WTF is wrong with people?

My mom forwarded me an email about Sen. Barack Obama accusing him of being a militant Muslim among other things. She asked me if it was true. I won't reprint it but here is the response I wrote her:

Mom, I am glad you sent this to me. I had heard about it but
had never seen it before.
I know it said the message was checked on Snopes.com but
that apparently was the writer's attempt to throw people off
his trail of lies, exaggerations, and comments promoting
racism and religious intolerance.

Here is what I know of the man from his book, "The Audacity
of Hope," which I read, and from a few websites, including
Snopes. Here is the link to their entire article refuting
the vitriol that is in this email:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp

His father was a Muslim, but had no influence over his
education; his parents were actually divorced when Barack was 2.

He did attend schools in Indonesia (both Muslim and Catholic),
but he asserts that his mother was far more concerned with
academics than religion and she encouraged him to learn about
many religions. She was an anthropologist so it makes sense
that she would view religion from a cultural standpoint.

Currently he attends Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago,
which is primarily African-American. The website is http://www.tucc.org/home.htm if you want more information. He professes his faith in a way
that strikes me as authentic but not pushy or judgmental.
(Hmmm ... if only ALL religious people could manage that.)

He was once photographed during the National Anthem without
his hand over his heart and he took some flak for it but
Snopes says there is no evidence he refuses to
recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

He was sworn into the Senate on a Christian Bible. The writer
of the email probably has him confused with Keith Ellison,
the first Muslim member of Congress. He is from
Minneapolis/St. Paul and was sworn in using the Holy text
of his faith. It was NOT Obama, though.

I guess the bottom line in this is fear. People are afraid of what
they don't know or understand. It's no surprise, it's human nature.
I just wish the cowards who write this bullshit and the idiots who
A) believe it and B) forward it without having the brains to check
whether it is accurate would take 5 minutes of their lives to LEARN
about things rather than always reacting to them in fear.

Last thing I have to say about it is that religion and politics
should be mutually exclusive regardless of a person's faith, and
I find it vastly amusing that so many "Christian" people who
haven't darkened the door of a church in years and
don't know the Bible from a book of nursery rhymes would have
the nerve to send this piece of crap all over the internet.

Okay, rant over. There's something of an answer. Please forward it
to whomever sent it to you and to the people they CC'd on it. I'd
like to put a stop to this little bit of nonsense. Feel free to
include my name on it as well. Unlike others, I stand
behind my words and my convictions.

Love you,
Jennifer

I am just so frustrated that some asshole is out there thinking he or she is doing the world a favor by spreading falsehoods and fearmongering. They probably think it is their "Christian duty" to warn people. Of course, if there is any justice whatsoever they will be made to understand the full implications of believing and writing as they have done. My guess is it won't be a lot of fun for them, but honestly, I would have a lot fun watching them be mightily uncomfortable in the presence of the Lord. LOL