Posted on 10/26/2008 1:08:54 AM PDT by Chet 99
FRANKFORT — Public misconception is widespread in Kentucky about Barack Obama's faith, a Herald-Leader/WKYT Kentucky Poll shows.
Despite heavy national media attention about Obama's faith, more than half of likely Republican voters — 54 percent — and one of every four Democrats in the state do not know that the Democratic presidential nominee is a Christian, the poll found.
The poll showed that 14 percent of likely Kentucky voters — 28 percent of Republicans, 4 percent of Democrats and 11 percent of independents — think Obama adheres to the Muslim faith.
"With all the media attention to the fact that Obama is a Christian, it is shocking and sad to hear that any Kentuckian or anyone thinks he is a Muslim," said Mahmoud Sha lash, imam of the Islamic Center of Lexington.
"I am concerned that some people are spreading this rumor for political purposes, trying to exploit the anti-Islamic sentiment in this country that ties Muslims with terrorists," Shalash said. "I don't blame the ignorant bigots as much as the educated people who try to perpetrate this."
The telephone poll of 600 likely voters was conducted Oct. 19-21 by Research 2000, of Olney, Md. It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
Those polled were asked the religion of Obama and his GOP opponent, John McCain. Respondents were not offered suggestions to choose from.
Sixty-one percent said Obama was a Christian. One percent answered Catholic, 12 percent said other and 12 percent were not sure.
Eighty-two percent said McCain was a Christian. Six percent called him an evangelical, while 3 percent answered Catholic, 2 percent replied other and 7 percent were not sure.
Del Ali, president of Research 2000, said he'd like to ask those respondents who said Obama is a Muslim if they listen to syndicated conservative talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.
Ali also thinks many people know Obama considers himself a Christian but don't believe he is one. "That's a personal opinion from national polls I've seen on this issue," he said.
The non-partisan Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life says Obama's denomination is United Church of Christ and McCain, raised an Episcopalian, attends a Southern Baptist church. It also says Obama's running mate Joe Biden, is a Roman Catholic, and McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, attends several evangelical churches in Alaska.
Obama's campaign had little to say about the poll results.
"This election is about issues," said Obama spokesman Dan Leistikow. "It's about whether voters in Kentucky and across the country want another four years of the same failed policies that caused this economic mess and sent Kentucky job overseas."
Kentucky Republican Party Chairman Steve Robertson said the presidential candidates' religion has not been an issue in Kentucky. He said more Republicans than Democrats think Obama is a Muslim because Obama "has made an effort in Kentucky to portray his religious beliefs to Democrats but has not talked about religion to Kentucky Republicans."
Robertson said he was referring to fliers the Obama campaign distributed in Kentucky this spring during the Democratic primary election that showed Obama at a pulpit in front of a church's cross and pipe organ.
The erroneous perception that Obama is a Muslim might be due in part to the fact that he spent part of his childhood in a Muslim country and that his father was a Muslim, said the GOP official.
Obama's name makes some people think he is a Muslim, said Walter A. Johnson, director of information services for the Lexington Theological Seminary.
"I had a friend who said Obama is a Muslim because of his name," Johnson said. "I said McCain has an Irish name, but I think he's an American."
Republican Larry Forgy, who narrowly lost to Democrat Paul Patton in Kentucky's 1995 race for governor, said Obama's heritage is why some people think he is a Muslim.
"I know he's not a practicing Muslim but, to me, his preacher, Jeremiah Wright, sounds more like Malcolm X than Billy Graham."
Wright is the former pastor and now pastor emeritus of the Trinity United Church of Christ, a megachurch in Chicago with about 10,000 members.
His manner of preaching has been scrutinized in connection with Obama's campaign. Obama first denounced some of Wright's statements and then resigned his membership in the church last May.
Martin Cothran, senior policy advisor for The Family Foundation of Kentucky, a conservative activist group based in Lexington, said he is "surprised that so many people don't know Obama is not a Muslim."
"I think it's simply because his name sounds Islamic," he said.
Laila Al-Qatami, communications director for the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Washington, D.C., said it is "disheartening" that any American still thinks Obama is a Muslim or Arab.
"Too many people associate Muslims with terrorists, that is, a proclivity to violence or people who are not patriotic to this country," Al-Qatami said. "Calling Obama a Muslim is an attempt to discredit him."
The Herald-Leader/WKYT Kentucky Poll found little confusion among voters about McCain's faith. More than 80 percent of the respondents in each major political party — Democrats, Republicans and independents — said McCain is a Christian.
A large percentage of whites and blacks — 83 percent of the whites and 77 percent of the blacks — said McCain is a Christian
But for Obama, blacks and whites viewed his religious beliefs very differently. When whites were asked Obama's religion, 58 percent said Christian, 16 percent Muslim, 1 percent Catholic, 13 percent other and 12 percent not sure.
Eighty-two percent of blacks said Obama is a Christian, while only 2 percent of blacks considered him a Muslim.
Personally, I don't believe that Obama holds any real religious convictions, he's more or less indifferent to spiritual matters. I think he sympathizes and identifies more strongly with Muslims than Christians and far more than Jews. I think he's been very clear where his racial identity is.
So I suspect that the good people of Kentucky are more correct in their assessment of Obama’s religious sensibilities than the his defenders, the mainstream media.
Needs a little editing: Despite heavy national media attention about Obama's faith, more than 99.98 percent of all journalists do not know of the Democratic presidential nominee's Muslim background, nor his 20 year membership in a radical black separationist church with Black Muslim connections, the poll found.
Once a muslim, always a muslim according to muslim law. In the eyes of every muslim, obama should be considered muslim forever.
http://egyptianobserver.blogspot.com/2006/03/once-muslim-always-muslim.html
http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?Itemid=34&id=515&option=com_content&task=view
54% of Republicans and 25% of democrats are correct. Rev. Wright does not preach Christianity, but rather, a liberation theology. Obama himself has been quoted as saying (paraphrased), "My salvation depends on getting the rich to give to support the poor."
Up until this point, I thought the article was mostly fair, citing poll data. This comment demonstrates the article is slamming those in KY, and making them look like right wing kooks, instead of the middle America they really are.
The poll showed that 14 percent of likely Kentucky voters — 28 percent of Republicans, 4 percent of Democrats and 11 percent of independents — think Obama adheres to the Muslim faith.
The truth to the media is like a cross to a vampire.
The problem here is that the unwashed masses know what the truth is even if the MSM doesn't.
Got a source for that one?
I’d love to be able to use it and be able to back it up.
Ah, is Black Liberation Theology still considered Christian? Is Rev Wright’s church Christian? In what way?
Great!!!! Thanks a million......
Thanks for the ping on this.
The sensible question is: If he lied about his religion once, wouldn't he lie about more than once? Bottom line, 20 years at Rev Wright's church doesn't prove one's Christianity to me.
It is not the “so what”
it is the lie that destroys obama’s credibility.
His best answer would have been he was raised as a moslem but is now a christian.
but that would not exactly endear him to th emajority of his donors.
This piece misunderstands the situation. The folks in question will not vote for a black man. They just won’t do it.
They have found the Muslim fig leaf to hide the offending PC nakedness.
Christian? By whos definition? Obama has embraced some kooky racist religion that chooses to label itself Christian yet its core beliefs stand in opposition to Christ and His teachings which are the foundation on which the Christian faith is built. He is no Christian. I have a dog, my choosing to call it a cat does not change the fact it is a dog. Someone who points out the fact that I have a dog not a cat is not "confused" about the type of pet I have, they merely state the obvious.
Check out these links....
http://digg.com/politics/God_Save_Christmas_Obama_doesn_t_celebrate_Christmas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxhYampIl7A
Right-o! Religion is just a tool that people like him employ.
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BTW- how come we never see studies on how many muslims intend to vote FOR "Uh"bama because of his name? Just like the ignorant black racists masses who will vote for him just because of skin color, I suspect muslims will vote for him because they think he is muslim, or because of his name. The MSM wants to believe they can read my mind, and imply I am narrow minded, but what about the narrow minds of his supporters?
Christian................very debatable. Don’t “know” that he is a Christian. Prove it Bambi. Start acting like one.
Obama’s faith [or lack thereof] is a hot, unreported issue.
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