Alabama US senate candidate Roy Moore’s foundation shared a video on its Facebook page in 2015 that uses out-of-context video clips of then-President Barack Obama to promote the conspiracy theory that Obama is a Muslim.
The Foundation for Moral Law, the non-profit Christian legal organization that Moore founded in the early 2000s, shared the video titled “OBAMA THE MUSLIM, HIS OWN WORDS” on November 18, 2015. Moore currently holds the title of president emeritus at the foundation.
It was originally posted by the group Britain First, a far-right British nationalist organization that describes its goals as to “restore Christianity as the bedrock and foundation of our national life,” citing “the rapid growth of militant Islam.”
Moore’s wife, Kayla Moore, who has served as the president of the foundation since 2013, also shared the video on her personal Facebook and on the wall of the Friends of Roy Moore Facebook group the same day the foundation shared the video.
Opening and closing to ominous music, the video itself presents a version of the widespread but baseless conspiracy theory that Obama, a Christian, is secretly a Muslim. The video shows the then-President praising the historical legacy of the Islamic faith and the contributions of Muslims to the United States and American culture, while displaying text asking if he had ever praised America or Christianity in “similar glowing words.”
The video also features selectively edited quotes commonly used to promote the conspiracy theory. These include Obama’s statement to the Turkish parliament in 2009, referring to the impact of Muslims on his life and his childhood years living in Indonesia, “Many other Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim-majority country–I know, because I am one of them.” In another remark, from his address to the Muslim world in Cairo in 2009, a speech that features heavily in the video shared by Moore’s foundation, Obama is shown saying, “So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed. That experience guides my conviction…” It cuts off before he finishes the sentence, which clarifies that his conviction was “that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn’t.”
The video concludes by showing the hijacked planes striking the World Trade Center on 9/11, followed by Obama saying, “Thank you and eid eh shoma mobarak,” which means “Happy New Year” in Farsi.
Reached by phone, Moore told CNN’s KFile that he had not worked at the Foundation for years, but said that the video did not reflect his personal views. Asked if it reflected his wife’s views, he said, “Sir, I can’t speak for other people. My campaign has nothing to do with Obama. He’s not President. This is kind of ridiculous.” Asked if his wife wanted to comment directly, he said that she was not with him at the moment and directed the reporter to contact his campaign chairman.
Representatives of the Foundation for Moral Law did not respond to requests for comment. A representative for Moore’s campaign also did not respond to a comment request.
As previously reported by CNN’s KFile, Moore himself has fueled the debunked “birther” conspiracy movement, saying as recently as December 2016 that his “personal belief” was that Obama wasn’t a natural-born citizen of the United States.
He started questioning Obama’s birthplace in 2008, when he called for a “major investigation” into Obama’s citizenship in an interview with the far-right website World Net Daily. He further questioned Obama’s birthplace in 2009 in an interview with conservative internet radio host Andrew Shea King, saying that it was “very strange indeed” that the president had not shown his birth certificate. He made similar comments the following year.
In 2011, Hawaii officials released the long form of Obama’s birth certificate at the then-President’s request, showing that Obama was indeed born in Hawaii.