Obama Muslim? U.S 2008

During the elections 2008 in the U.S there was this rumour about Obama being a muslim. People paid much attention to this rumour. It started already in 2004 but during the elections 2008 during the general election phase it could be read everywhere. There was a high presence of it in the media as well as in the minds of the people. It never fully disappeared throughout the election and about 30% of the religion-related campaigns covered this topic.
After this rumour most people paid attention to the Obama's campaign's efforts to set the record straight. Two women wearing head scarves were removed by staff members from the camera view at a campaign rally in order to get rid of the belief about Obama being a muslim.

Furthermore did they set up a website to help people identify and root out inaccuracies about the candidate's religious believes.

This rumour shows how much people pay attention to religion in the USA especially during the elections and how political careers could possibly be ruined by such rumours as well, because people tend to believe them and care about them a lot, too.