Carney counters Graham on Obama's faith

NEW YORK, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Evangelist Franklin Graham refused to say President Barack Obama is definitely a Christian during an appearance Tuesday on a U.S. television talk show.

Graham, son of Billy Graham and head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, appeared on "Morning Joe" on MSNBC.

"You have to ask President Obama," Graham said. "People have to ask Barack Obama. He's come out saying he's a Christian, so I think the question is, 'What is a Christian?'"

Graham called Obama a "nice man" and his wife a "class act." But then he said he has "no idea" of Obama's real beliefs, the New York Daily News reported.

Obama spokesman Jay Carney sloughed off Graham's comments when asked about them during his daily briefing with reporters.

"... I did meet with the president this morning for about 45 minutes, and amazingly he didn't bring this up," Carney said. 'Because he was actually talking about policy issues that he believes are the most important things he can do and he can focus on as president."

Carney said "the most important things to the vast majority of the American people" are bread-and-butter issues such as "paying the rent or mortgage, sending your kids to school, [and] making ends meet" are of "vastly greater significance to most Americans than someone's opinion expressed on cable television about his [Obama's] -- his personal faith, which again he has spoken about explicitly, as recently as a few weeks ago at the National Prayer Service."

Graham was much more definitive in describing the faith of Rick Santorum, who has recently emerged as a top contender in the Republican presidential field. Asked if Santorum is a Christian, Graham responded "I think so."

"No question about it. I just appreciate the moral stand he takes on things," Graham said. "I believe that he is. He comes from a Catholic faith."

Graham said in another segment on the MSNBC program he believes Obama is more concerned with protecting Muslims than the Christians who have been killed by Muslims.

Carney said the same answer he gave about Graham applies to Santorum, who also has recently brought up Obama's faith.

"You guys can decide -- and your editors and your (TV show) bookers -- what's a story and what's not," Carney told reporters. "This president's focused on his job as president, getting this country moving in the right direction, ensuring that the recovery, which is under way, continues forward, that we continue the positive economic growth that we've had, that we continue the 23 straight months of private sector job growth that we've had, over 3.7 million jobs created, private sector jobs created in the last 23 months."