A growing number of Americans believe that President Barack Obama is a Muslim. A new survey found that nearly one-in-five Americans say the president is a Muslim, up from 11 percent in March 2009.
Only three out of every 10 Americans were able to correctly identify the president as a Christian, a sharp decrease from last March when 48 percent of those surveyed were able to do so, found a national survey by the Pew Research Center.
The U.S. is the world’s most religiousindustrialized nation with nearly six-in-ten American adults saying religion is “very important” in their lives, said a separate report by the Pew Research Center on Sept. 28.
The same report revealed that Americans know very little about religion. The survey consisted of questions on the Bible, Christianity and other world religions. On average, Americans answered 50 percent of the questions correctly.
When you consider how little Americans know about religion, in particular what Muslims actually believe, Scott Paeth, a Religious Studies professor said, “Islam becomes a stand-in concept for generally negative views regarding President Obama.”
Religious beliefs have been highly influential in shaping many Americans views about social issues, said a report by the PRC. The study revealed that many people allow their religious beliefs to influence their political views.
The biggest divide between those who believed Obama to be Muslim and those who believed him to be Christian was between those who said they approved of the job the president is doing and those who disapproved of his performance.
A full two-thirds of the 41 percent who said they disapprove of Obama’s job performance believe him to be a Muslim.
More Republicans said the president is a Muslim than believed him to be Christian. According to the PRC, 10 percent of Democrats believe Obama to be a Muslim.
The large margin of Republicans over Democrats who believe the president is Muslim reflects the fact that the Republicans already don’t like Obama, said Paeth. They think they don’t like Islam and therefore conclude that since they don’t like Obama, he must be Muslim, he said. “The fact that this doesn’t make an ounce of sense never really enters the picture.”
“The goal in this instance is to discredit the politician, and characterize Obama as a culturally inauthentic American, outside of the American mainstream,” said Political Science Professor, Scott Hibbard. “This type of disinformation is intended to destroy the man as a means of undermining the political agenda for which he stands. It is politically motivated, and a clear example of the politics of personal destruction.”
Fear and anger towards Muslims has become increasingly acceptable in America due to the Mosque controversy, said psychology professor Christine Reyna. “People will often mask unacceptable prejudices behind more acceptable rationales,” she said.
“This irrational belief has allowed people to express anger and fear towards Obama while conveniently skirting accusations of racism,” Reyna said.
A West Virginia group led by Republican tea party activists is currently running an ad trying to link longtime Democratic Rep. Nick Rahall to President Barack Obama, emphasizing the congressman’s Arab-American ancestry.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgMKll7cOiM&fs=1&hl=en_US]
In the ad, ominous music plays as Rahall discusses his chairmanship of the Arab-Americans for Obama group when Obama was a presidential candidate. The ad ends asking viewers to call Rahall and “tell him to stand with West Virginians.”
The country’s growing number of people who believe President Obama to be a Muslim “simply reflects ignorance and an irrational mood among some on the far right,” said Religious Studies professor, Dr. Tom O’Brien. “Right now in the U.S., Islam has become a symbol that represents foreign and danger for these same far right groups. My heart goes out to Muslims around the nation.”
At DePaul, one of the top-ranked colleges for diversity, different religions, race, and political affiliations compose the student body. While DePaul is the nation’s largest Catholic university, only one third of the students are Catholic.
“One good sign is that the numbers are lower with college graduates,” said Catholic Studies professor Peter Casarella.
“An institution such as DePaul can help educate college students about the religious beliefs of Islam.”
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This article was originally published in the DePaulia.
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