Barack Obama joined Muslim prayers at school, teacher says
The Australian Times
AS a schoolboy in Jakarta, Barack Obama attended Muslim prayer sessions with his classmates against the wishes of his mother.
The US President’s former grade three teacher said that Mr Obama – who was known as “Barry” when he attended the Menteng One school in Jakarta – studied the Koran and went to classes on Islam, despite the objections of Anne Dunham, a Roman Catholic.
The teacher’s recollections will add to speculation about Mr Obama’s links to Islam during his much-anticipated visit to Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, as part of his ten-day tour of Asia.
His middle name, Hussein, and the fact that his stepfather was a Muslim, have combined to perpetuate rumours about Mr Obama’s religious leanings. The number of Americans who think that he is a Muslim has grown since his inauguration to one in five.
Mr Obama moved to Indonesia with his mother and Indonesian stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, when he was 6, and lived there for four years. In his memoirs he recalled his time in the country as the “bounty of a young man’s life” and there is affection and pride among Indonesians for the boy who ended up as President of the United States.
The teacher, Effendi, who taught at Menteng One for 29 years, remembers Mr Obama as a “fat, curly-haired, curious boy”. The school had an international mix of pupils, including Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims.
Mr Obama attended classes on Islam while the Christians attended classes on Christianity, said Effendi. Barry, he said, was alone among the pupils in that he insisted on attending both.
“His mother did not like him learning Islam, although his father was a Muslim. Sometimes she came to the school; she was angry with the religious teacher and said ‘Why did you teach him the Koran?’” said Effendi.
“But he kept going to the classes because he was interested in Islam. He would also join the other pupils for Muslim prayers.”
Both Barack Obama’s father and step-father were Muslim.
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Wild Thing’s comment…….
If she objected, it wasn’t because she was a Roman Catholic, it was because she was an atheist. ( according to articles that have written about this )
His mom’s parents were communists and his mom Ann was a Communist with a habit of marrying Muslims.
And if you go to a Muslim country and marry a Muslim, then you are expected to be a Muslim yourself, at least superficially.
I thought everyone knew this, it came into the news during the election. The writer of this article is obviously very uninformed.
All the denying in the world will not change my perception of obama as a muslim. He certainly has praised them in public and I have not heard similar praise for Christians, Buddhists, Jews, Hindus or any other real religion. The sorry S.O.B. praises the cult that attacked us, but snubs our allies the British.
Tom, I agree soooo much. I forget the saying, but it is about actions speaking louder then words and with Obama being a muslim it is true, plus his words confirm it even more.