Franklin Graham: Obama born a Muslim, a Christian Now

Franklin Graham told CNN's John King that President Obama's family background is creating the perception that Obama is a Muslim.

"I think the president's problem is that he was born a Muslim, his father was a Muslim. The seed of Islam is passed through the father like the seed of Judaism is passed through the mother. He was born a Muslim, his father gave him an Islamic name," Graham said on CNN's "John King, USA."

"Now it's obvious that the president has renounced the prophet Mohammed and he has renounced Islam and he has accepted Jesus Christ. That is what he says he has done, I cannot say that he hasn't. So I just have to believe that the president is what he has said," Graham continued.

This is what Obama wrote for Time in 2006 about his father's religious background.

My father was almost entirely absent from my childhood, having been divorced from my mother when I was 2 years old; in any event, although my father had been raised a Muslim, by the time he met my mother he was a confirmed atheist, thinking religion to be so much superstition.

CNN says it will fact check Rev. Franklin Graham's interview tonight and include comments from his opposition. A partial video is available above.

CNN analyst Roland Martin posted a few more quotes from Graham on his twitter feed:

"I wish the president, over the years, had had a chance to be involved in a real, strong Bible-teaching church."
"I don't think the Rev. Jeremiah's church was a place where he got a grounded in God's Word.
"It would have been better for him to get into a good evangelical church."

Martin thought Graham's view that Trinity under Jeremiah Wright was not Bible-believing was "amazing."

"Frankly, I'd rather hear from Anne Graham Lotz on this issue than her brother, Franklin Graham!" he wrote. "Truth be told, Anne Graham Lotz is a far stronger preacher and teacher than her brother ever will be! That's a preaching woman."

Tobin Grant has more on the Pew Forum poll that suggests that more Americans believe Obama is a Muslim than they previously did while the percentage of those who think he is a Christian has dropped.