White House: Obama is a Christian, prays daily
President Barack Obama is a Christian who prays daily, a White House official said Thursday, trying to tamp down growing doubts about the president's religion, the Associated Press reports.
A new poll showed that nearly one in five people, or 18 percent, believe Obama is Muslim. That was up from 11 percent who said so in March 2009. The survey also showed that just 34 percent said Obama is Christian, down from 48 percent who said so last year. The largest share of people, 43 percent, said they don't know his religion.
White House spokesman Bill Burton said most Americans care more about the economy and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and "they are not reading a lot of news about what religion the president is." He commented on Air Force One as Obama headed for a vacation in Massachusetts on Martha's Vineyard.
Burton added, "The president is obviously a Christian. He prays everyday."
The survey, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center and its affiliated Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, is based on interviews conducted before the controversy over whether Muslims should be permitted to construct a mosque near the World Trade Center site. Obama has said he believes Muslims have the right to build an Islamic center there, though he's also said he won't take a position on whether they should actually build it.
In a separate poll by Time magazine/ABT SRBI conducted Monday and Tuesday — after Obama's comments about the mosque — 24 percent said they think he is Muslim, 47 percent said they think he is Christian and 24 percent didn't know or didn't respond.
In addition, 61 percent opposed building the Muslim center near the Trade Center site and 26 percent said they favor it.
The Pew poll found that about three in 10 of Obama's fiercest political rivals, Republicans and conservatives, say he is a Muslim. That is up significantly from last year and far higher than the share of Democrats and liberals who say so. But even among his supporters, the number saying he is a Christian has fallen since 2009, with just 43 percent of blacks and 46 percent of Democrats saying he is Christian.
Among independents, 18 percent say Obama is Muslim — up from 10 percent last year.
Pew analysts attribute the findings to attacks by his opponents and Obama's limited attendance at religious services, particularly in contrast with Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, whose worship was more public.
Andrew Kohut, the Pew Research Center's director, said the confusion partly reflects "the intensification of negative views about Obama among his critics." Alan Cooperman, the Pew Forum's associate director for research, said that with the public hearing little about Obama's religion, "maybe there's more possibility for other people to make suggestions that the president is this or he's really that or he's really a Muslim."
Obama is the Christian son of a Kenyan Muslim father and a Kansas mother. From age 6 to 10, Obama lived in predominantly Muslim Indonesia with his mother and Indonesian stepfather. His full name, Barack Hussein Obama, sounds Muslim to many.
On Wednesday, White House officials did not provide on-the-record comments on the survey but prompted Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell of Houston to call The Associated Press.
Caldwell, who said he has known Obama for years, said the president is a Christian who prays every day. He said he was not sure where the public confusion about the president's religion came from, but he called false media reports about it "a 24-hour noise box committed to presenting the president in a false light."
Six in 10 of those saying Obama is a Muslim said they got the information from the media, with the largest portion — 16 percent — saying it was on television. Eleven percent said they learned it from Obama's behavior and words.
Despite the confusion about Obama's religion, there is noteworthy support for how he uses it to make decisions. Nearly half, or 48 percent, said he relies on his religion the right amount when making policy choices, 21 percent said he uses it too little and 11 percent too much.
Obama is seen as less reliant overall than Bush was on religion. Even so, the 48 percent who say Obama uses it appropriately for decisions is similar to the 53 percent who said the same about Bush in 2004. Just over half in the new poll said Obama mentions his faith and prayer the right amount, about the same as said so about Bush in 2006.
At the same time, the poll provides broad indications that the public feels religion is playing a diminished role in politics today, with fewer people than in 2008 saying the Democratic and Republican parties are friendly toward religion.
With elections for control of Congress just over two months away, the poll contains optimistic news for Republicans. Half of white non-Hispanic Catholics, plus three in 10 unaffiliated with a religion and a third of Jews, support the GOP — all up since 2008.
The survey also found:
_The Democratic Party is seen as friendly to religion by 26 percent, while 43 percent say the same about the GOP. That's a 9 percentage point drop for Republicans since 2008, and 12 points lower for Democrats.
_Fifty-two percent say churches should stay away from politics, a reversal of the slim majorities that supported churches' political involvement from 1996 to 2006.
The poll, overseen by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, involved landline and cell phone interviews with 3,003 randomly chosen adults. It was conducted July 21-Aug. 5 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
Comments
Now I'm disappointed. I had hoped that Barack Obama was an Atheist and was doing what our other four Atheist presidents did, by winging it to lease the drones.
Posted by: Robert Littel | August 22, 2010 5:53 PM
That should be, "by winging it to appease the drones", above.
Posted by: Robert Littel | August 22, 2010 10:20 PM
It is tough being a Natural Law super-hero these days. When Thom and I go out in our Batman and Robin capes saving the world from Gay marriage and Health Care for poor people, we attract a lot of attention. But we have a great enemy to battle , namely the dastardly Joker, named Obama. We know he is not really a Christian, we have super-hero moral theology power to see that. We know that because he acts like a clever politician on the subject of gay marriage. But I get the feeling he actually thinks gay people deserve rights. We are out to save Gotham from the homosexual menace, but it is getting increasingly hard to do so because all the other super-heroes are coming out of the closet ,and making fun of us because we wear really tight tights. We know the answer is in a different direction. Thom and I, the Caped Tiraders, know that the answer to solving the conundrums -- especially Thom's -- about unwanted attractions is to buy Gold. Have you seen our advertisement on the front page of our American Principled Project website for Gold.?Here is what it says, next to a cool graphic of a Gold Bar:
" Our Gold Standard 2012 initiative works to reach out to lawmakers to advance legislation that will put the gold standard on the front burner of national politics in the election year of 2012. "
You see science has discovered that if you eat edible gold you are more likely to
want women over men. Gold increases heterosexuality. Diamonds aren't a girl's best friend -- it's gold, to convert that nice guy from gay to straight. Don't ask me how it works but we have cured many homosexuals using our special chocolate bars covered with edible gold. [The FDA requires us to say the potential side-effects, that in some cases same sex- urges actually were increased and went in the direction of hot African American men.] This is why if Barack Obama really cared about gay people he would encourage them to buy Gold and not worry about rights. So buy Gold, and help us, the Caped Tiraders, to save the world from homosexuality and inflation.....or deflation....well, whatever the gays and Obama are saying, we are against it, and the answer is buying Gold!
Posted by: Robert Georgeous Gold Alert | August 23, 2010 3:54 PM
Since edible gold passes through the body of the better classes without change perhaps we could allow the rabble to pan for gold from our chamber pots. Isn't that how the trickle down economy works?
If we rent the panning equipment, charge an hourly fee, and assess an assay tax we should be able to recover our losses leaving the pitiful horde with enough to subsist without revolting.
Posted by: Cardinal Mazarin | August 23, 2010 5:20 PM
Eminence,
As our Lord said, the poor will be with you always. Your idea is indeed a brilliant use
of supply side logic. If we could get the Vatican to mint something like a Vienna Philharmonic coin, and produce gold threaded privy-toilet paper as well, we would be rich and I could quit my job teaching these brats in Princeton, which I hate anyways. Why else would I spend all my time with Maggie Gallagher.
Posted by: Robert Georgeous Gold Alert | August 23, 2010 5:54 PM
Thank you Georgeous. We could ride the Obama wave by proclaiming our superior posteriors to be change dispensers.
Posted by: Cardinal Mazarin | August 24, 2010 12:38 AM
I am so glad that I have grown into the conservative Papist lesbian that I am. I have principles now, not like when I was in high school where we always talked about "liking' the person you have a crush on. You may like someone, but do you like-like them, or not not like-them? I have brought this special maturity today to my blog about President Obama, where I asked why anyone Catholic, who is not a conservative lesbian papist like myself, would like Obama:
"There are, I think, three reasons to like President Obama as a President:
1) You are inspired by his principles
2) You have trust in his abilities
3) He’s better than the alternative
I’ll take these in reverse order. #3 is not actually a reason to like Obama. It’s a reason to not not-like him. I “liked” John McCain not because I liked him, but I believed him to be a better alternative than Obama. But those who liked Obama because he wasn’t John McCain will face a different choice in November of 2012, which could prove interesting.
#2 is hard to believe, because Obama hasn’t really done anything effectively."
Do you see how I have maturely updated high-school talk. The only reasons you might like Barack Obama is because you "not not-like him" which is similar to the way I can claim I desire a certain Pringle potato chip, and yet don't actually want it . I may not not-like a Pringle potato chip, and yet I may want to eat it, but that does not mean I like-like the Pringle potato chip. That would mean a desire to eat a Pringle potato chip against Natural Law, and my boss Professor George has warned me against that. But therefore even if you like-like a certain Potato chip, and want to not like-like the liking to be eating a Pringle potato chip, you wouldn't do it because that is the equivalent of a grave sin. That is why a Catholic cannot like President Obama because liking him is against really liking the Pope. You love the Pope, almost like-liking him but not quite. Almost like a Nun is the Bride of Christ and really like-likes Jesus. This is all a great insight for me in my new identity as a Catholic American Papist Lesbian who....who likes Pringles.
I know some people would say simply that he managed to pass a lot legislation that will be helpful to many people, especially poor people. But he has done nothing for conservative lesbians, so I don't not not-like him, and I certainly don't like-like him because I don't like the dark potato chips, so I hate him!
Sts. Sergius and Bacchus, pray for us.
T.Peters, The American Papist Lesbian
Posted by: American Papist Lesbian | August 26, 2010 4:36 PM
Robert Georgeous - You may be Fortune's knave, but don't forget what happened to the people who bowed down to a golden calf.
American Papist Lesbian - I think I kind of like-like you.
Posted by: Camille Quelquejeu | August 27, 2010 11:48 AM
We have had to be careful with the whole Glenn Beck matter after the fact, because of the unfortunate name that Glenn chose for his phalanx of supporters from the clergy. We know poor Glenn knows nothing of religious history, so when he named them "The Black Robed Regiment" he didn't know that he was alluding to the Jesuits. The Jesuits are always one big hot potato, so I told Thom to be on the look-out for a way that we can support Glenn Beck without getting into trouble. Lo and behold, Charles Lane of the Washington Post furnished the perfect opportunity, and I had Thom write about it for the APP blog. Charles Lane is really smart and that is why he called Obama an historical materialist. If you think that having money makes people less likely to feel needy, then you are a historical materialist. But we at the American Principled Project know that there is a darker side to this. We are sure that Obama has secret, hidden, and latent desires to be an interior decorator. And we all know what that means! We have heard that he just spends his time thinking of ways to redecorate the White House using elaborate brocades and other historical materials!! Just as we always expected!
Thank God that we religious people represent the recognition that history is more than inexorable materialistic processes and swag curtains from a decorators shop. You see, Glenn's and our emphasis on Gold and Gold Bars and the Gold Standard is a very spiritual thing. Gold is not material, it is metaphysical. Gold makes our view of history very spiritual! Thank you Charles Lane for recognizing the difference between people like us and Obama.
Also please wish Thom good luck on his appearance on EWTN. He gets to choose anything he wants from the EWTN Religious Catalog as a take-ways gift. for his appearance. I told him to choose the Infant of Prague cologne dispenser.
Thom can use it for his Axe cologne he loves so much. He says he sees their commercials, and is sure he well finally get the results in the commercials.
Posted by: Robert Georgeous Gold Alert | September 2, 2010 4:35 PM
Frau Sonne sendet lichte Strahlen;
Nacht liegt in der Tiefe:
einst war sie hell,
da heil und hehr
des Vaters Gold noch in ihr glänzte.
Rheingold! Klares Gold!
Wie hell du einstens strahltest,
hehrer Stern der Tiefe!
Posted by: The Rhinedaughters | September 3, 2010 9:35 AM
Oh, this is too much to handle, John Dewey!, and to think Richard Rorty was taught in Catholic seminaries. I am ready to have nervous breakdown!
"American Catholic academic life went into a free-fall [!!] precisely when it was needed to challenge the increasing influence of John Dewey’s pragmatism."
Are we to have the trustees of the Barnes Foundation to sort out are religious differences, they cannot even run a museum!
Posted by: Michael Sean Wintersmix | September 3, 2010 10:59 PM