Obama A Muslim?

According to a Washington Post survey, about 20% of all Americans think that President Obama is a Muslim. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/18/AR2010081806913.html) It's interesting to note that the Washington Post makes it clear up front that these Americans wrongly believe Obama is a Muslim. I guess that makes it clear that the writers at the Washington Post are clearly not in that 20 percent!

I have to admit that I'm not in that category of Americans that believe Obama is a Muslim. But then I never really thought he was a Christian either. Oh I know, he identified himself as a Christian, and had attended a supposedly Christian church for years before even running for President. But when I saw the kind of pastor he'd listened to for years, it became clear that at best he'd had a misguided teacher of what Christianity is. He'd been misled about what it means to follow Christ. So I never thought Obama was a Christian.

Now here's the thing. Those Americans that think Obama is a Muslim? What do they think they are? My guess is they'd be wrongly believing that too. Hypocrites aren't new to the modern generation. They existed in Biblical times. Through the ages there have always been lots of people who believed they were something they were not. Usually they thought of themselves as more righteous, more holy, more right ... than they actually were. And they still exist today. Scores of them.

Years ago I heard a preacher ask his audience if they were put on trial for being a Christian --- would there be enough evidence to convict them. Honestly I thought of all the people I knew who claimed to be Christians, and measured myself against them. I concluded that maybe there wouldn't be enough evidence to convict me. I was guilty as charged. Though I claimed to be a Christian. Probably at least 20% of Americans would look at me and conclude that I was a Christian. Nevertheless, would there be enough evidence to convict me? I doubted it. (Hopefully my record today is better!)

So what if 20% of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jew or whatever? Would there be enough evidence to convict him of any of those things? Frankly I doubt it. Most Americans might be surprised to find themselves in the same spot too. Let's face it, people, most of us just don't live devout lives devoted to serving the one true God or any other god. I doubt seriously that Obama's record is really any better than yours or mine.

Perhaps if just 20% of Americans believed they were close enough to God for their prayers to be answered - and devoted themselves to praying for our President - then Obama would look very different to most of us. Mmmmm?