Whether you're aware or not, the rule of thumb, the father determines the religion of his family.
In the Jewish tradition, it is the
mother who determines that. That recognizes the far greater influence the mother has over the child throughout its formative years than the father has. I am sure that even in Christian families you will find that the mother will have much more say in religious matters regarding the children than the father will have.
I do not know what Islamic tradition says on this matter, but that does not matter since it was his
mother who raised him, not his father;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obama:
quote:
Obama was born on August 4, 1961, ... in Honolulu, Hawaii. ... The couple married on February 2, 1961, but separated when Obama Sr. went to Harvard University on scholarship, and divorced in 1964. Obama Sr. remarried and returned to Kenya, visiting Barack in Hawaii only once, in 1971. He died in an automobile accident in 1982.
Parents separated and divorced by the time he was
three years old. Father only visited him once, when he was
ten years old. Who had more influence on Obama during his childhood, his mother or his father? His mother, obviously.
Even if it turns out that Islamic tradition dictates that the father's religion must be the religion of the child, such traditions and religious laws are meaningless to anyone outside that religion. Unless they live under a religious dictatorship which imposes the dictates of that religion upon all, even those not of that religion.
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