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.
LOL That Walker is a magnificent scoundrel... The diaper wetting after he said he didn’t know if Obama was a Christian has provided more entertainment in the areas of moronic MSM puffing than a yes response would have. The more I hear from Walker the better I like him
The Kenya-born, unconstitutional president is clearly a Moslem - if not officially, then certainly by sympathy.
Another article about Mr. Walker’s own religious beliefs tried bringing in accounts of speaking in tongues, etc.
After the pass that Barack H. Obama got regarding Jeremiah Wright and Father Fleeger, NONE of it matters anymore.
But the Left wants to turn Christian conservatives (and certainly the oh so wise atheists) off to any ‘weirdos’ who believe supernatural mumbo jumbo. Allah Fubar!
I don’t do polls but if I did I’d have been in the 16% group.
What is it that would lead a reasonably intelligent man who is well traveled in the middle east, and is reasonably well educated, to conclude that Barak Hussein Obama Jr, who spent many of his formative years in a madrasa, is, like his daddy, a moslem?
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.”
I do wish he’d said “Define Christian” and watch them flap with that one. I have a hunch the answers to that from the reporters would be far more interesting than any futile speculation of whether Bat-Ears has a Bible hidden inside his Koran.
I still maintain that he really isn’t a Muslim, but simply a Muslim supporter,
because his primary “religion” is anti-Christian.
Uh... reading the news every day?
Or answer “I’m a Christian. I believe that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross paid for the sins of all who accept His gift of salvation. I also believe that’s the only Name by which man can be saved. Now, how do you think Obama would answer that?”
We don’t have to guess, he’s already on record.
GG:
Who’s Jesus to you?
(He laughs nervously)
OBAMA:
Right.
Jesus is an historical figure for me, and he’s also a bridge between God and man, in the Christian faith, and one that I think is powerful precisely because he serves as that means of us reaching something higher.
And he’s also a wonderful teacher. I think it’s important for all of us, of whatever faith, to have teachers in the flesh and also teachers in history.
Read more: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/thedudeabides/obama-on-faith-the-exclusive-interview/#ixzz3SnL3IJ3e
If JugEars and Da Mooch went to church more often then lots more Americans would call him a Christian. But 0 is too lazy and nasty to do this which btw can make great photo ops for any President.
ReggieTime is a hundred times more important than ChurchTime
He’s a dyed-in-the-wool Marxist, which suggests atheism.
Perhaps his allegiance to Moslems is due only to ethnicity.
The result is the same.
Marxist/Humanist/”atheist”s
all have the same common Enemy.
Yes, they do - common sense.
Sounds muslim-esque. Note he doesn't say "my faith."
It is by their acts that you will know them.
Is Obama a Christian? His acts betray him.
Given Titus 1:16, Obama’s lawlessness, deceptions, and promotion of the gay agenda are indications that he is not a Christian imo.
“his primary “religion” is anti-Christian.”
Makes perfect sense; he’s the anti-Christ.
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