All Discussions Tagged 'muslim' - Black Preaching Network2024-03-29T01:13:13Zhttp://abcpreachers.ning.com/group/presidentialprayerteam/forum/topic/listForTag?tag=muslim&feed=yes&xn_auth=noPresident Obama was 'Born a Muslim'tag:abcpreachers.ning.com,2010-08-23:916966:Topic:15234202010-08-23T03:58:54.007ZLady Divinehttp://abcpreachers.ning.com/profile/reeree
<h2 id="headline" style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-decoration: underline;">PLEASE KEEP THE PRESIDENT IN PRAYER.......</h2>
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<h2 id="headline">The Rev. Franklin Graham Says President Obama was 'Born a Muslim'<br></br></h2>
<br></br><br></br><h3 id="dek">Comments Come As Poll Shows One in Five Americans Wrongly Believes Obama Is Muslim</h3>
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<h4 id="byline">By BRADLEY BLACKBURN</h4>
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<p><strong>Aug. 20,…</strong></p>
<h2 style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-decoration: underline;" id="headline">PLEASE KEEP THE PRESIDENT IN PRAYER.......</h2>
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<h2 id="headline">The Rev. Franklin Graham Says President Obama was 'Born a Muslim'<br/></h2>
<br/><br/><h3 id="dek">Comments Come As Poll Shows One in Five Americans Wrongly Believes Obama Is Muslim</h3>
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<h4 id="byline">By BRADLEY BLACKBURN</h4>
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<p><strong>Aug. 20, 2010—</strong></p>
<br/>
<p></p>
<p>On the heels of a new poll suggesting that <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/WN/pew-poll-18-percent-americans-president-obama-muslim/story?id=11437070" target="external">nearly one in five Americans incorrectly believes</a> that President Obama is a Muslim, one of the nation's <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=877895&page=1" target="external">most prominent evangelical leaders</a> has weighed in with a seemingly lukewarm endorsement of the president's Christian faith. <br/></p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>The Rev. Franklin Graham waded into the discussion with his own controversial explanation of why people wrongly believe the president is<br/>
a Muslim. Graham, who <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wirestory?id=10470346" target="external">prayed with Obama in a session with his father, Billy Graham, earlier this year</a>, was asked whether he has any doubts about Obama's self-avowed Christian faith. <br/></p>
<p><br/></p>
<p><strong>Watch 'World News With Diane Sawyer' for more on this story tonight on ABC.</strong></p>
<p>"I think the president's problem is that he was born a Muslim, his father was a Muslim. The seed of Islam is passed through the father<br/>
like the seed of Judaism is passed through the mother. He was born a<br/>
Muslim, his father gave him an Islamic name," <a href="http://johnkingusa.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/19/confusion-over-obamas-religion/" target="external">Graham told CNN's John King in a televised interview that aired Thursday night</a>. <br/></p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>"Now it's obvious that the president has renounced the prophet Mohammed, and he has renounced Islam, and he has accepted Jesus Christ. That's<br/>
what he says he has done. I cannot say that he hasn't. So I just have<br/>
to believe that the president is what he has said," Graham continued,<br/>
adding that "the Islamic world sees the president as one of theirs." <br/></p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>The president himself has written that his father, Barack Obama Sr., was already a confirmed atheist by the time he was born. His father<br/>
divorced his mother when Obama was 2 years old, and he had little<br/>
contact with his father during his childhood. <br/></p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>White House spokesman Bill Burton reacted to Graham's comments at a White House briefing today in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., saying simply<br/>
that the president is a committed Christian and that Franklin Graham is<br/>
entitled to his opinion.<br/>
</p>
<p></p>
<h4>Poll Shows More Americans Wrongly Believe Obama Is Muslim</h4>
<p>Confusion about the president's beliefs appears to be growing among the population, according to a new poll from the nonpartisan Pew Forum on<br/>
Religion and Public Life. The poll found that <a href="http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1701/poll-obama-muslim-christian-church-out-of-politics-political-leaders-religious" target="external">18 percent of those surveyed wrongly identified Obama as Muslim</a>,<br/>
up from 11 percent in March 2009. At the same time, the number of<br/>
Americans who said they believed, correctly, that Obama is Christian has<br/>
declined from 48 percent in March 2009 to 34 percent today. But 43<br/>
percent of Americans now say they don't know what Obama's religion is at<br/>
all. <br/></p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>The Pew poll was conducted between July 21 and Aug. 5, before Obama <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/president-obama-no-regrets-over-muslim-center-remarks-11429269" target="external">weighed in on the controversial plan to build an Islamic center near the site of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center</a>. <br/></p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>The misinformation continues to exist despite the president's own declarations of his Christian faith and the statements of his spiritual<br/>
advisers.<br/>
</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Whie House: President Prays Every Day</h3>
<p>"The president is, obviously, <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-blackberry-faith-white-house/story?id=9689272" target="external">Christian</a>. He prays every day," Burton said Thursday aboard Air Force One. <br/></p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>"He communicates with his religious adviser every single day," Burton said. "There's a group of pastors that he takes counsel from on a<br/>
regular basis. His faith is very important to him, but it's not<br/>
something that's a topic of conversation every single day." <br/></p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>Burton said the president has talked "extensively" about his faith in the past and "you can bet he'll talk about his faith again." But "making<br/>
sure Americans know what a devout Christian he is" is not the<br/>
president's top priority.<br/>
</p>
<p></p>
<h4>How Does Misinformation Spread?</h4>
<p>The poll indicates that groups who have shown the most willingness to believe the wrong notion that the president is a Muslim include<br/>
conservative Republicans, 34 percent of whom believe Obama is Muslim.<br/>
Eighteen percent of independents said the president is a Muslim, up from<br/>
10 percent in March 2009. <br/></p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>"I think the reality is that false beliefs spread like gossip more than actual information," said Andrew Perrin, an associate professor of<br/>
sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.<br/>
</p>
<p>Perrin's research has shown that a false perception can spread quickly if people's friends and neighbors also have heard or believe a similar<br/>
idea. <br/></p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>"False beliefs propagate when people think others believe them, and when they have a supportive source that wants them to hold it," Perrin said. <br/></p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>Perrin has found that even direct denials of the false information do not always solve the problem.</p>
<p>"In my own research, when [people] get reliable information that discounts these beliefs, they tend to cling to those beliefs more,"<br/>
Perrin said.<br/>
</p>
<p></p>
<h4>Misperception Also Exists Among President's Political Allies</h4>
<p>But even among the president's allies, the numbers are shifting. In March 2009, 55 percent of Democrats said the president is a Christian.<br/>
That number is now 46 percent. <br/></p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>African-Americans, who voted for Obama overwhelmingly, have shown a similar shift. In March 2009, 36 percent of African-Americans said they<br/>
didn't know the president's religion. That number is now 46 percent.<br/>
Self-described liberal Democrats who don't know what religion the<br/>
president is shifted from 23 percent to 31 percent.<br/>
</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>President Favors a Private Faith</h3>
<p>Obama has favored a more private faith since he took office in January 2009, attending formal church services just a handful of times,<br/>
including <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/WN/president-obama-takes-easter-mass-church-regular/story?id=10283263" target="external">Easter of this year</a>. <br/></p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>Like <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Vote2008/story?id=3891196&page=1" target="external">his predecessor George W. Bush</a>, Obama has said he prefers worshiping at the chapel at Camp David. But<br/>
the president rarely goes to the presidential retreat, and instead<br/>
spends Sundays at the White House. Weekend activities often include<br/>
basketball or golf. <br/></p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>Still, the president has said his Christian faith is part of his daily life. Last year, <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=8163898&page=1" target="external">Obama told ABC's Terry Moran on "Nightline"</a> that he relied on his BlackBerry as one tool to keep the faith.</p>
<p>"My faith and neighborhood initiatives director, Joshua DuBois, he has a devotional that he sends to me on my BlackBerry every day," Obama said.<br/>
"That's how I start my morning. You know, he's got a passage,<br/>
scripture, in some cases, quotes from other faiths to reflect on."<br/>
</p>
<p></p>
<h4>Obama: Faith Has Deepened While in Office</h4>
<p>The president said during the same interview that his faith had deepened during his time in office.</p>
<p>"[Before taking office], I had a habit of praying every night before I go to bed. I pray all the time now," Obama laughed. "Because I've got a<br/>
lot of stuff on my plate, and I need guidance all the time."<br/>
</p>
<p>While the president and his family initially planned to join a church in Washington, they put the search on hold after finding the trappings of<br/>
the modern presidency too cumbersome for congregation life. Before the<br/>
president attends a service, the building must be swept for threats and<br/>
every churchgoer screened for weapons. <br/></p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>An Obama family visit to the 19th Street Baptist Church, a historic African-American congregation in Washington, turned into a circus<br/>
atmosphere that dismayed the family, according to aides, particularly<br/>
after learning that longtime church members were turned away from the<br/>
service.<br/>
</p>
<p><em>ABC's Jake Tapper, Devin Dwyer and Ann Compton contributed to this report.</em></p>