But in America the mentality of the people does not seem to be so. They saw the 9/11 attackers as Muslims rather than as simply enemies. This can not be the result of an instantaneous judgement. Virulent anti Islamic propoganda had been going on in the West since a very long time. Muslims, sometimes directly but mostly in the guise of Arabs, have been shown in their films, fiction etc. as boorish, stupid, untrustworthy and murderous.

As far as the list of Muslim countries having Christian heads of state are concerned I can give you many more names. Mr. Vinod was talking about a man who is not even a candidate as yet and has a Muslim middle name as some sort of American gift to the Muslims. He based his whole arguement on the fact that a man with a Muslim middle likely to become the president of the USA as a proof that Muslims are treated so well in the U.S.A. as against the treatment of non-Muslims in Muslim countries. You Kaleem, by pointing to Muslim countries which have non-Muslim heads of state rather than simply ones with non-Muslim sounding middle names, have helped me avoid going to the Wikipedia.
Will you please give me names of any Christian country with Muslim head of state. I think some years ago Trinidad and Tobago had a Muslim president- a titular head of state. It will be relevant to the topic being discussed here.

In a couple of West African Muslim majority countries (Chad, Namibia) the head of states are Christian. In Lebanon the President is a Christian. In Egypt, Seria, Iraq some foreign ministers have been Christians. Malaysia has had Hindu senior ministers.

In comparison the record of non-Muslim countries that have sizeable Muslim populations in accomodating non-Muslims in top positions is much better. I also agree with Vinod when he calls US a Christian country, because 93% of US population is nominally Christian.

In Asia, africa a secular person is not one who is irreligious but one who treats all religions with real equal respect.

I have been living in the US for 6 yrs …and i am pretty sure that though christianity is not the state religion….it permeates the whole lifetstyle of every resident here……thats the reason of my characterization of America as a christian country….

regarding my tasteless comment….i was making the comparison to differentiate the difference between how a secular or a christian country treats its people equally…..and how Islamic countries treat non-muslims…..

Going by your last sentence, i think u will agree there is a difference…..but i will leave it to ur judgement on that…..

An absolutely tasteless statement to make. Moreover Americans being aware people know that Obama is a practising Christian. Still hs is looked at with suspicion by many. They say that they are not sure what may be there in his blood.
And by the way do you consider U.S.A. a Christian country? Why this comparison with a Islamic country.

You say:”that muslims always look the other side and expect them to be secular at all costs…while they will remain MUSLIMS…above everything else !!!!!”

Muslims do not expect all people to be secular. You follow your religion and let them follow theirs’. Some people are secular due to their in-born nature.
However after having said that I strongly feel that all devout Muslims should be very secular.

India is trying to do this, but in an extremely distasteful way….thro reservations and vote bank politics.

On an different note, since the blog is critiquing the state of politics in USA….i want to shoot out this reminder to MOHIB……

A man with a middle name “Hussein” is getting pretty close to be becoming a democratic nominee to White House…..show me one non-muslim who has come close to becoming a head of a Islamic country……

……thats my critique of this blog….that muslims always look the other side and expect them to be secular at all costs…while they will remain MUSLIMS…above everything else !!!!!

2. Media’s curiousity about Obama’s father being Muslim and his middle name being Hussain should be seen in the context of the trauma that US went through on 9/11/2001, and Al Qaeda conducting it in the name of Islam. I am definitely not giving an alibi to this tendency but am pointing out the reasons for it.

3. As to India it is erroneous to say that religion does not play a part in electoral politics there. India is a deeply religious country; religion and religous symbols are present in every walk of like. Religous symbols are used on all state ceremonies etc. To some extent religios has been used in elections in India since 1930s when Muslim League heightened its use and Congress too indulged in it. After the 1947 partition of India, use of religion in politics became common. Religious leaders of all communities are marshalled by political parties by all (except Communist) parties. With the growth of BJP in the political arena in early 1980s the misuse of religion in the political arena has reached an all time high. When BJP came to power in New Delhi it gave a still stronger place to Hindu religion (PM Vajpayee’s religion) in the political apparatus.

4. The growth of use of religion in political arena in US is a very disturbing trend. I hope the US society and politicians will see the dangers it represents and will reject it. At the same time we should understand that the common Americans are basically religious people. All minorities (African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, East Europens) are religeous people.

By using the word ‘alleging’ rather than enquiring are you trying to convey that it is wrong to be Muslim in America or is it simply politically incorrect.

What about a non-Christian or an atheist president?

Not going to happen for a long time. USA, in many aspects, is not a liberal country, contrary to what the perception is.

And the attacks on Obama are not because he has a Muslim middle name – it’s simply dirty politics and ‘anything goes’ that is played in Presidential elections to bring down rivals. Just to give you an idea, even McCain was tarred in 2000 with the rumors (false) of an illegitimate black child by his own party members (Bush).