The Los Angeles Times reports: Nearly four years after he entered the nation's political scene in a significant way . . . nearly half of Barack Obama's countrymen are unaware of what religion their president is.
Note: The poll was taken BEFORE the President's recent comments about the Ground Zero mosque.
UPDATE 8/11/11: Obama Honors 9/11 Muslim Heroes at White House
UPDATE 2/3/11: Obama Declares He's Christian, Again
UPDATE 8/20/10: The Rev. Franklin Graham Says President Obama was 'Born a Muslim'
-- From "19 months in, a few Americans think Obama is Muslim, but nearly half don't know what he is" posted at Los Angeles Times 8/19/10
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.
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.
So what religion is Obama and why the confusion?
Until the 2008 Democratic primary season and his reluctant but very public break with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who married Obama and baptized his daughters, Obama was a 20-year member of Chicago's Trinity United Church. He said he was unfamiliar with Wright's racist and anti-Semitic sermons, which showed up on numerous widely-viewed videotapes.
Since the Wright break, Obama has been unaffiliated with any specific faith . . .
Upon election, Obama said he and his family would join a Washington church; they have visited some. But joined none.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Growing Number of Americans Say Obama is a Muslim" by The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press 8/19/10
The impression that Obama is a Muslim is also more widespread today among independents – 18% say this today, up from 10% in 2009. There has been virtually no change in the share of Democrats who say Obama is a Muslim (10% today, 7% in 2009). But even among Democrats, fewer than half (46%) now identify his religion as Christian, down from 55% last year.
The survey also finds some discomfort with the idea that Obama relies a great deal on his faith when making policy decisions, especially compared with Bush in 2004. Among those who say that Obama relies on his religion a great deal when making policy decisions, 50% say he relies on his beliefs the right amount while 39% say that Obama relies on his faith too much.
In 2004, by contrast, the balance of opinion was much more positive for Bush; 63% of those who said he relied on his beliefs when making policy said this was appropriate while 27% said he relied on his beliefs too much.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Read also (previous articles):
Boston Globe Explores Obama as Fake Christian
Obama's 'Pluralistic Christian' Reign?
Obama's Base Support is the Unchurched (barely)
Obama Celebrates Homosexuals, Eggs as Easter
Easter Event at White House Avoids Christians
