Curiously, Mediaite seems a bit shocked by this development:
For the record, the belief Maher apparently holds — that Obama isn’t actually a Christian, but merely pretends to be one to keep up appearances for the sake of his political career — strikes us as one of the most cynical things anyone could possibly believe about Obama. Is it possible? Well, yes — it wouldn’t make Obama the first politician to not be entirely upfront about everything regarding his true self. But for Maher to hold the view that Obama’s not actually a Christian — a viewpoint, of course, fundamental to the “Obama’s a Muslim” school of thought Maher mocks in the very same segment you’ll see below — well, it’s a little curious.
Actually, it’s probably the least cynical thing Maher’s ever said. It seems obvious that Obama’s time spent in Rev. Wright’s church was for political, networking and career advancement purposes. He’s rarely been spotted in a church in DC, since. And as Scott Johnson of Power Line recently quipped, “One of President Obama’s most prominent and least attractive qualities is his vanity. It almost disposes of the speculation that Obama is a Muslim. The man can’t be a Muslim; he worships himself.”
Couple that with P.J. O’Rourke and Michael Ledeen’s take on Obama as a sort of overgrown perpetual undergrad, and you’re left with the obvious — he’s an agnostic or an atheist.
On the other hand, as Obama (or his ghostwriter) wrote in his autobiography:
I am new enough on the national political scene that I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views. As such, I am bound to disappoint some, if not all, of them. Which perhaps indicates a second, more intimate theme to this book–namely, how I, or anybody in public office, can avoid the pitfalls of fame, the hunger to please, the fear of loss, and thereby retain that kernel of truth, that singular voice within each of us that reminds us of our deepest commitments.
And no doubt, Maher is projecting plenty of his own fantasy wish fulfillment into his statement.
This is actually one of the few times I agree with Bill Maher. I’ve always been of the mindset that Obama is an agnostic at best and an atheist at worst (not an insult to atheists). It would be kind of hard to grow up with any religious beliefs with a mother that was an atheist, a father who was an atheist, and mentors that were atheists. It is possible that Rev. Wright was a moderating influence on him to at least have countenance the idea that there is a God, but this a poor way of showing it. Indeed, many atheists who finally discover religion usually have a fundamental rethink about their entire philosophy and go completely conservative (see one Peter Hitchens, Andrew Klavan, Zombie, and Kirk Cameron).
So count me as one who would stand with Maher on this issue.
I kind of suspect that Michelle is a liberation theologist, and was the one who actually enjoyed the trips to Rev. Wright’s church and his angry sermons, while Obama sat their most of the time thinking “Enough about this guy (Rev. Wright or Jesus, take your pick), let’s talk about me.”
Obama has spent nearly his entire life, beginning in childhood with his mother and grandparents, in one sort of communist re-education program or another. He is undoubtedly and atheist (which should make Maher happy) who pretends a Christian faith out of political expediency.
His Islamist proclivities not withstanding, he is not a Muslim. He is the prime example Glenn Beck’s theory of a socialist aligning with Islamists for short term tactical advantage.
Beck is an expert on most things!
Bill Maher and I seldom agree on many issues but we do on this one. President Obama has not shared much that would indicate he is a Christian.
Certainly the President thinks most well of himself as Ed so well articulates. Seems that if we all “understood” President Obama the we would all agree with his positions. Are we supposed to accept that those of us who take differing positions from President Obama lack the ability to “understand”?
As to his religious status we really don’t know. He has positioned himself well with Arab leaders around the world. We might question what that means.
For sure the President is an opportunist. Isn’t it interesting that he now attempts to sound more like a centrist. Maybe we should just forget Obamacare, the government bailouts, the closed door meetings and the rhetoric of the President and his cohorts.
After all we do not “understand” the President and we must be forgetful too.
Of COURSE it’s wish-fulfillment. The guy behind “Religulous” thinks only idiots are religious. He thinks Obama is brilliant. Ergo, Obama must not be religious, only portraying himself as such so the benighted rubes don’t reject his magnificence for the sake of a “fairy-tale”. What other conclusion can you expect Maher to have?
Since we know Maher thinks believers are ignorant this is his way of justifying his support of Obama.
As a matter of record, Obama was born a Muslim. To a Muslim father. And raised as a Muslim in Jakarta Indonesia. He recited the call to prayer in Arabic to NYT reporter Nick Kristoff in 2007. Obama has written enthusiastically of half brothers conversion to Islam.
Obama also delayed as long as possible getting his kids a dog (Muslims abhor dogs who they consider unclean). He spent time in Pakistan in the SUMMER as an undergrad. He roomed with a Muslim Pakistani at Columbia. At Occidental, he was extraordinarily close to a Muslim student there. He does not celebrate birthdays (another Muslim custom).
Obama celebrates Islam in every speech that deals with Islam, and Muslims. He is CERTAINLY a cultural Muslim, making him completely alien to Americans, who are Judeo-Christian. This difference is not trivial — Islam is oppositional to the VERY IDEA OF AMERICA: that Man can make his own laws, not follow that handed down from God to a Prophet, “perfect” and unchanging. There is enough evidence to suggest Obama is also a non-attending Muslim as well, who does not go to Mosque but generally believes in most of Islam: Sharia, Mohammed as Messenger of God, man’s law inferior to Sharia, destiny of Islam to conquer the West.
Maher of course is only anti-Christian. He does not think Islam is “stupid” nor does he mock say, Muslim belief that Mohammed “flew” in one night to Jerusalem from Mecca, or that God directly spoke and dictated his Laws to Mohammed, or that Mohammed ascended to Heaven on a flying horse.