other" things (race, I assume).

I hear as much now and then, and it never ceases to confound me. Obama has never been Muslim. Period. He has little exposure to Islam. His only ties to Islam are the fact that his father was Muslim, though a non-practicing Muslim, and for a short time Barack went to a public grade school in Indonesia (he also went to a private Catholic school there) that was partially populated by Muslims. Barack's father left when he was two, and Barack only saw him one other time in his life. He was raised a Christian by his single mother, but spent most of his time growing up in Hawaii under the watch of his white Kansan Grandparents. By all measures, he could have turned into a typical, fatherless angry young man, but instead put his energies into school, graduating from Columbia & Harvard.

One more item I don't understand is the fear of Islam that certain people want to foster. There are 1.5 billion (that's 1,500,000,000) Muslims worldwide. Of those, 10,000 or so of them are extremists, brought up in poverty and fed hate by their elders. If you were to look at most religions, there are sub-sects of extremists - Jews/Catholics/Muslims/Protestants, etc. The one religion with little or no violence in its history is Hindu. It's not Islam that's evil, it's the Taliban extremists and their allies who've hijacked their own specific brand of Islam to spread hate towards the west. By most counts, we don't understand Islam - - yes, we may know their practices from books, but we don't really understand it - so we're helped into fearing it by those that want to push a certain agenda. Islam=Fear=Obama. If someone can powerfully align those three items (whether or not they're based in reality), then McCain's got a chance, right?

As it relates to some of the statements & ideas in the attached letter and the perception that they are extreme (which some are, grant you): I'm Catholic, went to Catholic school, still go to Catholic church. Last year, the Pope again issued a statement that Catholicism is the "one true way" to salvation. Evangelicals believe that you must accept Christ as your savior to go to Heaven, Lutherans believe they own the one true path, Jews use the Old Testament as their gospel but dismiss the New Testament in its entirety, Mormans believe the Promised Land is in two places; Israel & Missouri, and Muslims believe they own the one true path in to Allah through the teachings of Muhammed. Free Masons believe a little of everything. Most religions have published a manifesto of sorts of how they wish to organize, popularize and spread their beliefs. When thrown out on the table and measured against each other, there are obvious differences. But no one religion is less abstract in its beliefs & teachings than the other - they're all based in faith. In other words, you believe what you believe because that's what you Believe, if that makes sense. Other people might believe something different. That's there prerogative - and it really doesn't affect me, And to me, as long as they're living a quality life and treat those around them with love and respect - which most religions teach - that's all I ask for. They're no better or worse than me.

To me, there aren't Muslims, Hindus, Jews or others. There's only good and bad. Hitler was raised Catholic, Osama is Muslim, Stalin was Atheist, Saddam was a moderate Sunni Muslim, Pol Pot claimed to be Buddhist - but nearly anyone who has ever committed atrocities, from Ivan the Terrible to Mussolini & his mustard gas, has twisted and contorted their respective religions to meet their agendas. I guess what I'm saying is that religions don't scare me, but some people certainly do. Kind of like the gun argument (guns don't kill people...)

I sort of took off on a tangent, but this is all tied together. I don't think Obama is the perfect candidate - there isn't one - but I trust him. I'm certainly not afraid of him. I feel like what you see is what you get with him. And really, I feel that same sentiment about McCain. I just happen to like Obama's ideas much more and have much more faith in his ability to get things done. The letter attached in your email has little to nothing to do with Barack & who he is as a person or politician. Keep 'em coming, and feel free to pass this back to whomever sent this to you. - JG

So there you go...