He Keeps Saying It

But the wingnuts will never believe him.

With a recent survey showing that only a third of Americans can correctly identify Obama as a Christian, the president gave a personal account of his conversion as an adult and how his public service is part of his faith.

"I am a Christian by choice," Obama began, standing beneath a blazing sun, when asked why he is a Christian.

"I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead," Obama said. "Being my brothers' and sisters' keeper. Treating others as they would treat me. And I think also understanding that, you know, that Jesus Christ dying for my sins spoke to the humility that we all have to have as human beings."

Humans are "sinful" and "flawed" beings that make mistakes and "achieve salvation through the grace of God," the president continued, adding that we also can "see God in other people and do our best to help them find their, you know, their own grace."

"So that's what I strive to do," Obama said. "That's what I pray to do everyday. I think my public service is part of that effort to express my Christian faith."

At the same time, Obama emphasized his belief that freedom of religion is "part of the bedrock strength" of the United States.

"This is a country that is still predominantly Christian, but we have Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, Buddhists" and others, he said, adding that "their own path to grace is one that we have to revere and respect as much as our own, and that is part of what makes this country what it is."

Now that's about the most open-minded and reasonable definition of Christianity that I've heard in some time and more power to the President for having strong beliefs that he doesn't think should be forced upon all Americans.  Few enough politicians these days think a person's faith is personal.

At the same time, this shouldn't be news.  This should have been laid to rest 2 years ago.  But there are millions of Americans who simply refuse to believe it, and the reality is they're doing so because "Obama is a Muslim" is a epithet they are choosing to use in place of something worse.

And of course, the reason this is news is because the Village won't let the issue of Obama's faith go.