In the New York Times, Edward Luttwak explores the unexpected implications of Obama's Christianity among Muslim cultures. Under Muslim law, by virtue of being born to a Muslim father, Barack Obama was born Muslim. By the same logic, Obama's decision to become Christian means his conversion is a betrayal and crime to the Muslim faith that should be met with extreme persecution, including execution by beheading, stoning or hanging. Although a direct plea and intervention by Pope John Paul II in 1994 for a Christian convert in Iran resulted in a "last-minute reprieve...the man was abducted and killed shortly after his release."
Luttwak writes:
At the very least, that would complicate the security planning of state visits by President Obama to Muslim countries, because the very act of protecting him would be sinful for Islamic security guards. More broadly, most citizens of the Islamic world would be horrified by the fact of Senator Obama’s conversion to Christianity once it became widely known — as it would, no doubt, should he win the White House. This would compromise the ability of governments in Muslim nations to cooperate with the United States in the fight against terrorism, as well as American efforts to export democracy and human rights abroad.
One man's enlightened conversion is another man's criminal apostasy.
Read rest here.
Update: Some people have written points of clarification to Luttwak's aforementioned op-ed piece.
[Thanks Kaizar]