Video: Obama: “Islam can be compatible with the modern world”
9:58 am on April 14, 2008 by Infidelesto
Here’s the transcript:
BROWN: Senator, you are a Christian, but as a child you had more exposure to Islam than probably most Americans ever will. How did that shape you?
OBAMA: Well, I lived in Indonesia for four-and-a-half years when I was a child. And, actually, ironically, the first school I went to in Indonesia was a Catholic school. So, you know, myself and Senator Bob Casey, who’s sitting here, we had pretty similar experiences probably, in part, of at least our elementary school.
I then attended a public school, but the majority of the country was Muslim. And the brand of Islam that was being practiced in Indonesia at the time was a very tolerant Islam. The country itself was explicitly secular in its constitution.
And so you didn’t have the oppressive state that was trying to impose people’s religious beliefs. And Christians and people of other faiths lived very comfortably there. And women were working, and out, and were not wearing the traditional coverings that we see in the Middle East.
And so what it taught me, and what it still teaches me, as I think about foreign policy now, is that Islam can be compatible with the modern world.
It can be a partner with the Christian and Jewish and Hindu and Buddhist faiths in trying to create a better world. And so I am always careful and suspicious of attempts to paint Islam with a broad brush because the overwhelming majority of the people of the Islamic faith are people of good will who are trying to raise their families and live up to their values and ideals and to try to raise their kids as best they can and that’s something that I think we always have to remember as opposed to assuming a clash of civilizations that sometimes are overheated rhetoric that politically is talked about.
hattip: Amy Proctor
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Comment by Bernie on 14 April 2008:
Yes, very tolerant brand of Islam where Christians are routinely hacked to death. FYI, I linked to you from Relaxing Before Passover 2008
Comment by Storm-Rider on 14 April 2008:
Islam devoid of sharia law and murdering jihad would probably be OK, just as Germany became OK after Nazi law and the murdering SS and Gestapo were removed.
The problem is that it took a world war with 60,000,000 destroyed human beings to bring about the German transition.
At the end of the day, since there appears to be no real Islamic Reformation occurring, we simply have the choice to fight mightily for our freedom, or we submit. Our founding fathers, and subsequent generations of Americans chose to fight for freedom and never submit to tyranny.
Comment by Bernie on 14 April 2008:
Germany became OK when they renounced the Nazi political beliefs. In the same manner, Muslims must renounce the Islamic political beliefs.
Comment by Tonto (USA) on 15 April 2008:
It’s hard for me to figure out how elitist snobs like Barry Osama and Hildibeast got to be democrats. Aren’t the democrats supposed to be the “party of the common people”? And why does Barry talk about his two deadbeat dads like they were something. His grandpa was a deadbeat too. And where did he get all the bucks to go to top schools and own a mansion. He’s a deadbeat too….he never had a real job. I really love the way the two of them keep digging the hole deeper. Imagine, the Hillibeast at your corner bar with a shot and a beer! No, both those assholes are all done….they’re just makin’ noises now.
Pingback by Is Islam Compatable With the Modern World? Obama Says Yes « Thoughts Of A Conservative Christian on 15 April 2008:
[...] Barack Obama seems to think so. Make sure to read Amy Proctor’s comments as well. I think she gets some key points wrong, but they’re worth the read. [...]
Comment by Joe(NY) on 15 April 2008:
If Obama is Christian, why does he go by an Islamic name? The writing is on the wall. His church is about as Christian as Farrakhan is to being a peaceful man. Look how many qualified black people get thrown under the bus for being conservative. Most, if not all were 100% black people. Barry Hussein Obama is only 50% black. The race baiters aren’t getting their full 100% with Barry.
Why are they settling for a person who is 50% white? Follow the money….
Comment by jen tha rednek on 15 April 2008:
Does Barry get news from the Middle East or does he just read what fits his description of Islam? He is out of touch with the people of this country and the world as far as I’m concerned, God help us if the electoral college sees him fit to be president!
Comment by Connie on 15 April 2008:
If Obama wasn’t even aware (heh) of the rantings of his own preacher, how can he profess to know anything about Islam?
Comment by AssyrianMight on 15 April 2008:
WOW, Obama paints Indonesia as a Disneyland for all religions. Indonesia tolerant, that’s what he said? Just checking! The rest of islamic countries look at Indonesia and say, “Damn they’re hateful”! Indonesia is the most extreme and hateful islamic country in the world! They don’t even know how to spell tolerant! And his school wasn’t secular! It was a Wahabist Madrasa! The most fanatical and hateful of islam! Wahabists are the cream of the crap when it comes to hating! Why isn’t anyone call him out on this! When Jesus comes back, His foot will land on Indonesia first and crush it!
Comment by Kastrioti on 16 April 2008:
Well you know, so many muslims in Europe are gracefully tansitioning into a “western” way of life. No conflict there at all. Barry, which is what he used to go by (why back to the Arabic name Barrak?) seems to have everything researched thoroughly.
Seriously, wasn’t Barrack the name of Muhammad’s horse? The idea that islam will ride into power in America on the back of muslim named “Barrack” is more than scrumptous.
I love how ignorant black americans take Arabic names (I recognise that Barrack isn’t a black american), as if their ancestors in Africa weren’t raped and then persecuted under the Arabs (which continues to this day, along with slavery, all under Arabs and Islam).
Quite pathetic in their lack of historical knowledge, really, mind-bogling.
Comment by Rudy on 30 April 2008:
Kastrioti,
You are one of the few people I have seen who is aware that Arabs created the slave trade in Africa. Nice
Comment by I know who you people are! on 4 June 2008:
The whites, and yes I know you’re all white, who are writing on this website are your typical ignorant-paranoics who choose to not learn anything that conflicts with their narrow and baseless world-view. A world view that has gotten them hated throughout the world. The reason you think everyone is out to kill you is because you know you should be killed. It is by the grace of God that the darker people of the world have not exacted revenge for your legacy of rape and pillaging.
Comment by Rudy on 5 June 2008:
You people? I am of Mexican descent, and not white, so right off the bat you reveal your own narrowmindedness, ignorantly assuming I am white. As for the legacy of rape and pillaging, the entire history of the world is like that. Arabs have that same legacy, or do you choose to ignore history and the spread of islam along the Arabian peninsula through force of violence? And what about all those African nations where Africans are raping and killing Africans? Look at the events in Chad, Sudan, Congo, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, etc… Hell look to Latin America, whenever I am in Brazil I read every day about Brazilians killing and raping each other en masse in the favelas. And don’t even get me started on Mexico, where the cartels routinely chop the heads off reporters and mount them on fence posts. Blame whitey, right? You speak of ignorance, and showcase your own. I AM one of the darker people, and don’t have any desire to kill a white person because he/she is white. The only people I want dead are those that would harm the innocent, like those jihadists who use children as suicide bombers and human shields. I could care less if they are white, black, brown, or beige.
Comment by Storm-Rider on 5 June 2008:
“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” The Word of God
“We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” Thomas Jefferson
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Anyone, like “I know who you are,” who sees individual people as primarily a member of some group is in violation of the Divine order of the universe. God made each individual as an individual - not as a member of a group. Grouping people is a way of demoting the individual, and it is one of the first acts of a totalitarian government.
God doesn’t care what color your skin is, He only cares how you live your life, and how you care for your family, and how you love your neighbor, and how you care for the sick, the elderly and the down-trodden; and whether or not you have courage.