By 2010 more white evangelicals believed Obama was a Muslim than a Christian.

Evidence

Other evangelicals, too, depicted the president as a Muslim sympathizer. Gary Bauer claimed the president was more interested “in defending the reputation of Islam” than in “saving the lives of Christians,” and he thought it prudent to advise Obama that defending Islam was not “in his job description.” Conservative evangelicals took issue with the president’s reluctance to use the words “Islamist extremism,” and recoiled as he “glowingly gushed about the Quran multiple times” during his 2009 Cairo speech. By 2010, more white evangelicals believed Obama was a Muslim (29 percent) than believed he was a Christian (27 percent). A full 42 percent claimed not to know. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 536

Categorization

• SHARE: The specific statistic — 29% Muslim vs 27% Christian, 42% unsure — is a striking data point a sociologist of religion or religion journalist would want.