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Lincoln Parallels Cited In Confusion About Obama's Religion

By Howard M. Friedman

In today's San Francisco Chronicle, New York University Professor Jonathan Zimmerman calls attention to an interesting parallel between the persistent rumors that President Barack Obama is a Muslim and rumors faced by Abraham Lincoln. Here is an excerpt:

Just as Obama's enemies call him a closet Muslim, Lincoln's opponents hinted that he was ... a closet Catholic. And in each case, the reason was exactly the same: Millions of Americans feared, derided or despised these faiths....

The whispers about Lincoln's religion began right after he was elected president. The "evidence" was simple, and altogether spurious. Jesuits were active in Lincoln's region of Illinois, so he must have been baptized by them. Oh, and Lincoln had once defended a prominent priest in a slander lawsuit.

.... Lincoln also denounced the bigotry and prejudice of the Know-Nothings, America's most vehemently anti-Catholic political party. "If the Know-Nothings get control," Lincoln warned in 1855, "the Declaration of Independence will read: All men are created equal except for Negroes, foreigners, and Catholics."

And here's why it mattered: Across the political spectrum, including Lincoln's Republican Party, Protestant Americans assumed that Catholics were disloyal to the Republic. "We" respected individual rights, liberties, and freedoms; but "they" took orders from the Vatican.

After a Pew poll earlier this month revealed that 18% of Americans thought Obama is Muslim and 43% did not know his religious affiliation (see prior posting), Obama told NBC interviewer Brian Williams on Sunday that this there is a "network of misinformation" in today's "new-media era." (Los Angeles Times).

Full post as published by Religion Clause on August 31, 2010 (boomark / email).