Obama An Apostate?

  Well, here's another fun topic regarding Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama and his religious background.

  For the record, Obama is a Christian. However, his father was a Muslim who later renounced that faith. The kicker, at least in this Op-Ed piece in The New York Times, is that under Muslim law, it's basically once a Muslim, always a Muslim.

  And renouncing one's Muslim faith is considered the worst crime, punishable by death.

  Quote: As the son of the Muslim father, Senator Obama was born a Muslim under Muslim law as it is universally understood. It makes no difference that, as Senator Obama has written, his father said he renounced his religion. Likewise, under Muslim law based on the Koran his mother’s Christian background is irrelevant.

Of course, as most Americans understand it, Senator Obama is not a Muslim. He chose to become a Christian, and indeed has written convincingly to explain how he arrived at his choice and how important his Christian faith is to him.

His conversion, however, was a crime in Muslim eyes; it is “irtidad” or “ridda,” usually translated from the Arabic as “apostasy,” but with connotations of rebellion and treason. Indeed, it is the worst of all crimes that a Muslim can commit, worse than murder (which the victim’s family may choose to forgive).