Is Obama Muslim?

Not according to Obama,

But there are reasons why sane, sensible people might think otherwise.

All the News That's Fit to Print

The great Greg Sargent notes a telling finding in the Pew poll: "A solid majority" of respondents who think President Obama is Muslim "say they 'learned' it from the media." Sarge scratches his head:

I'm not sure what to make of that. Maybe some voices on the right have succeeded in creating an alternate reality that really is impenetrable. Maybe traditional news orgs haven't been forceful enough in knocking the lies down. Or, alternatively, maybe there's a segment of folks who are so distrustful of the "MSM" that they believe the opposite of what it tells them.

Maybe they read this article, published during the 2008 campaign:

As the son of the Muslim father, Senator Obama was born a Muslim under Muslim law as it is universally understood. It makes no difference that, as Senator Obama has written, his father said he renounced his religion. Likewise, under Muslim law based on the Koran his mother's Christian background is irrelevant.

Of course, as most Americans understand it, Senator Obama is not a Muslim. He chose to become a Christian, and indeed has written convincingly to explain how he arrived at his choice and how important his Christian faith is to him.

His conversion, however, was a crime in Muslim eyes; it is "irtidad" or "ridda," usually translated from the Arabic as "apostasy," but with connotations of rebellion and treason. Indeed, it is the worst of all crimes that a Muslim can commit, worse than murder (which the victim's family may choose to forgive).

What right-wing rag published this? The New York Times, of course.

(Hat tip: James Taranto, 8/20/10)