You’d have to be a Martian who just woke up from a few centuries of suspended animation not to have heard that according to the latest survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, one in five Americans think that President Barack Obama is a Muslim. The number is up substantially from last year when one in 10 Americans thought the president wasn’t a Christian.

It doesn’t help that Rev. Franklin Graham and his ilk obsess over whether the highest office holder in our nation worships their god or some other being in the clouds. Graham, the son of the Billy, who used to advise presidents on religious matters, believes that while Obama may be a Christian now, he was born a Muslim.

“I think the president’s problem is that he was born a Muslim,” said the chip off the old blockhead, “his father was a Muslim.” No, the president’s problem is born-agains like Graham who should keep getting born again until they get it right.

“The seed of Islam is passed through the father,” explained Graham, “like the seed of Judaism is passed through the mother. He was born a Muslim, his father gave him an Islamic name.” And Graham’s father gave him the name of a cracker.

“Now it’s obvious that the president has renounced the prophet Mohammed and he has renounced Islam and he has accepted Jesus Christ,” Graham said. “That is what he says he has done, I cannot say that he hasn’t.”

Who cares one way or the other?!

The economy is still tanking; the wars drag on endlessly; homeowners are losing their homes through foreclosure (and the greed of the banks that have gotten bailed out); unemployment is almost as high as during the Great Depression; homelessness, hunger and poverty are at epidemic proportions; and America’s youth is besieged with diabetes from junk food.

Yet Obama’s press people have to spend precious hours answering stupid inquiries about the president’s religious beliefs.

To wit: Bill Burton told the press that while the president may not attend church every Sunday, “he prays every day. He talks to a wide range of pastors and religious leaders periodically. And you’ll see him in church again. I mean, he’s been to church as president. He’ll go to church once again. But he is getting spiritual guidance on a regular basis.”

Again, who cares?!

This is NOT a Christian country, no matter what some evangelist who profits big time from saving souls says to the contrary. A person’s religion or lack of such is his or her own business. Politicians do not have to answer for their religious convictions or whether or not they attend a house of worship or the city zoo on Sunday mornings.

Muslim or Christian or anything else, I just don’t give a damn.

Tommi Avicolli Mecca is co-editor of Avanti Popolo: Italians Sailing Beyond Columbus, and editor of Smash the Church, Smash the State: The Early Years of Gay Liberation, which was nominated for both an American Library Association and a Lambda Literary award. His website is www.avicollimecca.com.