Filed under: News, Politics, President Obama
It's hard to believe that an international incident was caused by a handshake.
But when First Lady Michelle Obama reached out and shook hands with Tifatul Sembiring, Indonesia's information minister, the pair created the hand clasp heard round the world.
It turns out that Sembiring belongs to a conservative brand of Islam that forbids touching women who aren't family members.
After realizing his religious faux pas, Sembiring claimed that he was trying to avoid touching Mrs. Obama and that she forced him into the handshake by reaching forward. (He said this all on his Twitter page.)
A video recording of the greeting proves Sembiring is either mistaken or a liar.
Both he and Mrs. Obama reached forward like civilized people, smiling all the while, to deliver a friendly yet unspectacular handshake on the receiving line.
I would be the last one to criticize the religious practices of any people, but to me, many practices are archaic and do more to divide us as people than unite.
Refusing to shake the hand of a woman? That makes no sense.
Maybe now that the leaders of Sembiring's sect see that his hand didn't explode, the seas didn't swallow up the shore and all things are fine after the handshake, they will rethink their flawed ideology.
It would seem they have a lot of other things to worry about than intergender handshakes.
Watch it for yourself below: