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Clerics defend Obama amid smear campaign: Condemn "bitter, destructive politics"

A host of religious leaders have condemned “the bitter, destructive politics” that they say produced a political smear campaign against Senator Barack Obama (D., Ill.), who is preparing a run for the presidency.

Several Web sites and a Fox News program reported that Obama was hiding the fact that he was educated in a madrassa—a fundamentalist Islamic school—during his childhood in Indonesia.

Obama, who denied the allegations, acknowledged attending a school that enrolled mostly Muslims for two years, as well as a Catholic school for another two while living in Indonesia.

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