Throughout his term, President Obama has dealt with racism for being Black (or half-Black as Morgan Freeman pointed out), accused of not being American, and many still think that he’s Muslim. A national survey conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, and the Pew Research Center for the People & The Press, found that 17 percent of registered voters are sure he’s Muslim. “The number of Americans who say Obama is a Muslim is up since 2008, similar to 2010,” noted Pew researcher, Greg Smith. “Our polling suggests there’s a real partisan component,” he added in regards to the mostly Republicans who were surveyed.
Of the 3,000 people asked, 49 percent know that the POTUS is Christian, while 31 percent have no idea what faith he follows.
However, in the case of Mitt Romney, 60 percent of those questioned are aware that he is Mormon, a number that has been virtually unchanged, since the GOP primaries, four months ago.
Obama’s father and namesake was born in Kenya, and was Muslim, although many in the country follow a Christian faith. His mother was an American Christian, while his stepfather is from Indonesia, which houses the largest Muslim population of any country in the world. Many Republicans have accused the president of secretly being Muslim and hiding his religion from the public, while others believe that he is Muslim by default because of his father.
“For 17 percent of people to believe Obama is a Muslim shows there’s a lot of fear-mongering and politicking in America,” said Muslim Public Affairs Council member Haris Tarin. According to Tarin, Obama’s denial that he is Muslim is an act of reinforcing the negative stereotype behind the religion, in post-911 America. Just as a Muslim person would likely correct someone for thinking that they are Christian, Obama has been vocal about his religion, but Tarin foolishly sees this as a bad thing. “I hope Obama does not go out of his way to deny he’s a Muslim. That reinforces the idea that Islam can be used as a slur.”
Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world, with more than a billion people following its laws.
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