Obama's Religion?
WASHINGTON – The White House insisted on Thursday that President Barack Obama is a Christian who prays daily as it looked
to tamp down growing doubts among Americans about the president's
religion.
White House spokesman Bill Burton made the remarks hours after a poll showed that nearly one in five people, or 18 percent,
said they think Obama is Muslim. That was up from 11 percent who said
so in March 2009. The survey also showed that just 34 percent said Obama
is Christian, down from 48 percent who said so last year. The largest
share of people, 43 percent, said they don't know his religion.
As Obama headed out for a vacation, Burton told reporters aboard Air Force One that most Americans care more about the
economy and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and "they are not reading a lot
of news about what religion the president is."
Burton added, "The president is obviously a Christian. He prays everyday."
The survey, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center and its affiliated Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, is based on
interviews conducted before the controversy over whether Muslims should
be permitted to construct a mosque near the World Trade Center site.
Obama has said he believes Muslims have the right to build an Islamic
center there, though he's also said he won't take a position on whether
they should actually build it.
In a separate poll by Time magazine/ABT SRBI conducted Monday and Tuesday — after Obama's comments about the mosque — 24 percent said they think he is Muslim, 47 percent said they think he is Christian and 24 percent didn't know or didn't respond.
In addition, 61 percent opposed building the Muslim center near the Trade Center site and 26 percent said they favor it.
The Pew poll found that about three in 10 of Obama's fiercest political rivals, Republicans and conservatives, say he is a
Muslim. That is up significantly from last year and far higher than the
share of Democrats and liberals who say so. But even among his
supporters, the number saying he is a Christian has fallen since 2009,
with just 43 percent of blacks and 46 percent of Democrats saying he is
Christian.
Among independents, 18 percent say Obama is Muslim — up from 10 percent last year.
Pew analysts attribute the findings to attacks by his opponents and Obama's limited attendance at religious services, particularly in contrast with Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, whose worship was more public.
Andrew Kohut, the Pew Research Center's director, said the confusion partly reflects "the intensification of negative
views about Obama among his critics." Alan Cooperman, the Pew Forum's
associate director for research, said that with the public hearing
little about Obama's religion,
"maybe there's more possibility for other people to make suggestions
that the president is this or he's really that or he's really a Muslim."
Obama is the Christian son of a Kenyan Muslim father and a Kansas mother. From age 6 to 10, Obama lived in predominantly
Muslim Indonesia with his mother and Indonesian stepfather. His full
name, Barack Hussein Obama, sounds Muslim to many.
On Wednesday, White House officials did not provide on-the-record comments on the survey but prompted Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell of Houston to call The Associated Press.
Caldwell, who said he has known Obama for years, said the president is a Christian who prays every day. He said he was not
sure where the public confusion about the president's religion came
from, but he called false media reports about it "a 24-hour noise box
committed to presenting the president in a false light."
Six in 10 of those saying Obama is a Muslim said they got the information from the media, with the largest portion — 16
percent — saying it was on television. Eleven percent said they learned
it from Obama's behavior and words.
Despite the confusion about Obama's religion, there is noteworthy support for how he uses it to make decisions. Nearly half,
or 48 percent, said he relies on his religion the right amount when
making policy choices, 21 percent said he uses it too little and 11
percent too much.
Obama is seen as less reliant overall than Bush was on religion. Even so, the 48 percent who say Obama uses it appropriately
for decisions is similar to the 53 percent who said the same about Bush
in 2004. Just over half in the new poll said Obama mentions his faith
and prayer the right amount, about the same as said so about Bush in
2006.
At the same time, the poll provides broad indications that the public feels religion is playing a diminished role in politics
today, with fewer people than in 2008 saying the Democratic and
Republican parties are friendly toward religion.
With elections for control of Congress just over two months away, the
poll contains optimistic news for Republicans. Half of white
non-Hispanic Catholics, plus three in 10 unaffiliated with a religion
and a third of Jews, support the GOP — all up since 2008.
The survey also found:
_The Democratic Party is seen as friendly to religion by 26 percent,
while 43 percent say the same about the GOP. That's a 9 percentage point
drop for Republicans since 2008, and 12 points lower for Democrats.
_Fifty-two percent say churches should stay away from politics, a
reversal of the slim majorities that supported churches' political
involvement from 1996 to 2006.
The poll, overseen by Princeton Survey Research Associates
International, involved landline and cell phone interviews with 3,003
randomly chosen adults. It was conducted July 21-Aug. 5 and has a margin
of sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jon Heim on -
This is a very good argument to support the separation of church and state.
Dont we have other stuff to worry about??
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Permalink Reply by Gaytor on -
Rhetoric video that I got today via email.
This video makes a ton of assertions without a single source presented. "Obama spent millions covering up his true identity." Really? Have any evidence of that or are we talking about Orly Tatiz style evidence? It's amazing what these guys just say without needing support.
I can't find the details of the Faith Based Office budget and who gets the money. But the advisors only includes one Muslim out of 25 advisors. I do think that it's great that people are getting worked up about it. We should encourage it for a bit then turn it back on them and ask about religious freedom. They need to see what they really are... hypocrites.
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Permalink Reply by Velogiraptor on -
I hold out the secret hope that he doesn't, and that it's all just for the sake of electability. (He DID mention non-believers that one time in that one speech. :P )
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Permalink Reply by willailla on -
With all the serious problems facing us--illegal wars for profit; destruction of our environment; health care in the pockets of private insurers, one of the lowest ranked educational systems in the world; crumbling infrastructure; depletion of natural resources; poverty; racism; job outsourcing; nuclear waste disposal; a do-nothing congress full of corrupt millionaires; a once free press owned by 5 corporate, right-wing hate mongers--what do we get on the news everyday? Crap! Gay marriage! Obama's birth certificate! Michele's trip to Europe; the ground O mosque; burning the Koran, etc. What will be the next 'big' issue? Flag burning. perhaps?
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Permalink Reply by Jason on -
I feel the President is probably an atheist who just says he is a Christians because of politics.
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Permalink Reply by Jon Heim on
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I know...The first thing you know about someone in politics is what religion they are, and if they are not Christian, no one gives a damn about them! it really is sad.
wouldn't it be amazing if he was? I'd take back all of the bad stuff I said about him. lol
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Permalink Reply by Jaume on -
I can almost hear the few conservatives who voted for Obama mumbling, "at least, he's not a lesbian!"
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Permalink Reply by Jaume on
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No need to invoke other dimensions when millions of Merkins favor prejudice over evidence to assess reality.
Obama is a Muslim, or he should at least prove he isn't one (good luck to him with that one!)
Obama isn't born on US soil, and he can only produce fake certificates of his birth.
It wouldn't be that huge an extra step for some of these cretards to claim that Obama is a transexual as well, that he is born female, has a lesbian relationship with Michelle, and should give DNA evidence he's his own daughters' genitor (of course, if he does, it can only be fake evidence.)
Unless The Onion publishes it first.
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Permalink Reply by Jason on
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Rev Franklin Graham says the president was “born Muslim”…. “seed of Islam is passed through the father”. Yes ladies and gentlemen a Muslim “seed”. I guess if you weren’t “born Muslim” you can go down to your local nursery or plant store and buy some Muslim seeds for your garden. Isn’t it amazing how most all recent Presidents have prayed with Billy to prove they are Christians? Like they needed his approval/blessing. Funny, I thought all babies were born atheist.
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/franklin-graham-president-obama-born-musli...
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Permalink Reply by Adam Shope on -
Obama is an atheist.
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Permalink Reply by Becca on -
I agree with the other people on here... there are way more important things to discuss and worry about than the presidents religion. I don't really care what religion or not he is.
Personally, I think Obama is your run of the mill Christian. If he were Joe Blow from Bum-fuck USA he probably wouldn't even go to church except for maybe around Christmas and Easter. He's respectful of other religions and at least aware that some people are non-believers, and probably has no problems with the theory of evolution and the Big Bang. I bet the only reason he makes any kind of a deal out of his Christianity is because a big deal is being made by the media and some people about his religion. I think Obama needs to stop trying so hard to please the crazy Christian right and worry about upholding those promises he made which got people to vote for him in the first place.
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