'Bill Maher Says He Doesn't Think Obama Is A Christian'

Curiously, Mediaite seems a bit shocked by this development:

For the record, the belief Maher apparently holds — that Obama isn’t actually a Christian, but merely pretends to be one to keep up appearances for the sake of his political career — strikes us as one of the most cynical things anyone could possibly believe about Obama. Is it possible? Well, yes — it wouldn’t make Obama the first politician to not be entirely upfront about everything regarding his true self. But for Maher to hold the view that Obama’s not actually a Christian — a viewpoint, of course, fundamental to the “Obama’s a Muslim” school of thought Maher mocks in the very same segment you’ll see below — well, it’s a little curious.

Actually, it’s probably the least cynical thing Maher’s ever said. It seems obvious that Obama’s time spent in Rev. Wright’s church was for political, networking and career advancement purposes. He’s rarely been spotted in a church in DC, since. And as Scott Johnson of Power Line recently quipped, “One of President Obama’s most prominent and least attractive qualities is his vanity. It almost disposes of the speculation that Obama is a Muslim. The man can’t be a Muslim; he worships himself.”

Couple that with P.J. O’Rourke and Michael Ledeen’s take on Obama as a sort of overgrown perpetual undergrad, and you’re left with the obvious — he’s an agnostic or an atheist.

On the other hand, as Obama (or his ghostwriter) wrote in his autobiography:

I am new enough on the national political scene that I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views. As such, I am bound to disappoint some, if not all, of them. Which perhaps indicates a second, more intimate theme to this book–namely, how I, or anybody in public office, can avoid the pitfalls of fame, the hunger to please, the fear of loss, and thereby retain that kernel of truth, that singular voice within each of us that reminds us of our deepest commitments.

And no doubt, Maher is projecting plenty of his own fantasy wish fulfillment into his statement.