I have a lovely neighbor across the street with whom I talk occasionally, usually when we are both outside tending to our gardens. She is a woman in her sixties, recently retired and caring for a husband who has begun to have disturbing neurological symptoms which aren't yet diagnosed. As my father sees a neurologist for his degenerative brain disease and as I am familiar with some of the neurologists in this geographical area, I asked who her husband was seeing. She gave me a name I didn't recognize, then said "He is a Muslim, but he seems like a good doctor though I can't understand him very well."
I acknowledged the second part of her statement, the difficulty understanding a foreign doctor, as my dad's doctor has a thick Chinese accent which always reminds me of the character Peter Sellers played in the movie Murder by Death.
What I didn't do, because it didn't connect at first, was ask her how she knew the doctor was a Muslim. As far as I know, most doctors don't advertise their religious affiliation, and I don't think most Muslim professionals do or say anything that would give that away. Did he drop down on a prayer rug while they were there? Did she spot a copy of the Koran in his office? Was his first name Mohammed?
What I think is that she made the same mistake a lot of Americans make when they don't know a lot about Islam or the Arab world. She confused being an Arab with being a Muslim. She may not realize that not all Arabs are Muslims, that many are in fact Christians, and others are atheists.
He may not have even been an Arab. He may have been Indian, or Pakistani, or some other nationality and she simply saw him as "Muslim." As to his religion, he could have been Hindu or Sikh.
I don't think my neighbor is unusual in her confusion regarding religion and nationality. I think more Americans are confused about this than are knowledgable, which is why it is so easy for opponents of Barack Obama to disseminate the lie that he is a Muslim. If all it takes for many Americans to believe someone is a Muslim is for that person to be dark skinned and/or have an unusual "Arab sounding" name, then Barack is an easy target.
I find it amazing that in this day, with the internet, hundreds of cable television channels, newspapers, radio, thousands of political books, and more people attending college than ever, that so many voters in this country still don't understand the difference between being an Arab and and being a Muslim, and don't know that not all Arabs are Muslims and not all Muslims are Arabs.
With such an uneducated populace, and FOX News and right wing radio working overtime to keep them misinformed, it will indeed be a miracle if Obama can overcome the smears and falsehoods, and actually become the next president.
