[podcast]http://factcheck.org/Images/image/radio/FactCheckRadio_episode25(1).mp3[/podcast]

For more on the stories discussed in this episode, see:

Obama’s (Latest) Social Security Whopper  Aug. 16

Toomey’s Stimulus Charge Doesn’t Add Up  Aug. 13

DSCC Wrong on Toomey’s Wall St. Experience  Aug. 17

Sliming Obama  Jan. 10, 2008

No Pentagon Mosque  Aug. 17

We’ve seldom seen a piece of legislation so widely misrepresented, and misunderstood, as the new health care law. We stopped counting the number of articles and items we turned out on the subject after the total reached 100.

Some of that is understandable. The debate went on for more than a year, while the different House and Senate bills changed their shape constantly.  The final law was the product of an awkward two-step legislative dance that first enacted the Senate’s version, then quickly amended it with a reconciliation "fix." No wonder people are confused.

And even now the misrepresentations continue. The new law is no longer a moving target, but some opponents persist in making false or exaggerated claims about it. Our inboxes are filled with messages asking about assertions that the new law:

• Requires patients to be implanted with microchips. (No, it doesn’t.)
• Cuts benefits for military families and retirees. (No. The TRICARE program isn’t affected.)
• Exempts Muslims from the requirement to obtain coverage. (Not specifically. It does have a religious exemption, but that is intended for Old Order Amish.)
• Allows insurance companies to continue denying coverage to children with preexisting conditions. (Insurance companies have agreed not to exploit a loophole that might have allowed this.)
• Will require 16,500 armed IRS agents to enforce. (No. Criminal penalties are waived.)
• Gives President Obama a Nazi-like "private army." (No. It provides a reserve corps of doctors and other health workers for emergencies.)
• "Exempts" House and Senate members. (No. Their coverage may not be as good as before, in fact.)
• Covers erectile-dysfunction drugs for sex offenders. (Just as it was before the new law, those no longer in jail can buy any insurance plan they choose.)
• Provides federal funding for abortions. (Not directly. But neither side in the abortion debate is happy with the law.)

For details on these claims about the new law, please read our Analysis section.

Analysis

As opponents pointed out during debate, the House and Senate health care bills were very long and complicated documents. They also changed several times, making it difficult even for those who had read (or written) the bills to keep up with what was in them. This was a perfect breeding ground for wild rumors. We picked off a lot of them while the bills were still under consideration, but now that the legislation has been signed into law, we’d like to start cleaning up the rest.

Will the law require all patients to be implanted with microchips?

No. Nothing like this appears in the new law, or in any of the bills that Congress considered. This claim stems from a wild misinterpretation of a provision in the original House leadership’s bill (H.R. 3200) that did not require implantation of anything, and that was, in any case, not part of the final legislation. The part of the original House leadership’s bill that’s usually referenced to support this rather paranoid claim actually would have set up a registry for class III medical devices and class II devices that are "implantable, life-supporting, or life-sustaining." The Federal Drug Administration’s classifications determine how much oversight and regulation the device has — class III devices (such as, for example, replacement heart valves or artificial hips) need pre-market FDA approval; class I devices (like x-ray film or tongue depressors) need only general quality controls. Class II devices, which need to meet performance standards but don’t need pre-market approval, cover a wide range — blood pressure cuffs are class II, but so are cerebral shunts. That’s why the bill specified implantable, life-supporting and life-sustaining devices.

But the bill did not mandate implantable devices of any kind, least of all microchips. Rather, it said that implantable devices will be registered so that physicians can access data about safety and effectiveness in a way that "protects patient privacy and proprietary information." And again, it didn’t become law.

Is TRICARE coverage for military families and retirees affected?

No. Some early scuttlebutt spread by chain e-mails claimed that the House bill would reduce benefits for TRICARE, but we were among the many debunking that false report. See "Health Care Overhaul and TRICARE." And as things have turned out, there’s nothing like that in the new law. Dr. Charles Rice, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, has said that the beneficiaries will not see any change as a result of the new legislation: "For the Department of Defense, and specifically for our 9.6 million TRICARE beneficiaries, this law will not affect the TRICARE benefit. Eligibility, covered benefits, copayments and all other features of our TRICARE program remain in place.” The Department of Defense TRICARE site says the same thing: "This law will not affect the TRICARE benefit. Eligibility, covered benefits, copayments and all other features of our TRICARE program remain."

Will the Amish, Muslims and other religious groups be exempt from the coverage requirement?

Some Amish may. It’s unlikely that other groups will. We’re still checking out this rumor, but the versions we’ve seen are likely overblown. The law does say that some religious groups may be considered exempt from the requirement to have health insurance, and it uses the definition from 26 U.S. Code section 1402(g)(1), which defines the religious groups considered exempt from Social Security payroll taxes. Eligible sects must forbid any payout in the event of death, disability, old age or retirement, including Social Security and Medicare. They must also be approved by the Commissioner for Social Security. The law was originally designed to apply to the Old Order Amish, and we have yet to find any cases in which members of other religious groups were successfully able to claim exemption.

The Social Security bureaucracy has been slow to respond to our queries about which religious groups have been granted exemptions from the payroll tax. But both the federal government and the courts have been very strict on such exemptions in the past. For instance, in 1982 the Supreme Court found that a member of the Old Order Amish claiming exemption under 1402(g) was in fact subject to payroll tax for his employees. That section, the Court said, is applicable only to the self-employed. And in two cases where self-employed individuals claimed a religious opposition to Social Security but weren’t members of approved sects, they were also ordered to pay the tax.

The Christian Science Church, a religious group with restrictions on health care use, has stated publicly that members will be subject to the insurance requirement.

Will the law allow insurers to continue denying coverage to children with preexisting conditions?

In theory, maybe, but the president of America’s Health Insurance Plans has said they will not do so. The health care law was supposed to forbid insurers from denying coverage for children’s preexisting conditions, starting in 2010 (four years before a similar provision kicks in for everyone else). Democrats pushed this as a major selling point of the bill, but it was called into question just a few days after the law’s enactment when insurance companies said that vague language allowed them to continue denying coverage. Previously, insurers might grant coverage to an uninsurable family if a child had a preexisting condition, but exclude that condition from coverage — that is, the insurance companies wouldn’t pay any costs associated with the condition. The new law forbids them from doing so. But, the insurance companies argued, it does not forbid them from denying coverage outright to the entire family.

However, on March 29, the president of AHIP, the insurers’ lobbying group, wrote a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius promising that insurance companies would follow the spirit of the law. "Health plans recognize the significant hardship that a family faces when they are unable to obtain coverage for a child with a pre-existing condition," AHIP President Karen Ignani wrote. "With respect to the provisions related to coverage for children, we await and will fully comply with regulations consistent with the principles described in your letter."

Does the law provide for armed IRS agents to enforce penalties?

No. This is a fantasy. GOP lawmakers claim the law might require “as many as 16,500” new jobs in the IRS, a figure inflated by dubious assumptions. But the agency’s role will be mainly to hand out tax credits, not to enforce penalties. And the IRS won’t be sending armed agents to enforce the health care mandate, as falsely claimed by Texas GOP Rep. Ron Paul. The law specifically waives any criminal penalties for those who both decline to obtain insurance coverage and refuse to pay the tax enacted to penalize lack of coverage. For more on this subject, see our Ask FactCheck “IRS Expansion."

Does the law set up a "private army" for Obama?

No. The health care law establishes a Ready Reserve Corps of doctors and other health care workers who can be called upon in the case of a public health emergency. E-mails that call them "Hitler youth" and speculate that they may be administering "lethal injections" are thoroughly false and malicious. For more on this subject, see our Ask FactCheck "Obama’s Private Army."

Are members of Congress and their staffs "exempt" from the law?

No. House and Senate members must obtain coverage just like everybody else — and the new law may give them more limited choices than they have now. The notion that they would somehow be "exempt" is a twisted idea pushed by some conservatives who opposed the creation of exchanges through which individuals could buy coverage and claimed that everyone except Congress would be forced into the exchange plans. Others opposed creating a new government-run "public option" insurance plan, and claimed (falsely) that most non-lawmakers would be herded into that, while members of Congress continued to get their coverage through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan, which also covers 8 million federal workers, retirees and family members. But the "public option" isn’t even part of the new law. Meanwhile, Congress adopted a Republican amendment that takes House and Senate members and their staff workers out of the FEHB, and forces them to obtain coverage through the new state-run insurance exchanges that will be set up in 2014. In the exchanges, private insurance companies will compete for the business of millions of currently uninsured Americans, those who already buy their own coverage and many small-business owners. These exchanges are modeled on the FEHB, and could turn out to offer a more limited selection of policies. That remains to be seen. For more details, see our Ask FactCheck, "Congress Exempt from Health Bill?"

Lately, the debate has shifted to whether some congressional staffers are "exempt" from this Republican-sponsored requirement to get coverage from state exchanges, which is another matter. The law defines congressional “staff” as “full-time and part-time employees employed by the official office of a Member of Congress, whether in Washington, DC or outside of Washington, DC.” That language comes from an amendment to the Senate HELP committee bill written by Republican Tom Coburn, who now says that his own definition is too narrow. Coburn and others argue that this definition excludes committee and leadership staff, including those working for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. The Congressional Research Service agrees that this is possible. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s spokesman told Politico that the provision does apply to leadership staff, but not committee staff. So some Capitol Hill staff workers may still continue to get coverage the same way they always have.

Does the new law cover Viagra for convicted sex offenders?

There’s no change from current law. Convicts who are not in prison can purchase whatever health plan they’d like and some plans could cover erectile-dysfunction drugs. The Congressional Research Service said that there was nothing in the new law that would "require health plans to limit the type of benefits that can be offered based on the plan beneficiary’s prior criminal convictions."

This mini-controversy erupted when Republicans introduced a string of amendments in a final effort to obstruct passage of the reconciliation bill. Republican Sen. Coburn of Oklahoma proposed the amendment to bar sex offenders from getting health plans that covered such drugs with federal money through the state-based exchanges. Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana called the amendment "a crass political stunt." And it failed by a 57-42 vote.

Does the law provide federal funding for abortions?

Not directly, and there are provisions in place to prevent it from doing so indirectly. There’s language in the law that says subsidies from the government can’t be used to pay for abortion services, except in cases of rape, incest or danger to the life of the mother. It’s true that many women who now lack insurance might obtain private policies that cover wider abortion services as a result of the new legislation and with the help of federal subsidies. But insurance companies must keep any subsidy money they receive segregated from premium payments made by private individuals, and must use only private money to pay for abortion coverage. That doesn’t satisfy either side in the abortion debate. Anti-abortion groups are also concerned about increased federal funding for community health centers, but we’ve seen no evidence these centers perform abortions. For more on this subject, see our Ask FactCheck “The Abortion Issue."

– by Jess Henig

Sources

Reynolds, Maura. "Health bills allow some a religious exemption." CQ Politics. 3 Aug. 2009.

United States v. Lee, 455 U. S. 252. U.S. Supreme Court, 23 Feb. 1982.

Jaggard v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 582 F2d 1189. U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, 8 Sep. 1978.

Droz v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 48 F.3d 1120. U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 1 Mar. 1995.

Church of Christ, Scientist. "New federal health care reform law and Christian Scientists." Press release. 25 Mar. 2010.

Pear, Robert. "Coverage Now for Sick Children? Check Fine Print." New York Times. 28 Mar. 2010.

Ignani, Karen. Letter to Kathleen Sebelius. 29 Mar. 2010.

Lovley, Erika and Patrick O’Connor. "Health bill may exempt top Hill staffers." Politico. 24 Mar. 2010.

Fox News. "GOP Senator: Health Care Law Will Permit Sex Offenders to Get Viagra." 6 Apr. 2010.

Condon, Stephanie. "GOP Rolls Out Last-Ditch Efforts to Stop Health Care Bill." CBS News. 24 Mar. 2010.

Frates, Chris. "Dems reject amendment to ban Viagra for sex offenders." Politico. 24 Mar. 2010.

A: The airline and an eyewitness say this e-mailed claim is "an urban legend" spread by persons who "live in a fantasy world."

FULL QUESTION

Did the Nov. 17, 2009, incident with Muslims on Flight 297 (Atlanta to Houston) really happen? The story is as follows:

One week ago, I went to Ohio on business and to see my father. On Tuesday, November the 17th, I returned home. If you read the papers the 18th you may have seen a blurb where a AirTran flight was cancelled from Atlanta to Houston due to a man who refused to get off of his cell phone before takeoff. It was on Fox.

This was NOT what happened.

⬐ Click to expand/collapse the full text ⬏

I was in 1st class coming home. 11 Muslim men got on the plane in full attire. 2 sat in 1st class and the rest peppered themselves throughout the plane all the way to the back. As the plane taxied to the runway the stewardesses gave the safety spiel we are all so familiar with. At that time, one of the men got on his cell and called one of his companions in the back and proceeded to talk on the phone in Arabic very loudly and very aggressively. This took the 1st stewardess out of the picture for she repeatedly told the man that cell phones were not permitted at the time. He ignored her as if she was not there.

The 2nd man who answered the phone did the same and this took out the 2nd stewardess. In the back of the plane at this time, 2 younger Muslims, one in the back, isle, and one in front of him, window, began to show footage of a porno they had taped the night before, and were very loud about it. Now….they are only permitted to do this prior to Jihad. If a Muslim man goes into a strip club, he has to view the woman via mirror with his back to her. (don’t ask me….I don’t make the rules, but I’ve studied) The 3rd stewardess informed them that they were not to have electronic devices on at this time. To which one of the men said “shut up infidel dog!” She went to take the camcorder and he began to scream in her face in Arabic. At that exact moment, all 11 of them got up and started to walk the cabin. This is where I had had enough! I got up and started to the back where I heard a voice behind me from another Texan twice my size say “I got your back.” I grabbed the man who had been on the phone by the arm and said “you WILL go sit down or you Will be thrown from this plane!” As I “led” him around me to take his seat, the fellow Texan grabbed him by the back of his neck and his waist and headed out with him. I then grabbed the 2nd man and said, “You WILL do the same!” He protested but adrenaline was flowing now and he was going to go. As I escorted him forward the plane doors open and 3 TSA agents and 4 police officers entered. Me and my new Texan friend were told to cease and desist for they had this under control. I was happy to oblige actually. There was some commotion in the back, but within moments, all 11 were escorted off the plane. They then unloaded their luggage.

We talked about the occurrence and were in disbelief that it had happen, when suddenly, the door open again and on walked all 11!! Stone faced, eyes front and robotic (the only way I can describe it). The stewardess from the back had been in tears and when she saw this, she was having NONE of it! Being that I was up front, I heard and saw the whole ordeal. She told the TSA agent there was NO WAY she was staying on the plane with these men. The agent told her they had searched them and were going to go through their luggage with a fine tooth comb and that they were allowed to proceed to Houston. The captain and co-captain came out and told the agent “we and our crew will not fly this plane!” After a word or two, the entire crew, luggage in tow, left the plane. 5 minutes later, the cabin door opened again and a whole new crew walked on.

Again…..this is where I had had enough!!! I got up and asked “What the hell is going on!?!?” I was told to take my seat. They were sorry for the delay and I would be home shortly. I said “I’m getting off this plane”. The stewardess sternly told me that she could not allow me to get off. (now I’m mad!) I said “I am a grown man who bought this ticket, who’s time is mine with a family at home and I am going through that door, or I’m going through that door with you under my arm!! But I am going through that door!!” And I heard a voice behind me say “so am I”. Then everyone behind us started to get up and say the same. Within 2 minutes, I was walking off that plane where I was met with more agents who asked me to write a statement. I had 5 hours to kill at this point so why the hell not. Due to the amount of people who got off that flight, it was cancelled. I was supposed to be in Houston at 6pm. I got here at 12:30am.

Look up the date. Flight 297 Atlanta to Houston.

If this wasn’t a dry run, I don’t know what one is. The terrorists wanted to see how TSA would handle it, how the crew would handle it, and how the passengers would handle it.

I’m telling this to you because I want you to know….
The threat is real. I saw it with my own eyes….

FULL ANSWER

This account of an incident on AirTran Airways flight 297, from Atlanta to Houston, on Nov. 17 has been sent to us by many readers. It was written by Tedd Petruna, who claims that he was on the flight. AirTran Airways, which has posted a point-by-point rebuttal of Petruna’s telling of the events, says flight records indicate that he was not on the flight. The airline says Petruna arrived in Atlanta from Akron, Ohio, 26 minutes after flight 297 departed the gate.

It’s true that there was an incident on flight 297 involving a passenger (by some accounts, of Middle Eastern descent) who wouldn’t turn off a cell phone or camera as the plane was taxiing to the runway, according to several reports. This caused the pilot to take the plane back to the gate and delayed the flight by more than two hours. But Petruna’s account — in which he says he engaged in a physical altercation with what he calls "Muslim" passengers, grabbing a man by the arm and telling him, “you WILL go sit down or you Will be thrown from this plane!” — hasn’t been corroborated by other passengers, who have told varying, but much less dramatic, accounts. The evidence suggests that Petruna’s e-mail is a tall tale. One passenger says the situation was "unsettling" but people making themselves out to be heroes "live in a fantasy world and I would challenge whether they were even on the plane."

We called a home number listed for Petruna, but it was no longer in service. We have left a message for him at his workplace, NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, in Houston. We also tried to reach him through a man whose name, e-mail address and cell phone number, along with a message saying he’s a friend of Petruna, appear on many of the chain e-mails. That man’s e-mail address and cell phone are no longer working. Earlier this month, Petruna told KHOU-TV in Houston that he had fabricated some parts of his story, but he insisted, off-camera, that he was on board during the incident.

Here are the varying accounts, starting with the airline’s:

• AirTran Airways says: "During taxi a passenger was non-compliant with Crew Members, using a cell phone and taking pictures. The flight taxied back to the gate and the passenger, who did not speak English, and his companion acting as his interpreter were asked to de-plane. They were met by customer service personnel and TSA." After speaking with TSA and AirTran officials, the men were allowed to re-board. They were part of a group of 13 men sitting throughout the plane; AirTran doesn’t say whether the men were Middle Eastern, but it says their religion isn’t known. Twelve passengers decided not to take the flight and were re-booked. The flight continued safely to Houston but was delayed by more than two hours.
• Petruna says in his now viral e-mail message that he believes 11 men on the plane were conducting a "dry run" for a terrorist attack. He says one man called another in the back of the plane and ignored flight attendants’ request to turn off their phones; he also says two men were watching a pornographic video in the back of the plane (even though Petruna says he was in first class) and that one shouted at the flight attendant "shut up infidel dog!” Petruna has since admitted that his tale of the pornographic video isn’t true, telling KHOU-TV in Houston that he also made up his description of the men being dressed "in full [Muslim] attire." He claims that he and another passenger grabbed two of the men and told them to take their seats. Petruna also told KHOU-TV off-camera: "Due to personal and financial reasons, I can’t speak out about this."
• WSB-TV in Atlanta conducted a lengthy on-camera interview with a first-class passenger on the flight, Brent Brown, the chairman and CEO of a security company based in Atlanta. Brown says that AirTran officials mishandled the situation by not communicating with passengers and then calling the incident "a customer service issue." He says that during taxi, he could see that men of "obvious Middle Eastern descent" were "getting up and down the aisles and [it] looked like they were interacting with each other with cellphones or some kind of electronic device." Brown says it was "unsettling" and that the flight attendants looked "distressed." The pilot took the plane back to the gate and after two hours on the ground, the flight continued to Houston, with Brown on board. He says that "it appeared the two biggest problems in the group were not allowed back on," though AirTran’s statement contradicts that. As for tales, like Petruna’s, of strong-arming of the men by other passengers, Brown says those telling such stories "obviously they live in a fantasy world and I would challenge whether they were even on the plane. But if they were, the action that they said they took, they would have had to walk right past me and then they would have been part of the problem." He says the actions by the group of men were disconcerting on their own. "The story doesn’t need to be embellished."
• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution interviewed a woman who said she was sitting right behind the passenger who would not turn off an electronic device. Nancy Deveikis said that the man was looking at pictures on a camera and that he didn’t understand that the flight attendant, who later grabbed the device from the man, was asking him to turn it off. Deveikis said she thought the man spoke Spanish, and she described the situation as overblown. "Just one flight attendant snowed everyone into believing she had an irate passenger," Deveikis told the Atlanta paper.
• One other story has been circulating in cyberspace: A chaplain, Keith A. Robinson, wasn’t on the flight during the incident but did take flight 297 from Atlanta to Houston once it departed the gate for the second time. Robinson wrote in a document he posted on the Internet that a passenger disembarking the plane told him at the gate that "approximately 12 men of Middle Eastern appearance stood up and began dancing and singing in an Arabic dialect." (Brown told WSB that he didn’t see anyone doing that.) Robinson also says this unnamed passenger told him that the men made gestures with their fingers like they were imaginary guns. In his written account, Robinson says the atmosphere on the plane to Houston, which he was allowed to take, was "tense," but he describes a flight that arrived safely without incident.

First-person accounts certainly can differ, and they even can be wildly inaccurate. And one person’s tense situation may be another’s misunderstanding. But Petruna’s story isn’t backed up by anyone, and at this point, not even himself. One lesson from this incident: Think before you hit the send button. As passenger Brent Brown says, "I would tell people that if you’re going to embellish a real story, be careful where you post it," he tells WSB-TV. "It’s going to get out there and you’re going to be embarassed that you embellished something that was already an incredible story."

– Lori Robertson

Sources

AirTran 297- Anatomy of an Urban Legend. InsideAirTran.com, accessed 14 Dec 2009.

Raw Video: Flight 297 Passenger Talks about AirTran Incident. WSBTV.com, accessed 14 Dec 2009.

Robinson, Keith A. "Air Tran Flight 297 Incident." 2009.

"AirTran e-mail stirs up Internet firestorm." KHOU-TV. 3 Dec 2009.

Stevens, Alexis. "AirTran ‘hero’ wasn’t on plane, airline says." Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 5 Dec 2009.

Stevens, Alexis and Kristi Swartz. "FAA to investigate cell phone use on Atlanta flight." Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 18 Nov 2009.

A widely viewed video seems to show President Obama stating that he is a Muslim. It is false, and the product of dishonest editing.

Although it is titled "Obama Admits He Is A Muslim," the president in fact has admitted no such thing. The video edits and twists his actual words, sometimes turning what were denials into false confessions. For example, it edits out the words "I’m a Christian" from one quote and "my Christian faith" from another. It shows him quoting from the Quran, but snips out his quotes from the Bible and the Talmud.

Although the video gives no citations and no dates, we have tracked down the full quotes from the various appearances. In the Analysis section that follows, we take the video section by section, comparing the edited quotes and graphics with the full reality of what Obama actually said.

We doubt many will take this nasty bit of misrepresentation seriously. Nevertheless, it provides an interesting case study of malicious editing.

Analysis

We’ve received many queries about this video, which has amassed more than 1 million views since it was posted Aug. 7. It is titled "Obama Admits He Is A Muslim" and is just over nine-and-a-half minutes long. It blends edited snippets of Obama’s own words from various appearances as a candidate and as president, with on-screen graphics giving the editorial opinions of the video’s creator.

"Obama’s Muslim Roots"

The first section opens with a portion of the address the president gave April 6, 2009, to the Turkish Parliament in Ankara.

Edited quote: Many other Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim-majority country — I know, because I am one of them.

Full quote: The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans. Many other Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim-majority country — I know, because I am one of them.

When Obama says "I am one of them," he was speaking not of Muslims but of "other" Americans. He was making a distinction between Muslim Americans and non-Muslims who either have Muslim relatives or have lived in a country (such as Turkey) where the population is predominately Muslim.

The video next shows a snippet of a speech Obama gave June 4 at Cairo University in Egypt.

Edited quote: My father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan [call to prayer] at the break of dawn and at the fall of dusk.

Full quote: I’m a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and at the fall of dusk.

Far from admitting he’s a Muslim, Obama says "I’m a Christian." But the video’s creator leaves that on the cutting room floor.

The video continues with a later selection from the Cairo speech:

Edited quote: So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed. That experience guides my conviction

Full quote: So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed. That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn’t.

The edited version invites the viewer to think that Obama was saying that his own religious "conviction" is based on personal experiences in Islamic countries. But the full quote shows Obama was talking about a different sort of conviction: his belief that Americans shouldn’t be guided by false notions about the Muslim faith.

The video then gives a truncated version of an exchange between Obama and ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos from Sept. 7, 2008:

Edited Quote — Obama: You’re absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith

Full Quote — Obama: You’re absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith and you’re absolutely right that that has not …
Stephanopoulos (interrupting): Your Christian faith.
Obama: My Christian faith. Well, what I’m saying …
Stephanopoulos (interrupting): Connections, right.
Obama (continuing) is that he hasn’t suggested that I’m a Muslim, and I think that his campaign upper echelons have not either. What I think is fair to say is that coming out of the Republican camp, there have been efforts to suggest that perhaps I’m not what who I say I am when it comes to my faith, something which I find deeply offensive, and that has been going on for a pretty long time.

The reference to "my Muslim faith" was widely described at the time as a gaffe. The Washington Times reported it as a "slip of the tongue." By leaving out the words "my Christian faith," the video dishonestly attempts to reverse the meaning of what Obama was saying.

This section of the video closes with an on-screen graphic that slightly mangles a New York Times article from March 6, 2007, by columnist Nicholas Kristof.

Video: In a 2007 interview with the New York Times, Obama recited the Muslim call to prayer in a perfect Arabic accent, and then went on to say that the Muslim call to prayer was "the prettiest sound on earth."

Actual NYT passage: Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it’ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset."

The video exaggerates. Kristof actually described Obama’s accent as "first rate" but not "perfect." And Obama said the call to prayer is "one of" the prettiest sounds, not the prettiest of all. These distortions are minor, but still part of a systematic misrepresentation of the record.

"Obama Quotes from the Koran"

The second section, called "Obama quotes from the Koran," shows Obama quoting from Islam’s holy book during his Cairo speech. What is not apparent from the edited version is that the president was telling his mostly Muslim audience that terrorists violate moral principles taught by the Quran. The video also edits out Obama’s references to the Bible and the Talmud as it strains to make the case that he’s a Muslim.

Edited quote: As the holy Quran tells us … The holy Quran teaches that … the holy Quran tells us … and the holy Quran also says . .

Actual Passages:

Obama: As the holy Quran tells us, "Be conscious of God and speak always the truth." That is what I will try to do today — to speak the truth as best I can, humbled by the task before us, and firm in my belief that the interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart.

Obama: Indeed, none of us should tolerate these extremists. They have killed in many countries. They have killed people of different faiths — but more than any other, they have killed Muslims. Their actions are irreconcilable with the rights of human beings, the progress of nations, and with Islam. The Holy Koran teaches that whoever kills an innocent is as — it is as if he has killed all mankind. And the Holy Koran also says whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind.

Obama: We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to make a new beginning, keeping in mind what has been written.

The holy Quran tells us, "O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another."

The Talmud tells us: "The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace."

The holy Bible tells us, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."

"Obama Praises and Glorifies Islam"

This section begins with a passage that is accurate enough, but does not make clear that Obama was addressing leaders of a predominately Muslim ally, Turkey. It is from his April 6 address to the Turkish Parliament.

Obama: We will convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith, which has done so much over the centuries to shape the world.

That is followed by excerpts from a March 19 video address the White House released on the Internet, in which Obama praised the "culture" of Iran and called it a "great civilization." What’s edited out is that Obama was speaking on Nowruz, the traditional first day of the year on the Persian calendar. Nowruz originated in the Zoroastrian religion and had been celebrated for more than a century before Islam arrived in what is now Iran. Although Obama referred to the "Islamic Republic of Iran" — the present-day official name of the country — he was offering no praise or glorification of the Islamic religion, but rather praising the more ancient Persian culture of Iran.

Edited quote: I would like to speak directly to the people and leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran … your great and celebrated culture. Over many centuries your art, your music, literature and innovation have made the world a better and more beautiful place. … We know that you are a great civilization, and your accomplishments have earned the respect of the United States and the world.

Full quote: Today I want to extend my very best wishes to all who are celebrating Nowruz around the world. This holiday is both an ancient ritual and a moment of renewal, and I hope that you enjoy this special time of year with friends and family.

In particular, I would like to speak directly to the people and leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nowruz is just one part of your great and celebrated culture. Over many centuries your art, your music, literature and innovation have made the world a better and more beautiful place. Here in the United States our own communities have been enhanced by the contributions of Iranian Americans. We know that you are a great civilization, and your accomplishments have earned the respect of the United States and the world.

"Obama Defends Islam"

This whole section relies on excerpts of the Cairo speech. In none of them does Obama say he himself is a Muslim. This quote leaves out some context:

Edited quote: For instance, in the United States, rules on charitable giving have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation. That’s why I’m committed to working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat. …  It is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit.

Obama was defending freedom of religion — not Islam as such. At one point he said Western countries shouldn’t dictate what clothes a Muslim woman should wear, for example. The video continues:

Edited quote: And I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.

That’s fair enough. But Obama went on to attack Muslim stereotypes of the U.S. The video left that on the cutting room floor:

Omitted quote: But that same principle must apply to Muslim perceptions of America. (Applause.) Just as Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire. The United States has been one of the greatest sources of progress that the world has ever known.

"Obama Declares America to be a Muslim Nation"

Obama is never shown saying the U.S. is "a Muslim nation." Instead, we see a clip from a June 28, 2007, keynote address at a "Call to Renewal" conference sponsored by the liberal Christian group Sojourners.

Edited quote: We are no longer a Christian nation.

Full Quote: Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation – at least, not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.

Obama was saying the U.S. is a nation of many faiths, but by dropping the word "just," the edited version changes the quote’s meaning. That is followed by more misleading editing of a clip from an April 6, 2009, press conference in Turkey:

Edited quote: We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation.

Full quote: And I’ve said before that one of the great strengths of the United States is — although as I mentioned, we have a very large Christian population, we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation; we consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.

The video then shows three excerpts from the Cairo address and one from the Turkish Parliament speech in which he described the impact Muslims and Islam have made on the U.S.

Obama (in Turkey): The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans.

Obama (In Cairo): Since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States. … Islam has always been a part of America’s story. … There is a mosque in every state in our union, and over 1,200 mosques within our borders.

All that is accurate enough, but all it amounts to is paying respect to the religion of others. Obama wasn’t embracing Islam as his own faith.

The video then shows a clip from an interview Obama gave June 1, 2009, with a French TV station:

Obama: One of the points I want to make is, if you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.

Here, it is the president who is wrong — as we reported a couple of days after the interview. The U.S. does have perhaps 2 million Muslims who attend mosques, and the total Muslim population of the U.S. has been estimated at 6 million or 7 million. But that’s tiny compared with countries such as Indonesia or Pakistan. We concluded that the U.S. probably doesn’t even rank among the top 50 in terms of its Muslim population.

The section then ends by repeating the quote from Cairo where Obama said, "Let there be no doubt, Islam is a part of America."

The next section has no Obama quotes. It features Fox News pundits criticizing the president for a brief "bow" to Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud during a visit in London April 1, 2009. The following section shows an old photo of Obama wearing African garb, which the video describes as "Traditional Muslim Dress," during a visit to family members in Kenya as a young man. (The photo is being held up by his half-brother Malik Obama.)

"Obama Visits A Mosque"

In a section called "Obama Visits A Mosque" he is pictured touring the famed Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. The structure actually isn’t a mosque any more: It was converted to a museum in 1935. This favorite tourist destination was originally built as a Christian church by a Byzantine emperor, then converted to a mosque after Istanbul fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Another section is called "Obama Sides With Islam," but it’s just TV reports from 2008 of Obama’s brief refusal to wear an American flag pin in his lapel. How that equates to siding with Islam is not explained, but in any case Obama reversed that decision early in his presidential campaign and routinely wore a flag pin through the remainder of his campaign.

That section concludes with another edited quote, this one from Obama’s June 4 speech in Cairo:

Edited Quote: [L]et me speak as clearly and as plainly as I can. … America is not — and never will be — at war with Islam.

Full Quote: [L]et me speak as clearly and as plainly as I can about some specific issues that I believe we must finally confront together. The first issue that we have to confront is violent extremism in all of its forms. In Ankara, I made clear that America is not — and never will be — at war with Islam. (Applause.) We will, however, relentlessly confront violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security — because we reject the same thing that people of all faiths reject: the killing of innocent men, women, and children. And it is my first duty as president to protect the American people.

What the video’s creator cuts out is Obama’s denouncing "violent extremists" before his mostly Muslim audience.

"One of them?"

The video concludes with footage of a hijacked jetliner striking the World Trade Center’s South Tower on Sept. 11, 2001, followed by a graphic with the words "I am one of them" attributed to "Barack Hussein Obama." But as we noted at the outset, when the president said "I am one of them" to the Turkish Parliament in April, he was referring to Americans with Muslim relatives, not to terrorists.

At the very end, Obama is shown saying "Thank You, and Eid-eh Shoma Mobarak." Although that may have sounded to the video’s creator like some sinister utterance in Arabic, Obama was actually speaking Farsi. And he was saying "Happy New Year to you" at the end of his taped TV remarks to the Iranian people on Nowruz.

– by Justin Bank and Brooks Jackson 

Sources

White House. "Remarks By President Obama To The Turkish Parliament." 6 Apr 2009.

White House. "Remarks By the President at Cairo University." 4 Jun 2009.

Bellatoni, Christina. "Obama’s verbal slip fuels his critics." Washington Times. 7 Set 2008.

Kristof, Nicholas, "Obama: Man of the World." New York Times. 6 Mar 2007.

Djang, Jason, "A New Year, A New Beginning," The White House Blog. 19 Mar 2009.

Jafarey, Ali A, "NowRuz – The Zarathustrian New Year," www.zoroastrian.org. Accessed 4 Dec 2009.

Obama, Barack, "Keynote Address – A Call to Renewal." 28 Jun 2007.

White House, "Press Conference," 6 Apr 2009.

White House, "Interview of the President by Laura Haim, Canal Plus." Jun 1 2009.

A: No. The book, a New York Times best-seller, is about America's role in a new global era. The author, a leading journalist, is a Muslim but describes himself as "not a religious guy."

FULL QUESTION

This will open your eyes.

What does Obama read?

The name of the book Obama is reading is called The Post-American World, written by a fellow Muslim. Post-America – The world After America ???

Please forward this picture to everyone you know, conservative or liberal to expose Obama's radical ideas and intent for this country!

FULL ANSWER

The original photo was published by the New York Times and taken by photographer Doug Mills as then-candidate Barack Obama walked off his campaign plane in Bozeman, Mont., in May 2008. The Times also featured the version with the zoom-in on the book title in its blog about books that month. This chain e-mail is likely just as old, but it's still making the rounds.

While the photo is real, the anonymous author jumps to conclusions about the subject matter of this book: "The Post-American World," by journalist Fareed Zakaria. If the author did grab the photo from the Times' books blog, he or she apparently didn't bother to read the three-paragraph description of what Obama was reading.

First off, Zakaria is the editor of Newsweek International, a Newsweek columnist and host of CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS." His renown increased with the publication of a post-9/11 Newsweek cover story titled "Why They Hate Us." As described in a New York magazine profile, Zakaria is "an Indian-born, Yale- and Harvard-educated Muslim. … He’s a conservative who is willing to question one of the most cherished principles of the West—democracy—but also a naturalized citizen who believes in America’s world-historical mission." While his family members were Muslims, he and his siblings sang Christian songs in school and also observed Hindu holidays. The Village Voice quoted Zakaria as being a touch uncomfortable about having become the media's go-to guy for Muslim perspective: " 'I do know a lot about the world of Islam in an instinctive way that you can't get through book learning,' he says thoughtfully, but admits he finds the role of token Muslim explainer in the American media slightly uncomfortable. 'I occasionally find myself reluctant to be pulled into a world that's not mine, in the sense that I'm not a religious guy.' "

The e-mail claims that Obama is a Muslim as well, but as we've pointed before, that's not true.

Zakaria's book, published last year, isn't some kind of apocalyptic vision of a world "after America," as the e-mail claims, but rather it posits that while countries such as China and India are rising, America has a leading role in the new global era. Zakaria writes in the first chapter: "This is a book not about the decline of America but rather about the rise of everyone else. It is about the great transformation taking place around the world, a transformation that, though often discussed, remains poorly understood."

He goes on to say:

"The Post-American World": We are now living through the third great power shift of the modern era. It could be called "the rise of the rest." Over the past few decades, countries all over the world have been experiencing rates of economic growth that were once unthinkable. …

At the politico-military level, we remain in a single-superpower world. But in every other dimension – industrial, financial, educational, social, cultural – the distribution of power is shifting, moving away from American dominance. That does not mean we are entering an anti-American world. But we are moving into a post-American world, one defined and directed from many places and by many people.

What kinds of opportunities and challenges do these changes present? What do they portend for the United States and its dominant position? What will this new era look like in terms of war and peace, economics and business, ideas and culture?

The New York Times Sunday Book Review described it as "a relentlessly intelligent book that eschews simple-minded projections from crisis to collapse. … Zakaria’s is not another exercise in declinism. His point is not the demise of Gulliver, but the 'rise of the rest.' ” And The Economist noted that Zakaria's thesis isn't new. British historian Paul Kennedy wrote a 1987 book, "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers," which said, quoted The Economist, that "although America is 'still in a class of its own,' it faces the challenges of preserving its power 'from relative erosion in the face of the ever-shifting patterns of global production.' "

Publishers Weekly, which included Zakaria's work among its Best Books of the Year in 2008, called it "a largely optimistic forecast of where the 21st century is heading, predicting that despite its record of recent blunders at home and abroad, America will stay strong, buoyed by a stellar educational system and the influx of young immigrants."

The book was No. 2 on the New York Times best-sellers list in June 2008.

– Lori Robertson

Sources

Garner, Dwight. “What Obama Is Reading." Paper Cuts Blog – NYTimes.com. 1 Oct 2009.

Maneker, Marion. "Man of the World." New York magazine. 2003.

Press, Joy. "The Interpreter." The Village Voice. 9 Aug 2005.

Zakaria, Fareed. "The Post-American World," first chapter, as published in the New York Times. 6 May 2008.

Joffe, Josef. “The New New World.” New York Times. 11 May 2008.

PW's Best Books of the Year. Publishers Weekly. 3 Nov 2008.

“Hardcover Nonfiction.” New York Times 1 Jun 2008.

"The Rise of the Rest; Geopolitics and America." The Economist. 24 May 2008.

Obama’s remark came in a June 1 interview with French TV correspondent Laura Haim:

Obama: June 1: Now, the flip side is I think that the United States and the West generally, we have to educate ourselves more effectively on Islam. And one of the points I want to make is, is that if you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world. And so there’s got to be a better dialogue and a better understanding between the two peoples.

There’s no hard count of U.S. Muslims. The U.S. Census does not ask about religious affiliation.

At the high end of the estimates, a  2001 study by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, based on interviews with representatives of U.S. mosques, estimated about 2 million Muslims are associated with a mosque. From that, the authors projected: "Estimates of a total Muslim population of 6-7 million in America seem reasonable."

That’s a pretty soft estimate. What "seems reasonable" to CAIR, which describes itself as a "Muslim civil liberties and advocacy group," may seem to others inflated and self-serving. In any case the estimate is based on a guess that 4 million or 5 million American Muslims exist but don’t associate with mosques. But even if there are indeed 7 million U.S. Muslims, that still wouldn’t put the U.S. anywhere close to the nations with the largest Muslim populations, as ranked by Adherents.com, a well-documented Web site that tracks statistics on religious affiliations. China, at No. 9 on that list, has 37 million Muslims. The 7 million figure would put the U.S. at 32nd on an unusually well-sourced ranking on Wikipedia.

Furthermore, we judge that the true figure is much lower than 7 million. The Pew Research Center released a study in 2007, calling its methodology "the most comprehensive ever used to study Muslim Americans." The study was based on a poll of 60,000 respondents. Conclusion:

Pew Research Center, 2007: The total Muslim American population is estimated at 2.35 million, based on data from this survey and available Census Bureau data on immigrants’ nativity and nationality.

An even more recent study released in March of this year, and based on answers from 54,461 respondents, came up with results similar to the Pew study. The American Religious Identification Survey conducted by Connecticut’s Trinity College estimated the adult U.S. Muslim population at 1.35 million, not much different from Pew’s estimate of 1.4 million adult (meaning age 18 or over) Muslims. Both put the adult Muslim population at 0.6 percent of the total U.S. adult population. And that’s the figure currently used by the Central Intelligence Agency in its CIA World Factbook entry on the United States.

The ARIS survey did not attempt to estimate the number of Muslim children, as the Pew Research Center did. So we judge Pew’s 2.35 million figure to be the best available estimate of the total U.S. Muslim population.

That’s also the figure used by the Wikipedia ranking of countries with the largest Muslim populations, which puts the U.S. at No. 52. There are by most counts 195 countries in the world, so the U.S. would be in the top half, though not in the top one-quarter.

Note: We’ve advised elsewhere against using Wikipedia as an authoritative source. We have too often found errors, false information and undocumented claims posted there. Even now we can’t vouch for the accuracy of every figure used to arrive at its table of largest Muslim populations. But in this case we are impressed by the thoroughness of its documentation, its reliance on widely accepted primary sources such as the CIA World Factbook, the clear statement of methodology and the fact that the figure it uses for the U.S. population is the same one we judge to be most solidly based. On this subject we’ll accept Wikipedia’s information as the best available, until a better source presents itself.

Different stories have different life cycles — some only take a breather before returning with renewed vigor, others play dead for months or years. For instance, there’s been little abatement in the rumor that Obama is a Muslim, but the furor about his birth certificate died down for a little while before resurfacing. And it’s only in the last couple of months that we’ve seen a serious recurrence of the story about Obama calling the National Anthem “bellicose,” which we debunked back in April. That one’s been revamped with a new dateline (September 7, 2008) in an attempt to keep it current, but it’s not — it’s rehashed satire.

Another zombie: the tall tale about the United Kingdom suspending its Holocaust curriculum to avoid offending Muslim students. We called shenanigans on that one ten months ago, but it’s making the rounds once more.

Perhaps the most egregious example circulating right now is the “David Letterman letter,” which we’ve gotten a couple dozen times since the beginning of September. We didn’t address this one, but Snopes did back in June — and they found that it’s been around since 2006, but at the time it was attributed to Jay Leno. Neither man wrote the letter, though one line is cribbed from a 2005 Leno monologue.

It’s interesting to watch these rumors evolve, but it’s always good to remember that the breaking news in your inbox might be a warmed-over rumor from years ago. For entertainment value, Snopes addresses some of the creakiest old stories (”The Vanishing Hitchhiker” dates back at least to 1945!) and looks at the ways that individual legends grow and change over time. For recent political rumors, don’t forget that you can search the Ask FactCheck archive or check our list of frequently asked questions. Watch out for zombies!

If these two nasty e-mail messages are any indication, the 2008 presidential campaign is becoming a very dirty one.

One claims that Obama is "certainly a racist" by virtue of belonging to Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, which it says "will accept only black parishoners" and espouses a commitment to Africa. Actually, a white theology professor says he's been "welcomed enthusiastically" at the church, as have other non-blacks.

Another e-mail claims that Obama "is a Muslim," attended a "Wahabi" school in Indonesia, took his Senate oath on the Koran, refuses to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and is part of an Islamic plot to take over the U.S. Each of these statements is false.

These false appeals to bigotry and fear remind us of the infamous whispering campaign of eight years ago, when anonymous messages just before the South Carolina primary falsely accused Republican candidate John McCain of fathering an illegitimate child by a black woman.

Analysis

We turn first to the most recent of these Internet whispering campaigns: a widely forwarded e-mail that says Barack Obama’s church, the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, is anti-American, will only accept black parishioners and tilts toward Africa at the expense of the United States. The e-mail claims Obama is therefore "certainly a racist" and "desires to rule over America while his loyalty is totally vested in a Black Africa."

We've had scores of queries about the accuracy of this one. It's bunk. For one thing, the church welcomes whites, according to a University of Chicago professor of divinity who says he has attended. And while its controversial pastor is a fiery advocate for blacks and liberal causes and a fierce critic of anti-black discrimination, we've seen no evidence that he preaches hatred of or discrimination against whites.

False E-Mail Sent to FactCheck.org Readers
Received Dec. 31, 2007

Subject: Obama's church

Obama mentioned his church during his appearance with Oprah. It's the Trinity Church of Christ. I found this interesting.

Obama's church:
Please read and go to this church's web site and read what is written there. It is very alarming.

Barack Obama is a member of this church and is running for President of the U.S. If you look at the first page of their web site, you will learn that this congregation has a non-negotiable commitment to Africa. No where is AMERICA even mentioned. Notice too, what color you will need to be if you should want to join Obama's church…_ B-L-A-C-K!!!_ Doesn't look like his choice of religion has improved much over his (former?) Muslim upbringing. Are you aware that Obama's middle name is Mohammed? Strip away his nice looks, the big smile and smooth talk and what do you get? Certainly a racist, as plainly defined by the stated position of his church! And possibly a covert worshiper of the Muslim faith, even today. This guy desires to rule over America while his loyalty is totally vested in a Black Africa!

I cannot believe this has not been all over the TV and newspapers. This is why it is so important to pass this message along to all of our family & friends. To think that Obama has even the slightest chance in the run for the presidency, is really scary.

Click on the link below:
This is the web page for the church Barack Obama belongs to: www.tucc.org/about.htm
 

The first clue that this e-mail is the product of careless ignorance is that it claims that "Obama's middle name is Mohammed," which is false. His middle name is Hussein.

As for the accusations against his church, this e-mail is not the first place they have come up. Nearly a year ago conservative blogger Erik Rush called the church "cultish" and "separatist" in a Feb. 2007 interview on Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes" and questioned whether its parishioners could consider themselves Americans or Christians.

Here are the facts: It is true that Trinity describes itself as "a congregation which is Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian" and which "does not apologize for its African roots." The church’s Web site specifies a commitment to Africa and to "historical education of African people in diaspora." The congregation is overwhelmingly black; few if any whites can be seen in the photographs and videos of the congregation posted on the church's Web site. But none of that makes the church "racist" or anti-American.

And in fact, a professor of theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School, Martin E. Marty, wrote this in April 2007, rebutting Rush’s claims on Fox News:

Prof. Marty: To those in range of Chicago TV I'd recommend a watching of Trinity's Sunday services, and challenge you to find anything "cultic" or "sectarian" about them. More important, for Trinity, being "unashamedly black" does not mean being "anti-white." My wife and I on occasion attend, and, like all other non-blacks, are enthusiastically welcomed.

Regarding this renewed attack on Trinity, Prof. Marty told FactCheck, "That kind of e-mail is vicious and lying, and makes my blood boil. … Many civic officials, public school teachers, etc. are members at Trinity; [Rev. Jeremiah] Wright has been on TV with his services for years, and no one found them racist – it's smear politics."

Trinity would not comment to us for this article. Rev. Wright, however, appeared on Fox's "Hannity and Colmes" on March 2, 2007, and responded at length to the claim made by Rush. He said in part:

Alan Colmes:  I want the public to understand where your church is coming from, because you're being accused of being a black separatist church, and thus Obama is being accused by default of being a black separatist. Can you straighten that out for us, please?

Wright: OK. The African-centered point of view does not assume superiority, nor does it assume separatism. It assumes Africans speaking for themselves as subjects in history, not objects in history.

There's no question that Wright has been a controversial figure, a passionate advocate for black self-help and to some, a radical. Jason Byassee, in a lengthy article on the church published in Christian Century magazine, said, "There is no denying … that a strand of radical black political theology influences Trinity." He added, "Conservatives may find the Africentric church too political, and liberals may squirm over its revivalist emotion." But he praised the church's success in growing to more than 8,000 members, making this black congregation the largest single church in a predominately white United Church of Christ denomination, saying "the black church continues to makes converts in unlikely places, reflecting a God who makes a way where there is no way."

Wherever we looked we found ample evidence that Obama's church is pro-black, but we found none to support a claim that it is anti-white. Calling it "racist" is, in our judgment, a falsehood.

The Manchurian Islamic Candidate?

Readers have also asked us about an oft-forwarded e-mail falsely claiming that Obama is a Muslim and suggesting that he is part of an Islamic plot to take over the U.S. "from the inside out" with "one of their own." This screed reads like the outline of a bad remake of the 1962 movie The Manchurian Candidate, in which Frank Sinatra unravels a Communist plot to make "one of their own" the president.

There is little excuse for those who continue to circulate this one. The most audacious falsehood it contains (of several) is a claim near the top: "We checked this out on 'snopes.com'. It is factual. Check for yourself." Anyone who actually does that would quickly find that Snopes.com, the respected debunker of urban myths, judges the message to be "false." And yet we continue to receive examples sent to our readers by others who either don't take the time to check, or who don't care that they are repeating false and damaging statements.

False E-Mail Sent to FactCheck.org Readers
Received January 6, 2008

Who is Barack Obama?

Very interesting and something that should be considered in your choice.

If you do not ever forward anything else, please forward this to all your contacts…this is very scary to think of what lies ahead of us here in our own United States…better heed this and pray about it and share it.

We checked this out on "snopes.com". It is factual. Check for yourself.

Who is Barack Obama?

Probable U. S. presidential candidate, Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a black MUSLIM from Nyangoma-Kogel, Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white ATHEIST from Wichita, Kansas.

Obama's parents met at the University of Hawaii. When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced. Hi s father returned to Kenya. His mother then married Lolo Soetoro, a RADICAL Muslim from Indonesia.?
When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocate to Indonesia. Obama attended a MUSLIM school in Jakarta. He also spent two years in a Catholic school.

Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim.
He is quick to point out that, "He was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school."

Obama's political handlers are attempting to make it appear that
that he is not a radical.

Obama's introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence was temporary at best. In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya soon after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over his son's education.

Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, introduced his stepson to Islam. Obama was enrolled in a Wahabi school in Jakarta.

Wahabism is the RADICAL teaching that is followed by the Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the western world. Since it is politically expedient to be a CHRISTIAN when seeking major public office in the United States, Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background. ALSO, keep in mind that when he was sworn into office he DID NOT use the Holy Bible, but instead the Koran.

Barack Hussein Obama will NOT recite the Pledge of Allegiance nor will he show any reverence for our flag. While others place their hands over their hearts, Obama turns his back to the flag and slouches.

Let us all remain alert concerning Obama's expected presidential candidacy.
The Muslims have said they plan on destroying the US from the inside out, what better way to start than at the highest level – through the President of the United States, one of their own!!!!

Please forward to everyone you know. Would you want this man leading our country?…… NOT ME!!!

This claim, and others similar to it, originated with a Jan. 2007 Insight Magazine article – a publication owned by News World Communications, which also owns the conservative Washington Times newspaper: