Daniel Pipes has regurgitated the highly disputed March 16th article printed in the Los Angeles Times to once again bring Senator Barak Obama's religious history into the spotlight. The following is an excerpt from his article which appeared the Frontpagemag.com website on Dec. 26, 2007:

Summarized, available evidence suggests Obama was born a Muslim to a non-practicing Muslim father and for some years had a reasonably Muslim upbringing under the auspices of his Indonesian step-father. At some point, he converted to Christianity. It appears false to state, as Obama does, "I've always been a Christian" and "I've never practiced Islam." The campaign appears to be either ignorant or fabricating when it states that "Obama never prayed in a mosque."

As a red-blooded American Muslim it makes my blood boil to see that being Muslim today is seen as something un-American and un-holy. Muslims are the new communists as far as these right-wing, conservative people are concerned. This is nothing but a propaganda smear campaign against Senator Obama and Islam meant to put fear in the hearts of American citizens who know little or nothing about Islam and what it teaches.

Let's look at some facts. First off, Senator Obama denies that he is a Muslim. I think we have to take his word on that since no God fearing Muslim would ever deny his religion for fear that God would then deny him on the Day of Judgment.

Second, according to the family of Obama's late step-father, he was a non-practicing Muslim who loved women and alcohol. In fact, he died of several health complications, one of which was a deteriorated liver from excessive alcohol consumption, hardly the image of a pious Muslim.

Third, Senator Obama did spend time in a Muslim country and undoubtedly had many Muslim friends growing up. He has been to a mosque and even learned about Islam for two hours each week at school. I think that this gives him qualifications far superior to any other candidate we see today when it comes to International politics and getting a handle on the war in Iraq and the complete meltdown in the Middle East we are witnessing today. We need a candidate that has a basic understanding of Islam and Muslims. We need a politician who knows more about Islam than what was shown on FOX News.

It is interesting to note that Daniel Pipes, the author of the above mentioned article, is reportedly advising Rudy Giuliani on his campaign for president. It is clear that the radical right wing will continue to use ugly smear campaign tactics and tell tall tales until the very bitter end. Save democracy, vote Democrat.