Claim:   Barack Obama admitted to being a Muslim during an ABC News interview.

Status:   False.

Example:   [Collected via e-mail, September 2008]

Attached is a video of Barack Obama in an interview where he apparently slips that he is of Muslim faith then corrects himself and says Christian. I was wondering if this interview is true or has it been doctored to appear this way?

Origins:   In September 2008, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama was interviewed by George Stephanopoulos for ABC's This Week news program. When the subject of the interview turned to Senator Obama's assertion that Republicans were attempting to scare voters by suggesting he is not Christian, the following exchange occurred:

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: You mentioned your Christian faith. Yesterday, you took after the Republicans for suggesting you have Muslim connections. Just a few minutes ago, Rick Davis, John McCain's campaign manager, said they've never done that. This is a false and cynical attempt to play victim.

SEN. OBAMA: You know what, these guys love to throw a rock and hide their hands.

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: But the McCain campaign has never suggested you have Muslim connections.

SEN. OBAMA: No. No. No. But I don't think that when you look at what is being promulgated on Fox News, let's say, and Republican commentators who are closely allied to these folks ...

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: But John McCain said that's wrong.

SEN. OBAMA: Listen, you and I both know that the minute that Governor Palin was forced to talk about her daughter, I immediately said that's off limits. And ...

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: And John McCain said the same thing about questioning your faith.

SEN. OBAMA: And what was the first thing the McCain campaign went out and did? They said, look, these liberal blogs that support Obama are out there attacking Governor Palin. Let's not play games. What I was suggesting — you're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith ...

That last sentence was a straightforward statement: Senator Obama was not proclaiming his "Muslim faith"; he was acknowledging that Republican nominee John McCain had not specifically promulgated the false rumor that he (Obama) was a Muslim.

Unfortunately, at this point of the interview, George Stephanopoulos — apparently not understanding the context of Senator Obama's response — mistakenly attempted to correct him by interjecting the words "Your Christian faith." This non sequitur briefly threw Senator Obama off track; he repeated the words "My Christian faith" and then returned to the point he was trying to make:

SEN. OBAMA: What I was suggesting — you're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith, and you're absolutely right that that has not come ...

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS (interrupting): Your Christian faith.

SEN. OBAMA: My Christian faith — well, what I'm saying is ...

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS (interrupting): Connections, right.

SEN. OBAMA: ... that he hasn't suggested that I'm a Muslim, and I think that his campaign upper echelons haven't either. What I think is fair to say is that coming out of the Republican camp, there have been efforts to suggest that perhaps I'm not what who I say I am when it comes to my faith, something which I find deeply offensive, and that has been going on for a pretty long time.

A very brief, out-of-context segment was then clipped from that exchange and sent winging around the Internet as proof that Senator Obama had "admitted his Muslim faith," something even the conservative Washington Times acknowledged was false:

But illustrating the difficulty of preventing false rumors about his faith from spreading, anti-Obama groups within one hour of the interview had sliced it out of context and were sending it around via email. They also were blogging about it.

Mr. Obama, who is a Christian and often proudly speaks about how his faith has influenced his public service, said he finds it "deeply offensive" that there are efforts "coming out of the Republican camp to suggest that perhaps I'm not who I say I am when it comes to my faith."

Last updated:   23 October 2008

Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2013 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson.
This material may not be reproduced without permission.
snopes and the snopes.com logo are registered service marks of snopes.com.  

---

  Sources:

    Bellantoni, Christina.   "Obama's Verbal Slip Fuels His Critics."

    The Washington Times.   7 September 2008.

    This Week (ABC News).   7 September 2008.