Presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama revived talks on his personal Christian faith this week in an effort to dispel rumours that he is a Muslim.
The Democratic candidate spoke to the popular religious website beliefnet.com and highly respected Christianity Today magazine to set the record straight that he is a “devoted” Christian and never was a Muslim – an allegation that spread through widely circulated accusatory e-mails.
“I have been a member of the same church for almost 20 years, and I have never practiced Islam,” Obama stated in a Christianity Today interview posted Wednesday. “I am respectful of the religion, but it’s not my own.”
Obama’s past ties with Islam – including having a Muslim father and stepfather living in the largely Muslim country of Indonesia during his childhood, and having the middle name Hussein – fueled the conspiracy theory that Obama is a Muslim in disguise trying to take over the White House.
“One of the things that’s very important in this day and age is that we don’t use religion as a political tool and certainly that we don’t lie about religion as a way to score political points,” the Illinois senator emphasised.
“I just thought it was important to get that in there to dispel rumours that have been over the Internet,” he added. “We’ve done so repeatedly, but obviously it’s a political tactic of somebody to try to provide this misinformation.”
