I hope I didn’t contribute to the confusion.



I posted a while back (during the election, I think) that I wondered if Muslims around the world might be offended if we elected a man whose father was a Muslim, but who was not practicing Islam. I based it on what I believed to be a Muslim teaching, that the son of a Muslim man is always a Muslim, forever.

Apparently that doctrine is not universal among Muslims. Certainly we haven’t heard much about it during this administration. So that doesn’t seem to be an issue, and I was mistaken.

But it appears, according to a Pew Research poll, that 34 percent of Americans think President Obama is a Muslim, while 43 percent aren’t sure what he believes.

The usual voices are blaming talk radio, but I’m sure I’ve never heard any national talk show host espouse that idea (though crazy callers bring it up from time to time). Well, Michael Savage might have said it, but Michael Savage will say anything.

I did hear a guest on a local talk show last weekend say the president was a Muslim, but that was small-time radio.

Our president says he’s a Christian, and I believe he’s a “Christian,” at least according to his own lights (which would appear to be very different from my lights. Insert Rev. Wright joke here). When the form says “Religion,” he checks the box next to “Christian.”

But is anybody really surprised people are confused on the matter?

Has President Obama ever made a positive statement about Christianity to rival the many flattering statements he’s made about Islam since his inauguration? American politicians have a tradition of joining churches and parading their piety. It’s often hypocritical, but the president’s avoidance of public worship while in office has been no secret.

If I know a man is married, and I hear him talking all the time about Jane, and how beautiful Jane is, and what a great wife Jane is, I think I can be excused for being surprised when I learn that he’s in fact married to Sally, about whom he never talks.