Check out Nicholas Kristof's New York Times article on how people seem uncomfortable rejecting Obama because of his race, so instead they "otherize" him based on fictitious claims about his religious heritage. Of course we knew this already, but Kristof's op-ed piece is a concise, cogent essay that gets to the heart of the matter. I like that New Yorker cover more and more...
Also on the matter of religion and politics, Jon Stewart was chatting with Tony Blair recently on the Daily Show. Blair, who is about to begin teaching a course on religion and globalization, cited the following statistic: that when asked "how important is religion to you," 65% of American said "very important" compared to 35% of British, compared to 97% of Pakistanis. So when it comes to religiosity we're somewhere right between Pakistan and Britain (again, not surprising, but always nice to see where we rank). As my colleague at The Switchman recently noted, 45% of republicans, and 40% of democrats! do not know that candidate Obama identifies as Christian. Of Blair's 65% of Americans (presumably mostly Christian), it seems some large proportion don't really know what Obama's religious affiliation is. But McCain, as a white all-American POW candidate, it is safe to assume he's a good wholesome Christian right? Especially when he picks Palin as his running mate. God help us, either willful ignorance, or racism by proxy, might cost Obama the election.
Jab it out!
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