Muslim population grows
We are all concerned about Muslims since 9/11 and are suspicious of all of the followers of Islam. I still have several Muslim friends in the Middle East that I am in contact with frequently. They are some of the finest people that I have ever known and there is a bond between us that I would trust if I were in their country today. They are true believers in Allah and they pray the five prayers daily. I was extremely well treated while I was in the Middle East. In Saudi Arabia and in the Emirates I moved about with total freedom. Of course Saudi Arabia had Medina and Mecca that was off limits but I travelled over the rest of the country with ease. In Egypt, I would not go into downtown Cairo without an Egyptian with me but I went freely about the city where I resided. The problem with being in Cairo alone was not particularly danger but the fact that you could not communicate because almost nobody including the police spoke English.
In India, I lived in the middle of the Muslim community and it was very anti-American. I did not have the freedom to move about while I was alone. I lived in a walled complex with a watchman at my home twenty four hours each day.
In some of the countries of the world, the Muslims are creating having less than two children while Muslim couples are having eight children. That will increase the Muslim population percentage rapidly over a few generations but they will have a long time to go before they approach a significant percentage of the population of the United States by birth rate alone.
President Obama stated to an Islamic meeting in Egypt that Islam had been an important part of American since the country was founded. Islam was founded about 700 a. d. and was well established by the time the government of the United States was founded in 1776. In my studies of American history, I do not remember a single Muslim that played a significant part.
When the nation was founded,Christianity was the religion of perhaps 95 percent of the citizens. Today this percentage is still above 80 percent. President Obama stated that our country was no longer a Christian nation but a nation of Muslims and Christians. The ratio is about 160 Christians to 1 Muslim.
President Obama stated that he had observed Islam on three different continents and that there was nothing more beautiful than the Islamic call to pray at sun up. I heard this call to pray at about five o’clock in the morning for over three years and it was not that beautiful to me. I would have preferred to sleep quietly until about 6:30 a.m.
In his first campaign, President Obama stated that he was a Christian but the reports are that he has attended Sunday worship at a Christian church in Washington very few times since his inauguration nearly four years ago. Since the new campaign began he is again attending Christian churches on Sundays. Of course I know a lot of people even locally who consider themselves Christians and do not go to church very often.
He has not participated in the annual Christian ceremonial National Day of Prayer in Washington and every President since it was started has participated except him. He did participate in the Islamic Day of Prayer in Washington and the ceremony at the close of the Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan.
Recently we had two Egyptian visitors in our home who were both Muslim. I asked them if they believed that President Obama was a Muslim. They looked at me like they were puzzled that I asked and told me “Yes, he is a Muslim.” I guess we must make up our own mind what we think and nobody really knows his religion but President Obama. The Bible cautions us not to be judges on another person’s salvation.