From the AP by way of CNN.com:

Mayor Jack Ellis has converted to Islam and is working to change his legal name to Hakim Mansour Ellis.

Ellis, 61, a Macon native who was raised Christian, said he became a Sunni Muslim during a December ceremony in the west African nation of Senegal.

I realize this isn’t Atlanta-specific, but Macon is just a brief trip down 75 and this is fairly big news for the state.

Only recently, Keith Ellison became the first Muslim elected to Congress, so a practicing Muslim holding a public office seems noteworthy. Additionally, I don’t know if there’s a ton of precedents for politicians changing religions while in office, but this caught my eye.

Now Macon isn’t as big a city on the national or international stage as Atlanta is, but the news got me thinking: what if the mayor of another city, like our own Shirley Franklin, made a similar conversion? What would the reaction of the populace and the punditocracy be?

For what it’s worth, religion really isn’t a major factor in who I do or don’t vote for, but this being “the South”/”the Bible belt” I can see this story dominating news cycles throughout the weekend.

So I’ll leave my earlier questions above for the commenters but also ask this: when (if ever) is a person’s religion a factor in their ability to serve their city/state/country in a position of authority within the government?

The topic has already hit the blogosphere. What do you think?