Barack HUSSEIN Obama

Many opponents of Obama who are Christian have been making a certain argument against him that represents a radical departure from the Christian teaching. Simply put: they question whether Barack is a Christian at all on account of the fact that his father was a (nominal) Muslim. They claim that his conversion wasn't real and that he is some sort of "stealth Muslim." (Mark Danner, in the New York Review of Books, recently recounted an example of this objection: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22017#danner)

People who hold this view though, are at odds with Christian theology. Basically, they're disparaging the rites of baptism and conversion--the central rites of the Christian religion! In their view, a person isn't a 'real' Christian unless his daddy was too. In other words: free will, the personal relationship with Christ and individual choice are irrelavant to being saved. They make it seem as though salvation were some sort of genetic or heriditary condition that is passed down from father to son through the blood. Effectively, this means that conversion is impossible and that baptism is only an empty ritual. Now given the fact that the anscestor of all Christians, if you trace their lineage back far enough, had to convert from some other religion (be it Judaism, Paganism or some other belief), that would call into question whether the Christian religion can even be said to exist!

Furthermore, such people should be aware that what they are saying could undermine the effectiveness of Christian missionaries and evangelists working abroad. What is the message they are sending those non-Christians who are considering converting? That they will never be accepted as 'true' Christians simply because of who their parents are? That's a great way to scare off potential converts.

Of course, they have a First Amendment right to believe any old thing they like, but those who advance this view should be aware of the implications of what they are saying: basically, they're founding a new religion!