A growing minority of Americans now believe that President Obama is a deeply-closeted Muslim, and an even larger number of citizens now don't know what to believe about what the president's beliefs are. None of that surprises me -- after all it's a free country where we're allowed to think what we want, and we are a nation that loves conspiracy theories and distrusts our leaders. What I do find amusing, and even a little surprising, is the way major media outlets are framing the entire conversation: that the reason for this is simply because Americans are ignorant and unaware of the fact that President Obama has declared himself to be a Christian. Ironically though, to me it shows the ignorance of reporters and not of the masses they cover, for Christians doubting whether fellow Christians are truly Christians is one of the oldest parlor games in Christendom and the notion that all Christians are supposed to accept a fellow Christian's declaration of faith, just because is simply ludicrous.
Jesus himself debunked the idea that just because somebody declared himself to be a follower that he was to be believed when he noted that followers could identify other followers not necessarily by what they said, but rather by what they did, noting: "By their fruit you will recognize them."
For several hundred years, Catholics have doubted whether Protestants were truly Christians, and Protestants have returned the favor -- within Protestantism many doubt whether their alleged brothers and sisters in Christ are truly among the faithful.
Yet despite all of that, reporters who really should know better fail to examine the issues in depth and merely attribute any doubts about the authenticity of President Obama's faith to ignorance.
The truth is, of course, that we live in a free country in which we are allowed to question one another's faith, and yes, even doubt that faith, and declare that we don't believe people's declarations of faith. It's as American as apple pie.
On his website, David Duke, the notorious former Klansman and White Supremacist declares, just as President Obama has, "I am a Christian." Is it really a sign of ignorance if every American doesn't immediately accept such declarations at face value, saying they don't believe them based on their actions, or to at least express skepticism of such declarations?
Perhaps the most incisive interview of President Obama when it comes to his religious beliefs was conducted by Cathleen Falsani of the Chicago Sun Times who elicited clear answers from him. Here's the scorecard: President Obama does not believe that hell exists, much less that those who don't believe in Christ will go there; he's not sure if he's going to heaven; he believes that all people of all faiths know the same God.
Christians of different stripes will take all of that information in and reach different conclusions when it comes to President Obama and his religion, and today 48% of Americans don't believe his claims to be a Christian, either believing he is a Muslim or saying they just don't know. For media outlets to chalk that up to mere ignorance tell us more about their collective ignorance of Christian history and practice, and only when reporters shed that ignorance, dig a little deeper and find the reasons for these doubts, will readers perhaps for the first time discover a more nuanced, interesting and more truthful story.