Obama Decries ‘Inexcusable Political Rhetoric’ Against Muslims During Mosque Visit

The US president said there was a warped image of Islam in the country and encouraged members of the faith to speak out against terror. “But on top of that, as Muslim Americans, you also have another concern – and that is your entire community so often is targeted or blamed for the violent acts of the very few”.

The president condemned anti-Muslim rhetoric, such as proposals by Republican presidential candidates to prohibit Muslims from entering the United States and calls to subject American mosques to government surveillance. There has been a documented increase in hate crimes against Muslims in the US since the Paris and San Bernardino attacks, while politicians have fiercely debated USA policy to accept Syrian refugees, who are mostly Muslim.

President Obama met with Muslim-American leaders from around the country at the Islamic Society of Baltimore Wednesday.

Overall though, half of all Americans want the next president not to denounce Islam as a whole when talking about Islamic extremism. Children need to see themselves, and they need to see representations of the people and stories around them. “It can’t be just a burden on the Muslim community, although the Muslim community has to play a role”.

Rumors about Obama being a crypto-Muslim – he identifies as Christian – have persisted since his first presidential run in 2008, McCaw noted.

“When politicians insult Muslims, whether overseas or our fellow citizens, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid is called names, that doesn’t make us safer”. “We are one American family”.

At a New Hampshire townhall, Rubio – who had an impressive performance during the Iowa Caucus this week – said the mosque visit was yet another example of Obama dividing the country.

A majority of those polled by Pew said U.S. Muslims face a lot of discrimination: 59 percent agreed with that statement, and even more, 76 percent, said that discrimination against Muslims is on the rise. “I am in good company”.

In his final State of the Union address last month, Obama asked Americans to reject any politics that target people because of race or religion.

The president, who is Christian, went on to urge people who had never been to a mosque to think of it as similar to their own houses of worship. “Muslim Americans are some of the most resilient and patriotic Americans you’ll ever meet”, he said.

Before Obama’s remarks, a man and woman did a recitation from the Quran, then an honor guard of two boys and two girls carried the American and Maryland state flags into the mosque.