New Pew poll indicates Americans are confused about the religious beliefs of politicians

Pew is one of the few polling agencies I generally like.  Part of it is that they have less obvious bias than a lot of other pollsters, especially on social issues.  Second is that they are more likely to issue polls I'm actually interested in.

A couple days ago, Pew released a series of polls on public perception of religion and the major presidential candidates in the US.  This is fairly standard for them, but is perhaps particularly interesting this year considering that the GOP candidate is clearly a member of a religious minority and arguably the Democratic candidate is as well.

The big surprise from this poll, or at least what is getting the most attention, is that while 60% of registered voters identify Mitt Romney as LDS (more commonly known as Mormon), only 49% identify Barack Obama as Christian.  17% of registered voters identify President Obama as Muslim.

If you pay much attention to really conservative media (by which I mean to the right of Rush Limbaugh), you hear a lot of talk about Obama being a closet Muslim.  If you break down the numbers further, you aren't surprised to find that 34% of "conservative Republicans" think he is a Muslim.  The puzzle remains, however, why so many others aren't sure Obama is a Christian.

I think I can shed some light on this.  My guess is that a decent percentage of the people who don't identify Obama as a Christian don't do so because of ignorance, but due to a nuanced perspective.  Let me give two examples.

Last night I was talking politics with a friend who is Black, highly educated, from Chicago, and a huge Obama supporter.  She does not believe Obama is a Christian.  She thinks he started going to church for political leverage.  As evidence, she cites that fact that he grew up in a non-religious home and that he didn't start going to church until after he moved to Chicago after to be a community organizer.  Translation: he started going to church to network and be electible in his community.  Obama's faith, she claims, is just for show.

The second example is very different.  Among theologically educated religious conservatives, many do not identify Obama as a Christian because he does not seem to adhere to certain basic tenants of Christianity (what used to be called "the fundamentals").  Having not read any theological writing of his beyond a belief in the mandate to help the poor, I can't speak to his theological views and whether they fit into the basic tenants of Christianity.  As far as I know, there is no public indication of what his theological views are.  It is quite understandable that a significant chunk of the theologically sophisticated would have questions about how to categorize Obama.

Now, these two groups can't explain all of the 31% who can't identify Obama's religion.  However, if you take these into account, it demonstrates more clarity about Obama's faith than the 32% who can't identify Romney's faith.