I’m a Christian by choice. My family, frankly, they weren’t folks who went to church every week. My mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew but she didn’t raise me in the church, so I came to my Christian faith later in life and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead.

Being my brothers and sisters’ keeper, treating others as they would treat me, and I think also understanding that Jesus Christ dying for my sins spoke to the humility we all have to have as human beings, that we’re sinful and we’re flawed and we make mistakes and we achieve salvation through the grace of God.

But what we can do, as flawed as we are, is still see God in other people, and do our best to help them find their own grace. That’s what I strive to do, that’s what I pray to do every day.

President Obama's opponents enjoy taking aim at his religion, and have worked overtime to paint him as Muslim, which to many conservatives is worse than practicing no faith at all.

Though the Commander-in-Chief has tried and tried to convince people he's Christian, his efforts often fall flat: almost 20% of voters still think he practices Islam. Perhaps the President's unscripted reply in Albuquerque, New Mexico, will quiet some of his religious critics.

"Why are you a Christian?" asked a woman today, leading Obama, who's traveling around four Republican-leaning states, to answer, “I’m a Christian by choice."

He went on to explain, "I came to my Christian faith later in life and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead. Being my brothers and sisters’ keeper, treating others as they would treat me, and I think also understanding that Jesus Christ dying for my sins spoke to the humility we all have to have as human beings."

Of course, skeptics and cynics will likely suggest the White House planted this woman there to ask that very question. Because, you know, the administration doesn't have anything else to worry about…

Read Obama's entire reply, AFTER THE JUMP.