..Say you're in the religion you're not! A verbal slip-up by Barack Obama has fueled untrue internet rumors about his religious beliefs.. For months, he has been publicly fighting smears that he was secretly a Muslim.. Even when controversy arose about Reverend Wright, Americans polled still believed him to be a Muslim in substantial numbers. FightTheSmears.com was even created by the Obama campaign to combat this and other untrue rumors.. And now it's blown out the window! thanks to the candidate himself! All that hard work.. and now this: "my Muslim faith".. It's petty, yes. But as I have believed for some time, people will vote on this, just as they will vote based on false smears against Sarah Palin. The Washington TIMES reports,

"Let's not play games," he said. "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 interrupted with, "Christian faith." "My Christian faith," Mr. Obama said quickly. "Well, what I'm saying is that he hasn't suggested that I'm a Muslim. And I think that his campaign's upper echelons have not, 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 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." "

PHOTO: AFP/File/Saul Loeb

Labels: Campaign 2008, Election, New Media, Obama, Politics, urban legends