President Obama will make the first visit during his presidency to a U.S. mosque, the White House announced Saturday, part of the administration’s push to promote religious tolerance at a time when rhetoric linking Islam with terrorism is growing.
"I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction." - Barack Hussein Obama
When was the last time you ever heard of Barack Obama going to visit a Christian church to hold a roundtable on religious freedom? When was the first time? Why do people think Obama is a Muslim? For precisely this reason. He has no connection of any kind to the Christian church, never mentions Christianity in favorable terms, and at times outright trashes Christian values and traditions. But when he speaks of Islam, it is only ever with the most glowing speech and complimentary phraseology he can muster. If it walks like a duck...
On Wednesday, the
president will visit the
Islamic Society of Baltimore, a sprawling community center in the city’s western suburbs that serves thousands of people with a place of worship, a housing complex and schools,
according to its website. It is one of the Mid-Atlantic region’s largest Muslim centers and describes itself as aspiring “to be the anchor of a growing Muslim community with diverse backgrounds, democratically governed, relating to one another with inclusiveness and tolerance, and interacting with neighbors in an Islamic exemplary manner.”
Obama Compares Christian Crusades to Modern Day Radical Islam
The president is making the visit “to celebrate the contributions Muslim Americansmake to our nation and reaffirm the importance of religious freedom to our way of life,” a White House official wrote in an email Saturday. “The President believes that one of our nation’s greatest strengths is our rich diversity and the very idea that Americans of different faiths and backgrounds can thrive together – that we’re all part of the same American family. As the President has said, Muslim Americans are our friends, and neighbors; our co-workers, and sports heroes – and our men and women in uniform defending our country.”
"The sweetest sound I know is the Muslim call to prayer" - Barack Hussein Obama
At the Islamic Society, the president will hold a roundtable discussion with community members, the official said.
The visit will be part of the tightrope-walking Obama has done during his presidency around Islam.
For years, Muslim Americans have lobbied him to visit a mosque, citing Islamophobia. At the same time, a segment of Obama’s critics have said since he took office that he is a Muslim pretending to be Christian, and that he plays down the religious aspect of Muslim extremism. The visit comes in the last year of his presidency.
No comments:
Post a Comment