Tuesday night Fox News host Glenn Beck deconstructed reports that nearly 20 percent of Americans, mostly on the right, say they believe President Obama is a Muslim. Beck said Obama is not a Muslim but that Americans can’t be blamed for being confused. He said the reason for the confusion is not the media or talk radio or the internet. No, he said, the root of the confusion lies in the ambiguous words and behavior of the president: Obama himself is the source of the confusion because, even when he tries to be clear, his words have double meanings.
As an example, Beck takes the passage from Obama’s book Audacity of Hope in which the president relates his religious epiphany or the moment he came to Jesus. You would think such a passage would put to rest doubts about Obama’s faith. But no. Beck argues that the way Obama talks about loving Jesus is not identifiably Christian. Obama talks about Jesus in the words of Islam!
The argument begins in the video at about 3:11.
Beck examines these sentences written by Obama:
Kneeling beneath that cross on the south side of Chicago, I felt God’s spirit beckoning. I submitted myself to His will and dedicated myself to discovering His truth.
“Even that statement is confusing,” Beck argues. “Submission. ‘Submission to His will.’ That’s Islam.”
Beck, who was raised Mormon, doesn’t suggest what he thinks Christians do in lieu of submitting themselves to the will of Jesus. He doesn’t draw on any Christian authorities to back up his theory that submitting to the Christian savior who died on the cross is a Muslim way of thinking or talking. But he wants to be clear that it’s not the media or Fox News or Glenn Beck that confuses Americans about the president’s religious faith.
Comments are closed.