No Decline in Belief That Obama is a Muslim

[snopes]

More than two months into Barack Obama's presidency, as many people incorrectly identify him as a Muslim as did so during the 2008 campaign.

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1176/oba...on-not-changed

[Simply Madeline]

What percentage incorrectly identified him as a socialist?

[Canuckistan]

Originally Posted by Simply Madeline

What percentage incorrectly identified him as a socialist?

Probably the same percentage that incorrectly identified themselves as intelligent.

[snopes]

[zman977]

Originally Posted by Simply Madeline

What percentage incorrectly identified him as a socialist?

I have a few facebook friends who do this. and they really don't like it when point out the errors in their "logic"

[snopes]

America! Here is some good news for you! Something you can believe in like crispy whitebread Jesus toast, part of this complete breakfast! Something to stick into your big heart of patriotic goodness like fresh imitation strawberry-flavored cotton-candy gunfire!

Here it is: Did you know that a whopping 89 percent of Americans know that President Barack Obama is not a Muslim? That is correct! That is a vast majority!

But that also means that fully 11 percent of walking talking voting Americans actually believe their president is a Muslim, even today, even now (it's true, they do).

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...otes070809.DTL

[Four Kitties]

Obama's spiritual life takes more private turn

He named a best-selling book after a pastor’s sermon and was outspoken as a candidate about the value of faith in public life. He infused stump speeches with phrases like “I am my brother’s keeper,’’ and made his journey to Christianity a central theme of the life story he shared with voters.

But since President Obama took office a year ago, his faith has largely receded from public view. He has attended church in the capital only four times, and worshiped half a dozen times at a secluded Camp David chapel. He prays privately, reads a “daily devotional’’ that aides send to his BlackBerry, and talks to pastors by phone, but seldom frames policies in spiritual terms.

The greater privacy reflects not a slackening of devotion, but a desire to shield his spirituality from the maw of politics and strike an inclusive tone at a time of competing national priorities and continuing partisan division, according to people close to the White House on faith issues.

Four Kitties

[Tarquin Farquart]

I think this proves people don't actually know what a Muslim is.

[RealityChuck]

Have they ever articulated an answer to the question, "what difference does it make?"

[Singing in the Drizzle]

He was most likely a registered Muslim growing up in Indonesia. This was probably do to protect him from being beaten up or worse while growing up there. I does not mean he was a practicing Muslim.

Just because someone was registered as Muslim as a child (if Obama was). Do not make ones beliefs Muslim. How many children have been baptized Christian and grown up to not believe they are Christian.

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by Singing in the Drizzle

He was most likely a registered Muslim growing up in Indonesia.

What does "registered Muslim" mean, and what evidence leads to you to believe that he "most likely" was one?

[Four Kitties]

Originally Posted by Lainie

What does "registered Muslim" mean, and what evidence leads to you to believe that he "most likely" was one?

It means that when his step-father filled out his school registration forms, under "religion" he wrote "Islam" -- see here.

Four Kitties

[Chloe]

If the rule is that childhood beliefs still count, you'll have to put me down as a Father Christmasian.

[Four Kitties]

Originally Posted by Chloe

If the rule is that childhood beliefs still count, you'll have to put me down as a Father Christmasian.

And I'd be a Toothstafairyan.

[Lainie]

So it's not that he "most likely" was a "registered Muslim," it's that his stepfather registered him for school as a Muslim. That's pretty meaningless. I doubt the stepfather even gave it much thought.

ETA: I was raised as Jehovah's Witness -- taken to meetings, trained in their "Theocratic School," expected to participate in door-to-door proselytizing -- but I've never been one. By the time I was old enough to have my own beliefs, I didn't believe in the tenets of that faith.

[Four Kitties]

Originally Posted by snopes

... fully 11 percent of walking talking voting Americans actually believe their president is a Muslim, even today, even now (it's true, they do).

And most of them write to snopes at least twice a week.

Four Kitties

Originally Posted by Simply Madeline

What percentage incorrectly identified him as a socialist?

I love the wingnuts that call him a fascist-socialist. I guess it's too much to ask for them to either pick one or understand that fascism and socialism are mutually exclusive political ideologies.

[Friends of Alfred]

Exactly what difference a persons religion has on their ability to do their job escapes me.

[Darth Credence]

Originally Posted by Friends of Alfred

Exactly what difference a persons religion has on their ability to do their job escapes me.

Well, I suppose it might have some influence if they are a priest.

[zman977]

Originally Posted by RealityChuck

Have they ever articulated an answer to the question, "what difference does it make?"

Exactly. The last time I checked we had freedom of religion in the U S. Which means any religion. Some of these nut jobs must forget about that part of the constitution. I of course have fun reminding them of this.