Obamamania *
So there certainly is a crowd of Democrats that hopes Barack Obama is the messiah their forefathers spoke of. But seriously, this? Last Saturday, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago put on display an undergraduate's papier mache sculpture of Obama in the Son of God's robe and with a neon halo around his head.
In the 2008 presidential race, in which Obama is trying to beat out Hillary Clinton and then the Republican nominee, religious beliefs have already become an issue. There were the flimsy reports by the Washington Times' sister magazine and Fox News that Obama studied as a youth at an Indonesian madrasa (recruitment academies for Islamic fundamentalists). Cathleen Falsani of the Chicago Sun-Times, however, had this more informed, nuanced take on Obama's faith.
As for odd religious images, the Obama sculpture is hardly alone. The day before it went on display, the planned Holy Week exhibition of a life-size chocolate Jesus -- being crucified in the nude, with respect to anatomy -- was cancelled after it was widely ripped by Christains. But that's nothing in the history of outrageous art.
* As expected GetReligion has, rightfully so, posted a piece criticizing the Obama sculpture reportage:
In all seriousness, the first news report I saw on this item was frightfully poor. A.J. Sterling of Fox News Chicago states glibly that "some may be offended by the suggestion that Christ is black, or that the United States could have a black president, but they don’t seem to be at the exhibit this night." I guess the Grand Kleagle of the closest Klan had a previous engagement.
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About this blog
Brad A. Greenberg is a God-fearing Christian with devilishly good Jewish looks. He writes about the intersection of faith and life.
Its important when looking at the various things being reported on, what the preception is and how people understand things.
In reporting on "madrasa's" its stated in right after it "recruitment academies for Islamic fundamentalists".
I can not say whether this was something you added and are not aware of or if it was taken from the article. I believe it was just taken out of the article.
As such, I do no thave to point out how inaccurate and biased that article was or the reporting frenzy that followed. However, I believe that many fellow Americans who already had a misunderstanding of the word "madrassa" were only further lead astray.
If you speak to anyone in from the Middle East or South Asia, even South East Asia- madrassa is a common word like Quran or Ramadan.
Madarassa mean School. Nothing more. When Muslims would emigrate to new parts of the world, like many communities before them they established a mosque and a school followed by some sort of situation that allowed for the burial of the dead.
So when you or I speak about madrassa and define it as a recruitment academies for Islamic fundamentalists- you are literally putting billions of people including those in my parents generation as fundamentalists which infers TERRORISTS. There is a huge problem with the definiation and the use of the word and how Muslims communicate and utilize it.
You make an important point, Affad. Although madrasas referred to in the media often are characterized as fundamentalists training grounds, the word is simply Arabic for "school," secular or religious.