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Look Who's Making an Issue of Obama's Religion
Townhall.com ^ | February 25, 2015 | Jeff Jacoby

Posted on 02/25/2015 1:02:41 PM PST by Kaslin

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, attending a meeting of the National Governors Association, was  asked by two Washington Post reporters whether President Obama is a Christian. "I don't know," Walker candidly replied.

He has plenty of company.

During the president's reelection campaign in the summer of 2012, the Pew Research Center polled a national sample of registered voters: "Do you happen to know what Barack Obama's religion is?" More than one-third of the respondents — 36 percent — said they didn't know. Only 45 percent identified the president as a Christian; 16 percent said he's a Muslim.

That was the seventh time in a little over four years that Pew had measured public awareness of Obama's religion. The first poll, back in March 2008, had yielded almost identical results — 36 percent couldn't name then-Senator Obama's religion, while 47 percent said he was Christian and 12 percent answered Muslim.

Other pollsters have reached similar findings. In June 2012, for example,Gallup reported that 44 percent of Americans didn't know the president's religious faith. Those in the "Don't Know" camp spanned the political spectrum: According to Gallup, 36 percent of Democrats, 46 percent of Independents, and 47 percent of Republicans couldn't identify Obama's religion. (In the 2012 polls, one-third or more of respondents said theydidn't know Mitt Romney's religion, either.)

The Post didn't explain why its reporters thought it appropriate to ask Walker, a possible GOP contender for 2016, about Obama's religion. Nor did it give any reason for treating Walker's answer as if it were headline news. When one in three Americans is unsure of Obama's religious affiliation, why should the governor of Wisconsin be expected to weigh in on the matter? Why should any public figure be quizzed about an officeholder's spiritual beliefs?

It is to Walker's credit that he wouldn't venture a judgment on something he doesn't know enough about. "I've actually never talked about it," he responded when the Post pressed him to confirm Obama's Christian identity. "I've never asked him that." Perhaps he should have reminded the reporters that in this country, the theological views of political leaders carry no constitutional weight. "No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office," the Framers specified in Article VI. Candidates for president need not be Christian, and it is not the business of any presidential hopeful to gauge the religious credentials of the current White House incumbent. Nor is it the business of journalists to try to goad them into doing so.

"Some figures on the right have consistently questioned Obama's faith, with some suggesting he is a Muslim," the Post story smarmily notes. Even if true, what does that have to do with Walker? Some figures on the left have insisted that Obama is an atheist — but reporters aren't buttonholing Democratic governors to ask whether the president believes in God.

As it happens, Obama's religious biography is confusing and convoluted, as he himself has (sometimes) readily acknowledged.

"I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion," Obama told attendees at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2009, two weeks after becoming president. "I didn't become a Christian until … I moved to the South Side of Chicago after college." In his memoirs, Obama wrote that as a child in Indonesia, he "had spent two years at a Muslim school, two years at a Catholic school," recounting bits of youthful tomfoolery in both.

Over the years, the president has made numerous comments on religious topics, and his messages haven't always been consistent. It isn't hard to understand why a sizeable minority of Americans, to the extent that they think about Obama's religion at all, might be genuinely puzzled to put a label to it. Honest confusion isn't scandalous.

What is scandalous is when the media spring bogus questions on politicians in an attempt to extract an answer that can then be rushed into headlines dripping with insinuation. There are a thousand-and-one issues on which any national political figure can legitimately be expected to have an opinion. The inner spiritual life of the president — any president — isn't one of them. By all accounts, Walker hasn't the slightest interest in exploiting Obama's faith, and has done nothing to suggest the contrary. A shame that the Washington Post holds itself to a lower standard.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
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To: Kaslin

I’d like to hear conservatives respond, “I don’t know Obama’s religion, his usual breakfast, or his favorite actress. Do you have any questions relevant to the Office of the Presidency?” Even though we all know Obama is not a Christian by any meaningful definition, Walker should both dodge the question and overtly question the media’s professionalism in resorting to gotcha questions.


21 posted on 02/25/2015 2:30:03 PM PST by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
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To: MayflowerMadam

Not indwelt yet...

I’ve referred to him as “the John the Baptist of the Anti-Christ”.


22 posted on 02/25/2015 2:37:21 PM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: Kaslin
In the 2012 polls, one-third or more of respondents said theydidn't know Mitt Romney's religion, either.

If I didn't know better, that would seem like a Leno's Jay Walking segment. And you wonder why the country is in the shape it is.

23 posted on 02/25/2015 2:55:12 PM PST by bgill (CDC site, "we still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola")
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To: Kaslin
There are a thousand-and-one issues on which any national political figure can legitimately be expected to have an opinion. The inner spiritual life of the president — any president — isn't one of them.

Any Judeo-Christian religion, may be out of bounds, but Islam is definitely not because of its political attributes respecting no other religion.

24 posted on 02/25/2015 2:56:44 PM PST by Carry_Okie (Grovelnator Shwarzenkaiser: fasionable fascism one charade at a time.)
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To: Kaslin
Walker really gave the Media pukes a problem when he said “I don't know.” He should have added, “There's a sizable number of Americans who don't know either. Why don't you ladies and gentlemen vet his religious affiliation? Then report back your findings. Next question.”
25 posted on 02/25/2015 4:15:25 PM PST by MasterGunner01
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To: Kaslin
"I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion," Obama told attendees at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2009, two weeks after becoming president.

Hmmm, the story was that his mother and grandparents went to a Unitarian Church in Bellevue, Washington in the 1950s. His grandmother's memorial service was at First Unitarian in Honolulu. He wouldn't lie about something like that would he?

26 posted on 02/25/2015 4:28:38 PM PST by x
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To: Kaslin

It’s just the latest “Gotcha” question that they pose only to Republicans to (hopefully) make them look bad. The biased media assume that ANY answer will hurt Walker—if he says Christian, they thing the Right wing will be mad and call him a RINO; if he says Muslim, the media will wail and scold; so because he said what he said, they’re trying to concoct the idea that Walker is faintly saying Obama is not a Christian...

Result—Gotcha!!!!


27 posted on 02/25/2015 4:35:07 PM PST by Alas Babylon! (As we say in the Air Force, "You know you're over the target when you start getting flak!")
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To: Secret Agent Man

Ha! If they asked me, they would have to create a new category:

Antichrist — 1%


28 posted on 02/25/2015 4:38:35 PM PST by Alas Babylon! (As we say in the Air Force, "You know you're over the target when you start getting flak!")
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To: allendale; fieldmarshaldj; sickoflibs; Impy
>> The next time someone from the patronizing MSM asks a republican candidate that question they should answer as follows. “Look I’m not a theologian and never asked Mr. Obama that question. However if you are really interested why don’t have your White house correspondent ask him if he believes in the divinity and resurrection of Jesus Christ or his definition of a Christian? Good question and I’m sure there are people who would like to hear his answer." <<

Heh. I love that! EXCELLENT example of how to deal with the mainstream media's loaded questions and throw it right back at them. I hope some GOP candidates follow your example.

29 posted on 02/25/2015 5:30:06 PM PST by BillyBoy (Impeach Obama? Yes We Can!)
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To: allendale
Beautiful--deserves a repeat.

The next time the presstitutes ask a Republican candidate a "gotcha" question like this one, the answer should be as follows: “ Look, I’m not a theologian and I've never asked Mr. Obama that question. However, if you are really interested, why don’t have your White house correspondent ask him (1) if he believes in the divinity and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and, (2) his definition of a Christian? I’m sure there are lots of voters who would like to hear his answers.”

30 posted on 02/26/2015 8:13:46 AM PST by Liz
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