Everything in Its Own Time

While I’ll concede that there’s probably at least a few people out there that honestly do question the religious beliefs of Obama at this point, I keep thinking that there’s far too much “deep analysis” of polls that suggest that a significant number of Americans think he is Muslim. It’s a fair assumption that just about every campaign strategist out there has said or at least thought that “politics is perception.” And for whatever reason, it seems that the media is forgetting that concept, or at least not considering it sincerely in the context of these polls.

From the beginning, there has never really been any argument over the fact that Obama’s father was Muslim, and that Obama himself had attended a Muslim school for a short period of time in his early childhood. Today, ABC posits that there is a definite prejudice against Muslims when it comes to voters considering candidates for public office. Yes, this is the land of the free, and yes, we’re generally more tolerant than most other nations, but it’s been under a decade since 9/11. Ground Zero remains under construction, and there’s a heated debate on what should be done with the real estate surrounding it. We’re still at war with Al Qaeda, and there is no honest end in sight. Comparisons with Pearl Harbor have been made many times, so here we go again. Would anyone honestly be screaming that we’re intolerant bastards if we were against voting in individuals of Japanese descent to high ranking offices in the years following that bombing, particularly if WWII had dragged out much longer than it did?

Now, that addresses the general distrust of Muslims in general, justified or not. It’s the truth, ugly as it may be. As for the perception of Obama, I’ve been thinking for some time now that it’s not so much about thinking that he is actually a Muslim, as it is a matter of not perceiving him as a Christian. We are still being bombarded with stories of potential terrorist attacks by radical Muslims, and spent the last several years being spoonfed the concept that any Muslim can end up being twisted into a dangerous radical. (Ironically enough, that theory is most often supported by radical Christians, but I digress, or not…) Religion has been politicized severely since 2001, and sadly, it has nurtured a climate where Christians seem to be increasingly of the opinion that if you’re not obviously with them, you’re against them. If you’re against them, more likely than not, you’re Muslim (assuming you’re not just one of those evil atheists.) Since Obama doesn’t wear his faith on his sleeve, he’s not obviously with the Christians, so he must be what? Oh yeah, Muslim. Rewind to the previously known information about his father and his childhood, and there’s the likely root of most of the current rash of incorrect perceptions.

Politics is perception, and when people are silly enough to ignore that First Amendment separation of religion and politics, the perception of public officials’ religious beliefs become relevant to their political careers. (Yes, I know I didn’t say “church and state”, so don’t bother yelping about it. My standard answer for that is that the framers saw the folly in mixing faith and politics, and chose terms that fit their times, and mollified the more religious amongst them. Politics is filthy. Religion doesn’t deserve to be made dirty by it.)