Obama Makes Historic Visit In Maryland Mosque
President Barack Obama made a bold step of reaching out to American Muslims in his first ever visit to a mosque at a time when Islam has increasingly become an object of fear and hatred in the United States- a sensitive issue that divides Americans on both sides of the political fence.
In his speech at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, Obama blasted GOP candidates for raising a feisty "inexcusable political rhetoric against Muslim-Americans". His remarks were seen as an attempt to rescue America's embattled Muslims from an unfair and often unjust perception brought about by religious hijacking from violent and militant Islamic radicals like ISIS.
"[I]f we're serious about freedom of religion...we have to understand an attack on one faith is an attack on all our faiths...And when any religious group is targeted, we all have a responsibility to speak up. And we have to reject a politics that seeks to manipulate prejudice or bias, and targets people because of religion," explained Obama as quoted saying by MSNBC.
The President strongly added a message of social inclusion- a reminder about Muslim Americans being an essential part of the fabric of America.
"Let me say as clearly as I can as president of the United States: you fit right here. You're right where you belong. You're part of America too. You're not Muslim or American. You're Muslim and American," said Obama as mentioned in a report by CNN.
Despite Obama's attempt to rally Americans against the infuriating anti-Muslim rhetoric of Republican candidates, GOP presidential hopefuls threw shots at the President's first mosque visit. Marco Rubio, for instance, described it as "constant pitting people against each other". Trump, the most vocal critic of what he perceived as violent Islam, called the visit as highly inappropriate.
According to an article penned for the Washington Post, 63% of "GOP voters are significantly more suspicious of how violent a religion Islam is" citing a recent Pew poll making it quite easy for Trump to call on supporters to back his controversial plan to ban the entry of Muslim immigrants.
