Aanestad: Obama raised as a Muslim

Former state Sen. Sam Aanestad, a candidate for the retiring Rep. Wally Herger's seat, has said twice in the past week he believes President Obama was raised as a Muslim.

From the AP via the San Francisco Chronicle:

The Chico Enterprise-Record (http://bit.ly/JfHKrA ) reported Thursday that former state Sen. Sam Aanestad made the comments during an interview with Chico radio station KZFR last week.

The Grass Valley politician said Obama may be a Christian now, but his father was a Muslim and he was raised in a Muslim culture.

Aanestad repeated the claims about the president's religion at a press conference Monday.

Obama has written that by the time he was born, his father had become an atheist. His father divorced his mother when he was 2, and he rarely saw his father when he was growing up.