The influential Evangelical leader Rev. Franklin Graham said President Barack Obama was “born a Muslim” since the religion is “passed through the father’s seed,” in a CNN interview Friday.
Graham’s comments came in response to the recently released Pew Research Center survey that showed nearly one in five Americans incorrectly believed Obama was a Muslim.
Graham told CNN: “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,” the son of noted evangelist Billy Graham, said.
“It’s obvious that the president has renounced Islam … the president says he is a Christian, and we just have to accept it as that,” the Samaritan’s Purse CEO added.
Earlier in 2009, Graham’s controversial comments on Islam caused the U.S. Army to withdraw an invitation to the preacher to take part in a Pentagon prayer service.
In a television interview in 2009, Graham told CNN: “I don’t agree with the teachings of Islam and I find it to be a very violent religion.”