The American public's questions and doubts about President Barack Obama's religion continue to dog him nearly two years after his election. For example, a new poll by the Pew Research Center shows that nearly 1 in 5 Americans believe that Obama is a Muslim, although in fact he is a Christian. According to the Pew survey, the percentage of Americans thinking that he is a Muslim increased from 12% to 18% between March 2008 and August 2010, while the percentage of those thinking that he is a Christian dropped from 47% to 34% during that period. As a religious/spiritual commentator in the community, does it alarm you that so many Americans are ignorant about Obama's faith, and should it really matter whether the commander in chief is Muslim, Christian or religious at all?
The statistics reported by Pew Research should cause a certain fright because a healthy democratic country requires an electorate that is well-informed and of serious intent. But in this case there is abysmal ignorance. Worse yet is that there are persons and entities that are deliberately propagating not only misinformation but are calloused in their disregard for truth and are manipulative of the public.
