Obama Reaffirms Religious Liberty in First Visit to US Mosque

For the first time during his presidency, President Obama visited an American mosque in Baltimore, focusing on the importance of religious freedom and acceptance in the us and on anti-Muslim rhetoric. Two months later, he took fire after he did not correct a questioner at a New Hampshire town hall who said Obama is Muslim.

In an interview with Radio Sputnik’s “Loud & Clear”, McCaw said Obama’s visit was “something that communicates from the administration to the American public that yes, Muslims are our neighbors, they contribute to this nation, they are one of us”. “We have to reject a politics that seeks to manipulate prejudice or bias and targets people because of religion”, Obama said.

Speaking at the Islamic Society of Baltimore mosque on Wednesday on, Barack Obama described any attack on a single faith as “an attack on all our faiths”. He also acknowledged the “hugely distorted” negative view Muslim Americans have had to endure with the rise of terrorism-related violence by Islamist extremists.

Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane, reporting from Baltimore, said Obama’s critics in the Muslim community have called the visit as “too little, too late”. Many criticized Obama for waiting until his previous year to make the visit by using the #TooLateObama. “Oh, you know, basically implying that America is discriminating against Muslims”.

The poll said 50 percent of respondents think Obama’s successor “should be careful not to criticize Islam as a whole” while 40 percent support frank talk “even if the statements are critical of Islam as a whole”.

“The very word Islam comes from “Salam” – peace”, he said.

Later, the president also called on better representation and diversity in television shows, saying that “it’s not that hard to do” to have Muslim characters on television in roles “unrelated to national security”.

Referring to former President George W. Bush’s visit to a mosque early in his presidency, Hilal noted, “If that’s our measure of having successfully engaged with the government, it’s an indication that we need massive political education. No surprise, then, that threats and harassment of Muslim-Americans have surged”, he said in a veiled jibe at Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump and others.