CONFUSION GROWS ABOUT THE PRESIDENT'S RELIGION & RELIGION AND POLITICS 19AUG10

Here is  a fascinating poll from the Pew Center For Research on the public perception of Pres Obama's religious beliefs. There is growing speculation he is a Muslim and not a Christian though he has publicly declared his faith as a Christian. Maybe those questioning Pres. Obama's faith would get a clearer view if they concentrated in removing the mote in their own eyes and start acting and living like Christians, or Jews or Muslims or whatever faith they are claiming....I think we wouldn't have the severity of all the problems we are facing as a nation if all these religious people actually walked their religious walk instead of just talking their religious talk. Click the header or the link below to see the entire survey, and I have also added it to the page The Great Debate of Our Season on this blog.
 
There is widespread -- and growing -- confusion about President Barack Obama's religious affiliation with one in five Americans now saying (incorrectly) that he is a Muslim, according to a new national poll conducted by the Pew Research Center.
Fully 18 percent of those tested in Pew's annual religion and public life survey said that Obama was a Muslim, a significant increase from a March 2009 Pew poll where 11 percent said the president adhered to the tenets of Islam.
(Worth noting: The Pew survey was conducted in late July and early August -- prior to the President's remarks about the New York City mosque.)
While nearly half of the Pew sample (48 percent) last March correctly identified Obama as a Christian that number, too, dropped precipitously -- down to 34 percent -- in the new Pew poll. The number of people who said they were unsure exactly what the President's religious affiliation was rose from 34 percent to 43 percent.
Not surprisingly, there was a strong linkage between those who wrongly believe Obama is a Muslim and those who disapprove of the job he is doing as president. Of the 41 percent who disapprove of the job he is doing, fully two-thirds identify say the President is a Muslim.
In terms of political affiliation, the sharpest rise in those who say Obama is a Muslim is among Republicans (up 14 points) since 2009. But, the religion question is also not purely partisan; among independents the number of those describing Obama as a Muslim is up eight points since last March and the number of Democrats identifying him correctly as a Christian is down from 55 percent to 46 percent.
"The overall picture here is of growing confusion or uncertainty about the President's own faith," said Alan Cooperman, associate director of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
The poll suggests that the persistent untruths that dogged Obama's presidential campaign regarding his associations with Islam remain -- and are even growing -- as Obama finishes up his second year as the nation's commander-in-chief.
The political ramifications of the growing uncertainty regarding Obama's religious affiliation are more difficult to ascertain.
There is, without question, some significant level of partisanship inherent in questions about Obama's faith; the less you like the President, the more likely you are to say he is a Muslim. And, in truth, that 18 percent who falsely identify the President with the Islamic faith would almost certainly never be voting for him anyway.
Perhaps more important from an electoral perspective, however, is the growing number of people who don't know what religion the President identifies with. While most Americans don't tend to vote based on religious faith -- although being either a Muslim or a Mormon can, among certain demographic groups, complicate a politician's electoral calculus -- they do like to believe that their president is a man of faith.
Religion humanizes a president for many people, allows them to identify on a very basic level with the most powerful man in the world. For a president whose detractors have scored political points by painting him as aloof and uncaring, religion could be a bridge by which he connects to the average person. The Pew poll suggests work still remains to be done in building that connection.