Summary:
The third most popular post on the front page of "Christianity Daily" at the weekend is headed "Political Commentator Reveals Obama’s Real Religious And Political Beliefs." What's its motive for resurrecting a story that's ten years old?
The opening paragraph in a Christianity Daily report dated April 5, 2022, report reads, “The former president’s religious beliefs were often shrouded in mystery, which is why one political commentator took it upon himself to do the research.”
Despite referring to Obama as “the former president” the author, Olivia Cavallaro, would have known that the “political commentator” (Dinesh D’Souza, above) who made an anti-Obama documentary in 2012 filled with lies—had expressed his views a decade ago, during an interview with homophobic preacher Jack Hibbs.
So, what was her motive for raking over cold ashes now?
Could it be an effort to discredit Obama just at the point that Netflix is about to air a five-part documentary about the world’s greatest national parks, with Obama as the narrator?
Netflix, which is releasing the documentary on April 13, points out that:
Obama protected more public lands and waters than any US president. And this docuseries is as much a celebration of nature as it is a call to action.
In the trailer for the documentary, Obama describes Our Great National Parks as a “journey through the natural wonders of our shared birthright.” But this birthright, says Netflix, is constantly under attack by man-made disasters and indulgences that have hastened a global climate crisis, and many species are on the brink of extinction.
The conservationist spirit of Our Great National Parks is clear: These wonders deserve to be preserved, and one of the best ways to prove that is to show audiences what these wonders look like when they thrive.
In the Hibbs’ interview, D’Souza, a Christian conspiracy theorist with a criminal record, said:
Here’s my take on it: [Obama’s] father was born a Muslim but became an atheist. His mother was an atheist from a very young age. His stepfather, a guy named Lolo Soetoro from Indonesia, was also born a Muslim but became an atheist. So he was raised by three atheists.
However, while D’Souza said Obama did not have “an ounce of religious faith of any kind in his upbringing,” he claims Obama did have religious beliefs, and that his attendance at left-wing churches led to his “passionate hostility to the United States of America as being a rogue nation.”
He alleged that Obama was wedded to “third-world liberation theology.”
That’s his doctrine. It’s not traditional Christianity. Third-world liberation theology makes Jesus into a Marxist guerrilla revolutionary. He’s fighting against the ‘evil empire’: The United States.
The Christianity Daily report included a link to Charisma News report dated April 4. Here the headline reads “Dinesh D’Souza Reveals Obama’s Shocking Religious and Political Beliefs.”
In 2014 D’Souza pled guilty in federal court to one felony charge of using a “straw donor” to make an illegal campaign contribution. He was sentenced to eight months in a halfway house near his home in San Diego. In 2018, he was issued a pardon by President Donald Trump.
My guess is that Christianity Daily and Charisma are irritated at Netflix for putting Obama in the limelight. Their attempt to present a ten-year-old interview as “news” is journalism at its very worst. Both outlets should either take their reports offline immediately or issue an apology.