But what if he is (Muslim)? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is no. That's not America. Is there something wrong with a seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion that he is a Muslim and might have an association with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America.
Thank you, Mr. Powell, for having the guts to confront this issue. Living in the south, I take it for granted that the Christian majority views people who hold other religious views with suspicion. I take it for granted that the establishment is Christian even if we don't have a federal establishment of Christianity. The notion that practice of Islam ought not to disqualify a person from being President has been whispered in private for months but I take it for granted that such a perspective is not acceptable publicly... not persuasive to those who raise this as an objection to Obama's candidacy. Its easier to attack their misinformation rather than engage the fundamental questions of religious tolerance, and the identity of America. But those questions ought to be engaged, and it is heartening that our nation has leaders who are willing to do so.
