{"id":6405,"date":"2016-02-04T09:14:39","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T09:14:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/?p=6405"},"modified":"2016-02-04T09:14:39","modified_gmt":"2016-02-04T09:14:39","slug":"obama-makes-first-trip-to-us-mosque","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/index.php\/obama-makes-first-trip-to-us-mosque\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama makes first trip to US mosque"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Obama\"<\/a>Seven years into his presidency, Barack Obama was scheduled to make his first trip to an American mosque on Wednesday, offering a symbolic rebuttal of harsh Republican election rhetoric against Muslims.
\nObama, whose grandfather converted to Islam, would make the short helicopter ride to the Islamic Society of Baltimore mosque, where he would meet community leaders and deliver remarks.
\nHe has visited mosques from Malaysia, to Indonesia and Egypt as president, but has yet to visit one America\u2019s 2,000-plus places of Islamic worship.
\nIn 2009, a freshly elected Obama traveled to the Egyptian capital to call for a \u201cnew beginning\u201d with the Muslim world.
\nMuch of Obama\u2019s foreign policy agenda has focused on improving ties with Muslim nations, from making a nuclear deal with Iran to improving ties with Indonesia and ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
\nBut the effort has been stymied by continued confrontation with militant groups and military strikes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
\nHis latest effort to ease intra-faith relations comes as a shrill election debate has sullied America\u2019s image abroad and militant attacks in San Bernardino and Philadelphia threatened to shatter post-9\/11 religious solidarity at home.
\nSix days after the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, then president George W. Bush visited the Islamic Center of Washington, declaring \u201cIslam is peace.\u201d
\nToday Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has wooed conservative voters by demanding a ban on Muslim immigrants, while frontrunner Ted Cruz has advocated Christian-only admissions and championed \u201cJudeo-Christian values.\u201d
\nThe White House is keen to offer a different image of America and draw a contrast between what it calls Republican\u2019s \u201cdivisive rhetoric\u201d and the country\u2019s secular tradition.
\nWhite House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama will \u201caffirm the important role that Muslim Americans play in our society\u201d and argue that \u201claw-abiding Americans should be able to worship God in the manner that they see fit.\u201d \u201cAnd they shouldn\u2019t be subject to ridicule or targeting by anybody, let alone somebody who aspires to leading the country,\u201d Earnest added.
\n\u201cWe have seen an alarming willingness on the part of some Republicans to try to marginalize law-abiding, patriotic Muslim Americans, and it is offensive.\u201d
\nObama is also likely to restate his case that groups like Islamic State pervert Islam and do not represent the vast majority of Muslims.
\nThe United States is home to around 3.3 million Muslims. Around 81 Muslim-Americans were involved in violent extremist plots in 2015, according to the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security.
\nBut Obama is also expected to call on Muslim leaders to help tackle radicalization.
\n\u201cWe know that there are extremist organizations like Daesh that are seeking to use social media to radicalize vulnerable members of the population,\u201d said Earnest.
\n\u201cCertainly the leaders in the Muslim community have a strong interest in preventing that from happening.\u201d \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n

<\/div>\r\n