THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FAITH AND RESPECT. I see that over at The Plank the Obama in Indonesia story has been dubbed “Controversy of the Day” because of the description in the Los Angeles Times piece of Obama as having “bowed to Allah.” I think we need to be very clear when talking about this issue that being respectful to someone else’s faith says nothing about what a person actually believes. Having a religious faith is something only an individual can attest to, and is very different from the polite behavior of child living in a Muslim nation and looking to make friends by joining the other children in neighbohood activities, including faith-based ones. If Obama says he has never been a Muslim, we have to believe him, regardless of what his early teachers say about how he was registered at school or what he studied, because only Obama can speak to what he genuinely believed.

There is a very big difference between faith and respectful behavior towards religions that are not one’s own, especially if they are the culturally dominant ones. For example, I’d suspect most Jews in America have entered Christian churches at some point or another, and respectfully stood and sat in sync with the congregations. Others have celebrated Christmas, or studied Christian poetry in school (which is to say, poetry in the English tradition). But none of that makes them Christian.

Indeed, what with all the interfaith services and prayer breakfasts since Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush also appears to have participated in praying to Allah. That does not make him any more Muslim than Obama. Bush’s faith in Jesus is in his heart, as Obama says it is in his, and when it comes to matters of religious faith, that’s all we have to go on.

Some examples of Bush joining Muslim prayers:

  • Bush: “I particularly want to thank Imam Faizul Khan, who will lead us in prayer.”
  • Bush: “And now Imam Eid will say the blessing.”
  • Bush: “I want to thank the Imam for joining us today, and thank you for leading us in prayer after these short remarks.”
  • And from the State Department: “text of the Muslim prayer delivered by Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi at the interfaith service in the National Cathedral on the Day of Remembrance, September 14, commemorating the terrorist attacks three days earlier.”

    The instinctive conformity of a 6-year-old nearly four decades ago is of far, far less public significance than the prayers of a sitting president in formal public ceremonies, except to the extent that it dovetails with an adult commitment to tolerance.

    –Garance Franke-Ruta

    • Garance Franke-Ruta is a former senior editor at the Prospect. Her work has also appeared in The Washington Post, The Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications. She was a 2006 recipient of a fellowship at the Joan Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University.