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Parsing fine hairs, Janouz

Reader comment on item: Was Barack Obama a Muslim?
in response to reader comment: No child is born Christian or Moslem

Submitted by Don (Thailand), Jan 1, 2008 at 08:45

Ask any Muslim father or mother what religion their baby is. I know a lot of Muslims who do not practice their faith any more than people who call themselves Christians do, but they have "officially" been Muslims since their first minute of life and it is identity number one to them by the state and by their family and by their friends, and therefore to themselves.

Always has been and always will be; to think otherwise shows a lack of understanding of Islam. So parse hairs all you want, Janouz, and do your best to try to equate Islam with the other religions if that makes you feel warm and fuzzy about being all about diversity and a relative thinker, but you're out on a branch when you do and no matter how nuanced you want to make it in your own mind, I don't and neither do Muslims nor their states, nor anyone who has lived in the culture and understands it.

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