根據美國皮尤研究中心的最新民調，由于美國總統奧巴馬力挺在世貿遺址建清真寺，已經有多達五分之一的美國民眾誤認為奧巴馬是一位穆斯林，而堅信奧巴馬是一位基督徒的民眾已經減少至34%，是奧巴馬剛剛上任時的一半。有關奧巴馬的宗教信仰、出生地的傳言，一直是網上的熱點話題之一，這種誤解和爭議早在其參加總統競選時就開始了。奧巴馬的全名是貝拉克?胡賽因?奧巴馬，父親是位穆斯林，為了提高自己在國外的聲望，他還曾經刻意強調過“胡賽因”這個中間名；加之奧巴馬很少像他的前任布什、克林頓那樣公開參加教堂的宗教活動，由此導致民眾對其宗教信仰產生誤解。對此誤解，白宮發言人近日特意出面發表聲明，堅稱奧巴馬是位虔誠的基督徒，每天都會做禱告。

Obama takes part in Sunday service at the Vermont Avenue Baptist church in Washington.

An increasing number of Americans wrongly believe that President Barack Obama is a Muslim, with nearly one in five saying he is a follower of Islam, according to a new poll.

The results came days after the US president waded into a bitter dispute over controversial plans to build a mosque near the Ground Zero site of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in New York.

Speaking at an iftar dinner held at the White House last Friday to mark the breaking of the Ramadan fast, Mr. Obama, a practicing Christian, weighed in on the "local" issue, affirming the right to build on the grounds of religious freedom, though on Saturday he appeared to backtrack, saying he had not been taking a stand on the "wisdom" of doing so.

Republicans have promised to make Mr. Obama's support for the project, which is broadly opposed by a majority of the US public, though supported by a majority of New Yorkers, an issue in the upcoming elections.

On his inauguration day in January 2009, some 11 per cent of Americans believed that Mr. Obama was a Muslim. In office, Mr. Obama has highlighted the fact that his middle name is Hussein, in part to boost his credibility abroad. His father was a non-observant Muslim and his mother was a Christian-born secularist.

Nearly one in five Americans polled last week - before the president's comments on the New York mosque - believed Mr. Obama was a Muslim, according to a poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

The results will fuel criticism from even fellow Democrats that Mr. Obama is failing to communicate effectively who he is, which could prove damaging ahead of November's mid-term elections.

Among those who said Mr. Obama is a Muslim, 60 per cent said they learned about his religion from the media. The phenomenon is not limited to Republicans. Among independent voters, 18 per cent said he is a Muslim, up eight percentage points from the start of last year.

Mr. Obama has encountered trouble in the past with public perception of his faith, when the radical sermons of his Chicago pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, were publicized just before he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination.

After a much-publicized search for a church to attend in Washington, the White House said Mr. Obama had decided that his presence would disrupt an ordinary congregation, and that he would worship privately at Camp David, the president's weekend retreat.

This has meant that he has not been seen attending public worship services as his predecessors were. Polls indicate that well over half of Americans describe themselves as religiously observant and it would be almost unthinkable for a major politician to describe him or herself as an atheist.

Mr Obama's religion and his place of birth have been the subjects of rumors and bogus facts spread via the internet. During his election campaign, Obama aides worked aggressively to rebut these.

But the number of people who now correctly identify Mr. Obama as a Christian has dropped to 34 per cent, down from nearly half when he took office. Joshua DuBois, Mr. Obama's faith adviser, dismissed the "misinformation campaigns" by Mr. Obama's opponents.

"While the president has been diligent and personally committed to his own Christian faith, there are certainly folks who are intent on spreading falsehoods about the president and his values and beliefs," he told the "Washington Post".

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(Agencies)

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）