"My Muslim Faith"

Many of us may remember the story around Barack Obama's slip on national television when he said, "My Muslim faith"...in case you don't, watch it here.

As I read Deepa Kumar's book, I could not help remember the hype around this story and the sense of 'Ismamophobia' in so many people. In reflecting, it seems like a simple human error; he looked like he was formulating his previous thought before he finished his current one. He defends this slip in religious identification by claiming this is what the McCain campaign would say. I cannot help but wonder if the same defense would have been necessary if he would have said, "My Jewish faith". With that aside, what I find most interesting about this story is people's obsession what he "dare didn't say" and later on how he chose to defend himself. (Below)

“Let’s make clear what the facts are: I am a Christian. I have been sworn in with a Bible. I pledge allegiance [to the American flag] and lead the Pledge of Allegiance sometimes in the United States Senate when I’m presiding,”

While I think it was entirely appropriate to clear up his religious identification as a Christian to defend his slip of tongue, what I think demonstrates Kumar's claim of Islamophobia is in the latter part of his quote. Did he need to go as far to say that he pledges allegiance to the American flag. For the people in our country that have this fear  (i.e. Islamophobia)-- he probably did, but isn't he only reinforcing the negative connotation around the world Muslim by doing so. For instance, there is no Muslim that would also pledge allegiance to the flag. The final question is... If it was any other religion that he said, would the 'story' have been so big? Unfortunately, Islamophobia "shines" once again as the headliner.