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August 21st, 2010
05:13 PM ET

My Take: Unpacking the 'Obama born Muslim' charge

Editor's Note: Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion scholar and author of "God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World," is a regular CNN Belief Blog contributor.

By Stephen Prothero, Special to CNN

CNN's John King was kind enough to let me say my piece about Islam, the Reverend Franklin Graham and President Obama last night. While I was barely able to get a word in edgewise in my last television appearance–on The Colbert Report–I was able to speak in full paragraphs on John King USA.

Still, I wish I had been able to say more.

FULL POST

- CNN Belief Blog contributor

Filed under: Barack Obama • Christianity • Culture wars • Islam • Leaders • Opinion • Politics

August 21st, 2010
03:21 PM ET

Opinion: GOP knows Obama's not a Muslim, but what's a little misunderstanding?

By John P. Avlon, Special to CNN

Editor's note: John P. Avlon is a CNN contributor and senior political columnist for The Daily Beast. He is the author of "Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe Is Hijacking America."

As the mosque debate dominates the summer spin cycle, a new Pew Research Poll shows that an increasing number of Americans believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim - now up to 18 percent from 11 percent in March 2009. At the same time, only a third of Americans say Obama is a Christian, down from nearly 50 percent last year.

And while the biggest jumps in believing Obama is Muslim come from self-described conservative Republicans - from 18 percent to 34 percent - the number of Democrats who describe Obama as Christian fell from 55 percent to 46 percent. Independents - while being the group least likely to want professions of religious beliefs from politicians - have also fallen in with the drift.

Read the full story

- CNN Belief Blog

Filed under: Barack Obama • Muslim • Opinion • Politics

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About this blog

The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.

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