Newsweek’s Ellis Cose ponders the controversy surrounding Barack Obama’s past connections with Islam and concludes that Americans “haven’t fully accepted the notion that all religions should have equal access to the Oval Office.”

The assumption is that to the extent Obama can be made out to be a Muslim, his presidential prospects will wither. It is an assumption Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, finds troubling. “It’s strange to acknowledge that calling someone a Muslim is a smear,” he says.

In his analysis, Cose alleges that religion is the new race card, and notes that the Obama-Muslim controversy has highlighted the need for “intelligent discussion of religious bigotry—of whether religion actually makes a difference in how one governs, and of whether America’s growing religious diversity will somehow change the political character of this nation.” What’s your take on Cose’s analysis?