Politics is not my thing but this was too good to resist. When I came across Wael Nawara's [1]writings I knew that I stumbled on a goldmine. In his post – Too Secular to Win [2]? – Wael asked four tough questions that left his readers wondering:
What is the world coming to?
Where is Secular America?
When did people stop thinking that a person's religion is their own business?
Can Obama, if he ever wins, try to help change that? Help pick our world from these trends of rising religious-mania … starting with the US?
But will he ever win?
Wael started his post by citing an average American woman who was interviewed on CNN saying:
“I do not trust him (Obama) he is a Muslim …”
Wael found that woman's comment ridiculous and that many Americans will not vote for Obama for the same reason
which is ridiculous since Obama is NOT a Muslim. But he seems like a Muslim, enough. He could be a Muslim. His father may have been a Muslim. How ridiculous is that?
Could anyone have said: I do not trust him … he is a Jew … or he is a Catholic?
No. Not today. That would be suicidal.
Wondering what happened to secular America, Wael reminded his readers of a Regan incident:
25 years ago … Ronald Reagan, while a president, was visiting a school in Oregon, Orlando … at the end of his speech to students he said something like: “Go home and read your bible”.
The media took him for a roller coaster ride.
America had been discovering and affirming its secular voice in the previous decades … so what happened? Why isn't America so secular anymore?
In his analysis of how America lost its secular voice, Wael says:
It is a different world today … that's for sure … America had grown more religious? Possibly. The world had grown a lot more religious. I am pretty sure that the Arab-Israeli conflict had something to do with it.
Israel is a Modern Theocracy. Secular Zionists decided to use the religious sentiments to make their enterprise possible. That came with a price. The reaction to that was an Islamist resistance movement which decidedly used the same sentiment … religion … a different religion … Is it really that different …?
Wael did not overlook the role of the media in his analysis and how satellite TV and how it has boosted the “religious industry”
Satellite TV came … and with it the Religious Industry in the US and elsewhere flourished. With Religious Celebrities … movie-star-like Charisma … they own their channels or programs … and they own their private planes … and raise millions of dollars in donations … they play on fear and frustration … and they spread hatred and suspicion.
We have those modern “Breachers” here too in Egypt and the region … the Movie-Star, Talk-Show religious figures …
Obviously a supporter of Obama, Wael thinks that
Obama today has to say … “I pray to Jesus Christ, our Savior … ” to stand a winning chance surely with recommendations from his campaign advisors. Obama, has to put up a show of Christian faith before the voters, to stand a chance.