Muslim after all?

Christian Century, June 17, 2008

MUSLIM AFTER ALL? A rumor widely circulated in right-wing America is that Barack Obama is Muslim. In fact Obama is a member of a United Church of Christ congregation. But in Islamic jurisprudence, Obama is a Muslim, and the worst kind--an apostate one. A child born to a Muslim father is automatically a Muslim, regardless of whether the father is a practicing Muslim, which Obama's was not.

Shireen K. Burki, who was also born to a Muslim father and whose mother is Christian, predicts that if Obama is elected president, al-Qaeda will use his purported apostate status for propaganda purposes in the Muslim world (Christian Science Monitor, May 19).