What makes Obama 145;different146;?

His childhood in Indonesia crossed a religious and cultural divide, giving him an early exposure to Islam

As a boy in Indonesia, Barack Obama criss-crossed the religious divide. At the local primary school, he prayed in thanks to a Catholic saint. In the neighbourhood mosque, he bowed to Allah.

Having a personal background in both Christianity and Islam might seem useful for an aspiring US president in an age when Islamic nations and radical groups are key national security and foreign policy issues. But a connection with Islam is untrod territory for presidential politics.

Obama8217;s four years as a child in Indonesia underscore how dramatically his background differs from that of past presidential hopefuls, most of whom spent little, if any, time in other countries. No one knows how voters will react to a candidate with an early exposure to Islam.

Obama8217;s campaign aides have emphasised his strong Christian beliefs and downplayed any Islamic connection. The candidate was raised 8220;in a secular household in Indonesia by his stepfather and mother,8221; his spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said in January after false reports began circulating that Obama had attended a radical madrasa as a child.

In a statement to The Times on Wednesday, the campaign offered slightly different wording, saying: 8220;Obama has never been a practicing Muslim.8221;

The childhood friends say Obama sometimes went to Friday prayers at the local mosque. The campaign8217;s national press secretary, Bill Burton, said the friends were recalling events 8220;that are 40 years old and subject to four decades of other information.8221; Obama8217;s younger sister, Maya Soetoro, said the family attended the mosque only 8220;for big communal events,8221; not every Friday.

Obama was born in Honolulu. When he was two, his father, Barack Hussein Obama Sr, a Kenyan, and his Kansas-born mother, Ann Dunham, divorced. Dunham later married Lolo Soetoro, who was a Muslim. In 1967, the family moved to Jakarta, where Obama lived from ages 6 to 10. People there knew him as Barry Soetoro.