What are we to make of the fact that more Americans think President Obama is a Muslim than a year ago? A recent poll by the Pew Center has prompted a flurry of analyses. Explanations range from ignorance to partisanship. The former is certainly plausible; in a 1999 Gallup Poll, for instance, 18 percent of Americans believed that the sun revolved around the Earth. This is the same share that today believes that Obama is a Muslim. But ideology also appears to play at least some part. While belief that Obama is a Muslim has increased across the political spectrum, the jump has been sharp among those who oppose him most strenuously. According to Pew, 31 percent of Republicans believe that the president is a Muslim.
For the record, let me note that Barack Obama is, in fact, a Christian. I would also like to point out that the Earth revolves around the sun.
Moving beyond the particulars of the poll, I have a broader question. Why do we care if the president is a Muslim or not? I am reminded of what Colin Powell said when falsehoods about Obama’s religion circulated during the 2008 campaign:
“Well, the correct answer is, he (Barack Obama) is not a Muslim; he’s a Christian…
“But the really right answer is, “What if he is?” Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president?…
“I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son’s grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards–Purple Heart, Bronze Star–showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn’t have a Christian cross, it didn’t have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American.
“He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life.”
Powell was right. Lots of our fellow citizens are Muslims. Some are heroes; others are villains; most pursue utterly unremarkable lives. Muslims are, in short, much like all of us. And they are every bit as American as Baptists, Catholics, Jews, Mormons, or (dare I say it?) atheists.
There are no doubt good reasons, depending upon one’s convictions, to support Obama or oppose him. But whether or not he’s a Muslim is surely not one of them.
Joe Barnes is the Baker Institute’s Bonner Means Baker Fellow. From 1979 to 1993, he was a career diplomat with the U.S. Department of State, serving in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.