The Associated Press was forced to issue the following correction today:

In a March 5 story about the Kenyan family of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama, The Associated Press reported erroneously that his step-grandmother is a Christian. She is a Muslim, according to the family.

There has been much confusion lately in the press about which members of Obama’s family are actually Muslim. Obama, apparently sensitive to being labeled Muslim, has said several times that he is Christian, although it is widely believed that his biological father is Muslim.

Why the Associated Press assumed Obama’s grandma, Sarah Onyango Obama, is Christian is not known at this point.

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In his latest campaign ad, GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee appears in front of an ichthys, or an ancient religious symbol resembling a fish, which is well-known in evangelical circles as the symbol used by early Christians to secretly identify one another without attracting persecution.

In his pre-Christmas campaign spot, the former Arkansas governor drew mixed blessings when he appeared in front of a bookshelf that was spotlighted to purposely look like a cross.

“The purpose of these ads is to highlight the things that truly matter — while underscoring my conservative record of leadership and my vision for America moving forward,” Huckabee said in a news release on Tuesday. “As we enter the closing days of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, there are a lot of things being said on television and sent to mailboxes across the Hawkeye State. I urge Iowans to look beyond the rhetoric and seek the truth about my record and optimistic plans for our nation’s future.”

And, apparently, behind the rhetoric lies only Christian symbolism.

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For the first time in recent memory, the White House has sent out an Old Testament religious quote (Nehemiah 9:6) within the First Family’s official Christmas card:

“You alone are the LORD. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down before You.”

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GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney may say he’s a proud Mormon, but not proud enough to wear Mormon undergarments, according to a snoopy bathroom reporter from one of the nation’s leading newspapers.

Many in the Mormon Church choose to wear what they call temple garments, a set of underclothing traditionally worn by adults who have taken part in a ritual ceremony known as washing and anointing ordinance. The underwear is supposed to be worn regularly, and is held as sacred.

Today’s Baltimore Sun pokes fun at the tradition in an article titled, “I See Utah, I See France,” which details a time when a reporter from the paper visited Romney at his personal residence in Utah during the 2002 Olympics.

Said reporter happened to use his private bathroom and noticed a pair of underwear hanging on the back of the door as she reached for the knob to leave. They were male underwear, size 34, and were made by Fruit of the Loom.

Romney’s refused to address the issue in the past, so the paper ran the story by a campaign spokeswoman, apparently in an effort to determine whether he really doesn’t wear Mormon underwear. She was not amused, and did not comment.

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Lawrence O’Donnell, an MSNBC political pundit, has already taken a lot of heat for calling Mormonism “demented, Scientology-like” and rooted in racism, and now he’s taking on the Islamic faith, too. In a recent interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, O’Donnell bashed the religion as follows:

HH: Would you say the same things about Mohammed as you just said about Joseph Smith?LO: Oh, well, I’m afraid of what the…that’s where I’m really afraid. I would like to criticize Islam much more than I do publicly, but I’m afraid for my life if I do.

HH: Well, that’s candid.

LO: Mormons are the nicest people in the world. They’re not going to ever…

HH: So you can be bigoted towards Mormons, because they’ll just send you a strudel.

LO: They’ll never take a shot at me. Those other people, I’m not going to say a word about them.

HH: They’ll send you a strudel. The Mormons will bake you a cake and be nice to you.

LO: I agree.

What’s up with O’Donnell lately? Does he have a book coming out, or something? Has he made some sort of publicity pact with Ann Coulter?

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GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has long said that he thought it was up to Mitt Romney to explain his beliefs about Mormonism, but now Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist Minister, is raising questions about the religion that some are pundits are already calling a racist cult.

According to an article to be published in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, Huckabee asks the following question after saying he believes Mormonism is a religion but doesn’t know much about it: “Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?”

A spokeswoman for the Church of Latter-day Saints told the AP that Huckabee’s question is usually “raised by those who wish to smear the Mormon faith rather than clarify doctrine.”

“We believe, as other Christians believe and as Paul wrote, that God is the father of all,” said the spokeswoman, Kim Farah. “That means that all beings were created by God and are his spirit children. Christ, on the other hand, was the only begotten in the flesh and we worship him as the son of God and the savior of mankind. Satan is the exact opposite of who Christ is and what he stands for.”

Earlier: Mitt Romney Did Not Mention Angel Moroni

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Lawrence O’Donnell, a liberal commentator, says Mormonism is “demented, Scientology-like” and is rooted in racism. Pat Buchanan defends Mormonism by noting that his Christian great grandfather “had slaves.”

Earlier: Mitt Romney Did Not Mention Angel Moroni

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Deborah Howell, Post ombudsman, weighed in over the weekend on a recent article in her paper that apparently caused confusion that Barack Obama was somehow a Muslim, or somehow has Muslim ties (Obama’s Kenyan grandfather was a Muslim).

Howell said the article needed a better news peg, and should have included “convincing evidence” the falsity of the alleged Obama / Muslim ties.

In a move that has riled critics in the liberal blogosphere especially, Howell did not denounce the article. “[T]here was no deliberate ’smear job,’ as some readers charged,” she wrote. “The story said clearly in the second paragraph that Obama is a member of a United Church of Christ congregation in Chicago.”

Big Head DC has reported previously that questions about the WaPo article were deliberately raised by the Politico in an effort to undermine the Post, a former employer of two top editors at the Politico.

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During his unusual speech about his Mormon religion today, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney failed to mention the significance of the Angel Moroni within his faith. He did mention the Christian son of God.

“I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and the savior of mankind,” Romney said. “We should acknowledge the creator…”

According to historical and religious texts, the Angel Moroni is an angel that a man named Joseph Smith Jr. said visited him on numerous occasions, beginning on September 23, 1823. The angel, it is said, was the guardian of the golden plates, which Smith said were buried in a hill near his home in western New York, and which he said were the source material for the Book of Mormon. Others beside Smith said they saw Moroni in later visions.

Why Romney did not mention the Angel Moroni is unknown. He did say that he strongly believes in his Mormon faith, and thus his belief in the Angel Moroni must be so. Today, the Angel Moroni has become a crucial figure in the Latter Day Saint religion, and is featured prominently in Mormon architecture and art. Read more…

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“Arizona senator John McCain’s mother was forced to retract a statement she made Friday about Mitt Romney, a rival for her son’s presidential aspirations,” Radar reports. “Appearing on MSNBC, Mom McCain blamed ‘the Mormons’ for the scandals surrounding the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.”

Now, the only question remains: Is Mother McCain crazier than daughter Meghan is sexy?

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