After going further than any Democratic presidential candidate in memory to establish himself as a fervent Christian believer–he visits churches often and has staged “faith tours” in Iowa and South Carolina–Obama is still apparently susceptible to email campaigns that have tried to brand him a Muslim and an atheist. From a Des Moines pool report carried by Mark Halperin’s The Page:

Zanata Moore-El asked Obama if he was an atheist.
“I’m a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ,” Obama replied. “Don’t read e-mails.”
E-mails have circulated in recent weeks saying Obama is a Muslim or an atheist or took his oath of office on a Quran instead of a bible, none of which his true.
“I hated having to ask him that,” Moore-El said. “But I heard he was like an atheist. I don’t want a president who’s an atheist. I’m a firm believer in God. I just really wanted to make sure because I really wanted to vote for him and he has some good topics and everything.”

To God-o-Meter, Obama appears to have handled the situation as well as could be expected, calmly but firmly correcting the record–and taking aim at the rumor campaign in one fell swoop.

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