According to a new poll, only four in ten Americans know Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is Mormon.

The survey by the Public Religion Research Institute and Religion News Service found that 72 percent of Americans say Mormons hold religious beliefs that are somewhat or very different from their own. Among the 46 percent who say Mormons hold religious beliefs that are different from their own, Romney trails President Barack Obama by 21 points (49% vs. 28%).

“It’s really too early to gauge the full impact Romney’s religious identity will have on the election, but there are suggestive patterns,” said Dr. Robert P. Jones, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute. “Because views about the Mormon faith are tied to political support, Romney will need to continue to address these perceptions as Americans learn more about him during the campaign.”

The poll found that the public continues to have difficulty correctly identifying President Obama’s faith. Only 38 percent of Americans correctly identify his faith as Christian, 18 percent continue to wrongly identify him as Muslim, and fully 4-in-10 say they don’t know what his religion is.

Among the Findings:

• Only 4-in-10 correctly identify Romney as Mormon; nearly six-in-ten say they do not know Romney’s religious beliefs (46%) or incorrectly identify him as a Protestant or Catholic (10%).
• Among all Americans, President Obama holds a slight edge over Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann in head-to-head matchups for the 2012 election: 44% of Americans say if the election were held today they would vote for Obama, compared to 36% who say they would support Romney. Obama’s lead over Bachmann is similar (45% to 37%).
• Among Americans who identify with the Tea Party, Bachmann garners stronger support than Romney in a matchup against Obama (78% and 71% respectively).
• A majority (56%) of the public says it is very important or somewhat important for a presidential candidate to have strong religious beliefs regardless of whether those beliefs are the same as their own.
• Among Republicans and members of the Tea Party, more than 7-in-10 (71% and 72%) say it is somewhat or very important for a presidential candidate to have strong religious beliefs, compared to 51% of Democrats. Americans who identify with the Tea Party are more likely than Republicans to say it is very important for a candidate to have strong religious beliefs (46% to 38%).
• Majorities of every religious group say it is important that a candidate for President have strong religious beliefs, including white evangelicals (73%), minority Christians (74%), white mainline Protestants (57%) and Catholics (57%).
• Among those who say it is somewhat or very important for a candidate to have strong religious beliefs, both Romney and Bachmann lead in head-to-head matchups with Obama (Romney: 43% to 36%; Bachmann: 44% to 38%)

Jewish Daily Forward reporter Nathan Guttman writes about President Barack Obama’s efforts to win back the support of American Jews:

Washington — It may be early in the presidential election cycle, but President Obama’s newly established re-election campaign is moving quickly to address Jewish concerns following the president’s clash in May with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

So far, despite the fireworks between the two leaders, the Democrats are pleased with the results of their approach. Based on their own internal polling and on lessons from the 2010 midterm elections, Democrats believe that the issue of Israel will not play out significantly with Jewish voters…

Read the full story here: http://forward.com/articles/139291/

More than 3,300 members of the United Church of Christ are attending the denomination’s biennial General Synod, July 1-5, at the Tampa Convention Center.

As the main business of the gathering, delegates to the General Synod will deliberate and vote on resolutions that guide the church, a budget for the mission of the church’s national ministries, the election of three national officers, and nominations of new members to boards of the UCC’s governing boards.

One of the more significant item proposals is the ratification of a seven-year process that will lead to the full recognition of baptisms between the UCC and the Roman Catholic Church.

The conference includes more than 50 speakers and workshops focused on the conference’s theme “Imagine What’s Possible” in areas of technology, money, arts, leadership, spirituality and worship, justice, technology and youth ministry, among others.

The Rev. Bernice Powell Jackson, pastor of First United Church of Christ in Tampa, will receive the Antoinette Brown Award on July 4.  Named in recognition of the first woman ordained into Christian ministry, Antoinette Brown Award recipients demonstrate outstanding ministries of courage and faithfulness with an emphasis on justice, especially justice for women.

Hosted by the Florida’s 97 UCC churches, the event brings together delegates and visitors from the UCC’s 5,300 U.S. congregations, as well as ecumenical guests from around the world, under the theme of “Imagine What’s Possible. God is Still Speaking.” 

The UCC’s more famous members include Barack and Michelle Obama, who were members of the UCC’s largest congregation, Trinity UCC in Chicago, for over 20 years. Former U.S. Senator Bob Graham of Florida also is a lifelong member of Miami Lakes (Fla.) United Church of Christ.

The 1.1-million-member United Church of Christ is the largest Protestant denomination in New England. The largely northern, profession church is  known for ordaining the first African-American minister, the first woman minister and first openly gay minister.

A full list of event and informational items can be found at ucc.org/synod.

An introduction to the United Church of Christ in Florida is available at ucc.org/fla.

President Barack Obama’s eloquent speech following the shootings in Tuscon created some buzz about his abilities as an orator that had been missing since his election in 2008. Religion News Service writer Daniel Burke writes:

Expecting a speech, Americans instead heard a sermon.

Drawing on Scripture, theology, and the rising rhythms of black preaching, President Obama was more pastor than politician at Wednesday’s (Jan. 12) memorial service for the victims of last week’s shooting in Arizona.It was an aspect of Obama that galvanized his 2008 campaign, but had scarcely emerged since he entered the White House, according to some observers.

“I was glad to see it back,” said Martha Simmons, co-editor of “Preaching with Sacred Fire,” an anthology of African-American sermons. “I had missed that in his speeches over the last two years.”

Read the entire story here: http://www.religionnews.com/index.php?/rnstext/obama_eulogies_invokes_spirit_of_black_church_niebuhr/

From The Associated Press:

BALTIMORE — New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan was elected Tuesday to be president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in an upset victory over an Arizona vice president with a moderate style who had been widely expected to win.

It is the first time since the 1960s that a sitting vice president was on the ballot for conference president and lost. The outcome is the latest sign that the American bishops — divided over how best to uphold Roman Catholic orthodoxy — favor a more aggressive approach.

Dolan received 54 percent of the vote to 46 percent for Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz., on the third round of balloting. Kicanas has served as vice president for the last three years. Kicanas’ spokesman planned to make a statement later Tuesday.

The vote came at the annual fall meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Chicago Cardinal Francis George finishes his three-year term as president this week. The newly elected vice president is Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., who defeated Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput, 62 percent to 38 percent. Both vice presidential candidates are outspoken in defending church teaching.

“This is an indication that bishops are going to continue to be leaders in the culture wars,” said the Rev. Thomas Reese, author of a book on the American bishops and senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

In Arizona, Kicanas had urged Catholic voters to ban gay marriage and joined anti-abortion rallies and events. However, he took a more conciliatory approach in some of the controversies that have polarized Catholics in recent years.

He has not denied Communion to any Catholic politicians and rejected calls to punish the president of the University of Notre Dame for honoring President Barack Obama, who supports abortion rights. Kicanas instead urged bishops and Catholic university presidents to start a discussion about their differences.

Dolan also does not outright deny the sacrament to dissenting Catholic lawmakers, but he is seen as a stricter defender of church orthodoxy in a style favored by many theological conservatives. By contrast, Kicanas was pilloried in the days leading up to the vote by right-wing Catholic bloggers, who urged readers to send protest faxes and leave messages for bishops at the hotel where they are meeting.

Dolan, 60, was installed as archbishop of New York just last year, after leading the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Born in St. Louis, he was ordained in 1976. In 1985, he earned a doctorate in church history from Catholic University.

After working as a parish priest and professor, Dolan spent seven years as rector of the North American College in Rome, considered the West Point for U.S. priests, where he had studied for his own ordination. He is considered a talented public speaker and is very popular among his fellow bishops and priests.

At a time when the political rhetoric has become loud, shrill and mean, and the two major political parties seem farther apart than ever, the Washington National Cathedral is hosting tonight, from 7:30 p.m.-9:15 p.m., a discussion on how to restore civility to the political discourse, featuring David Axelrod, senior advisor to President Barack Obama, and Joshua Bolten, chief of staff to former President George W. Bush.

The discussion is moderated by Bob Schieffer of CBS News.

Live webcast available at: www.nationalcathedral.org »

Gainesville pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center said this afternoon that he will not burn copies of the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam.

Groups from around the world and politicians and faith leaders as varied as Pope Benedict XVI, President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and General David Petraeus all had urged Jones to call off his book burning event, which had been scheduled for Sept. 11, the ninth anniversary of the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center by Islamic extremists.

Islam is the world’s second-largest faith.

In an interview with CNN’s John King, Franklin Graham gave his opinion about the growing misperception that President Barack Obama is a Muslim.

KING:  Do you, sir, have any doubts about this president’s Christian faith? 

GRAHAM:  Well, first of all, I think the president’s problem is he was born a Muslim.  The seed is passed through the father.  He was born a Muslim.  His father was a Muslim, the seed of Muslim 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. 

Now, it’s obvious that the president has renounced the Prophet Muhammad and he has renounced Islam and he has accepted Jesus Christ.  That’s what he has said he has done.  I cannot say that he hasn’t, so I just have to believe the president is what he has said. 

But the confusion is because his father is a Muslim, he was born a Muslim.  The Islamic world sees the president as one of theirs, that’s why Qaddafi calls him his son.  They see him as a Muslim.

But, of course, the president says he is a Christian and we just have to accept it as that.

View the entire interview here: Graham: Obama born a Muslim, now a Christian

A growing number of Republicans and independents believe President Barack Obama is a Muslim, according to a new national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

The survey found that 18 percent of Americans say Obama is a Muslim, up from 11 percent in March 2009. Only 34 percent believe Obama is a Christian, down form 48 percent a year ago. Nearly half — 48 percent — say they don’t know what Obama’s religion is.

The report says the belief that Obama is a Muslim has increased most sharply among Republicans (up 14 points since 2009), especially conservative Republicans (up 16 points). But the number of independents who say Obama is a Muslim has also increased significantly (up eight points). There has been little change in the number of Democrats who say Obama is a Muslim, but fewer Democrats today say he is a Christian (down nine points since 2009).

The survey was conducted before Obama became embroiled in the contoversy over plans to build a Muslim cultural center near the site of Ground Zero in New York City.