19 months in, a few Americans think Obama is Muslim, but nearly half don't know what he is
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It's interesting, certainly timely and politically potent that a
small but growing number of Americans believes that Barack Obama is a
Muslim, even before his controversial recent support of a new mosque
near New York's ground zero.
A small fraction of Americans -- 18% -- mistakenly think Obama is
Muslim, although that's up from 11% early last year, according to the
telephone poll of 3,003 random adults from July 21-Aug. 5.
But buried within the very same poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press is an historically more striking finding:
Nearly
four years after he entered the nation's political scene in a
significant way and nearly 19 months after he took the oath of office
before many millions of excited witnesses, nearly half of Barack Obama's
countrymen are unaware of what religion their president is.
From
annual reports they know about his blood pressure, cholesterol levels,
his income tax statements, fondness for pies and even his unhealthy
private smoking habit.
But a plurality of Americans -- 43% -- currently say they do not know his religious faith. That number is....
...up
from 34% in just one year. Despite "In God We Trust" all over U.S.
money and "God bless America" at the end of most political speeches,
legal separation of church and state is an honored tradition in these
United States. News photos of presidents exiting church, often carrying a
Bible, were once a Sabbath staple, as they regularly are during the
seemingly endless American presidential campaigns when candidates
frequently address the congregation.
The same
rule, however, does not apply to separation of church and politics. Most
Americans have traditionally expected their politicians at least to
pretend to be religious as a sign of possessing personal values and
character, despite regular hypocrisies and moral offenses.
A
president couldn't be Roman Catholic until John F. Kennedy in 1961. And
we may soon see if U.S. voters are as ready to accept a Mormon in the
nation's top elective office as they were an African American in 2008.
Even divorce was a bar to office for the first 39 presidents until
Ronald Reagan in 1981.
So what religion is Obama and why the confusion?
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