The President has declared that America isn’t a Christian nation, but now he asserts that it could be considered “one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.”
Now, the flip side is I think that the United States and the West generally, we have to educate ourselves more effectively on Islam. And one of the points I want to make is, is that if you actually took the number of Muslims Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world. And so there’s got to be a better dialogue and a better understanding between the two peoples.
Sometimes you wonder if Obama remembers that he is the President of the United States, and that it would be nice if he were consistent and accurate when he is saying something.
First, to falsely declare that the United States is not a Christian country on foreign soil, and then to falsely declare that the United States is a Muslim country on our own soil – is,well, I don’t know, pretty much explains why the President is not brilliant.
Secondly, where does the President get his numbers?
The CIA Factbook reports that Muslims comprise 0.6% of the US population, which is estimated at 307,212,123.
Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4% (2007 est.)
This would put the number of Muslims in the U.S. at around 1.8 million.
So what’s up with Obama and his numbers? I think he made a common mistake in the perception of the Arab community – most Arabs in America are actually Christians. Christianity Today reports:
The Detroit News recently reported on new ethnic sensitivity training courses for Michigan police departments in highly Arab American communities. As part of the training, one counselor reminds officers that most Arab stereotypes have no grounding in fact. As an example, the counselor says few people realize that most Arab Americans are not Muslim. In fact, the News reports, 75 percent of Arab Americans are Christians.
Does it make sense the percentage is that high? According to Roy Oksnevad, director of the Department of Ministries to Muslims at Wheaton College, it does.
“There’s always been a high percentage of Christians among Arab U.S. citizens,” Oksnevad told Christianity Today. “The majority of them come here because they were minorities in their native countries. Much of the reason they leave is the hard life under Islam but recently there has been a mass exodus due to renewed nationalism and an Islamic resurgence.”
Oksnevad said that since the late ’90s, more attention in several Arab nations on their Islamic identity has placed additional pressure on Christians in those countries. This has led to far greater numbers of Arab Christians emigrating to the U.S.
“Anyone not Muslim is the focus of a lot of negative attention in many of these countries,” he said. “They are not able to live out their lives as they did in the past, and minorities are persecuted. You’ll also see Muslim-on-Muslim violence where Christians get caught in the middle. Eventually they choose to leave these situations. That trend has given the U.S. a high percentage of Arab Christians.”
Maybe this is President Obama setting the tone in showing his newly announced Muslim side. But I wonder. Yes I wonder – what if George Bush said such a, well, stupid thing?
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Filed under: Barack Obama, Christianity | Tagged: Barack Obama, Christian Country, Muslim Country, Muslim Population in US
It’s getting worse by the day, what comes out of the mouth of this idiot. I have to sit and wonder if the people who voted for him even THINK about this stuff. I doubt it, because most of them were uninformed from the start. They are too busy watching american idol to watch news (or attending liberal colleges, which is most of them).
There is nothing wrong with being Muslim. Not all Middle Easterners or Muslims are bad.
Hey Andrea!
Agreed! This isn’t the issue.
The issue is Obama’s incorrect statement.
Ok sorry. I wasn’t sure what you were stating with this article.
Islam is the fastest growing religion within our prison system, maybe that’s what he was thinking of.
First let me say that I am Proud to be an American, Republican and Roman-Catholic(order not significant). I can’t believe that Obama would say that this is one of the Largest “Muslim” countries in the world. It is just not true.
In a sense Islam is an offshoot of the Judeao-christian brand and so relavence of the ten commandments and other basics is going to be pretty similar amongst practicing christians, jews and Muslims. Allah is in fact the same deity as Deus Optimus Maximus or the Jewish Yah Weh. I do recognize that there are also going to be many diffferences.
I personally would wish that people would stop trying to define this country solely by religious standards. Many of the founding fathers were christian but many were also deists, agnostics, and atheists. The founding Fathers incorporated the best traditions of Judeao-christian thoughts, ideals and customs along the with best traditions, customs, thoughts and ideals of Greco-Roman civilization and philosophy in our August Republic.
I support saying saying “One nation under God” in the pledge of allegiance and having “In God We Trust” on our Money. People who are not christian or jewish do not have to attribute “GOD” to the Judeao-christian deity. They can attribute it to their respective deity or no deity at all. It is their choice…free will.
In my view I hold sacred our freedoms including freedom of religion. I do not have a problem with Hindus, buddhists, muslims, zoroastrians, etc moving here to this country. If when they do move here they convert to some form of christianity…Good! If they don’t, that is their prerogative. On the other hand, they should not expect the Judeao-Christian majority to pander to them either.
If I were President I would say that America is a nation established and founded in the best traditions of broader western civilization which includes as a significant and profound part, Christianity and who’s people are predominantly Judeao-Christian. I would further say that people of all religions are welcome here as long as they come here and contribute to our great nation.
I have been singled out by protestants because I am Roman-Catholic and I didn’t enjoy it.
I personally don’t appreciate the protestant interperpretation of the Bible but I respect they’re right to have it. I get annoyed because half of the protestants that I have known in my life have tried to convert me, which I repeatedly rebuff. Nonetheless, I recognize that protestants have the right to try to convert me in this country and I have right to remain Catholic…thank God! I admire people who live by a code of Honor, fortitude and virtue, regardless of religion. I have protestant friends, muslim friends, jewish friends, hindu and buddhist friends and that is fine with me.
I thank God (author and creator of the universe, earth, and life) for this great Republic and it’s people. I thank god for it’s foundations. I thank god for the world and the universe. I wish to give credit to God for authoring and employing the advanced processess and mechanisms such as the big bang and evolution to bring us all here. I thank god for the opportunity that is life.