Bush: Obama speaking at mosque is ‘more than appropriate’

In his first visit to a mosque in the US, Obama yesterday referred to the recent political rhetoric against Muslims in the country, where Christians are in majority, and said Americans can not be silent bystanders to bigotry against any faith.

Real-estate mogul Donald Trump said on Wednesday that President Barack Obama may have visited a Maryland mosque because “he feels comfortable there”.

In his 45-minute speech at the Islamic Society in Baltimore, President Obama emphasized how Muslims fit into the fabric of American society just like any other ethnic group. Why do people treat us like this?’ Conversations you shouldn’t have to have with children. “We have to reject a politics that seeks to manipulate prejudice or bias, and targets people because of religion“. “Always pitting people against each other”, Rubio alleged. It’s hurting our country badly”, Rubio said. “We can disagree on things, right?

Later during a speech at Republican Jewish Coalition, Trump asked Obama why he is still not using the word “Radical Islamic Terrorism“. “We have a lot of problems in this country, Greta, there are a lot of places he can go, and he chose a mosque”. After last year’s multiple terrorist attacks, France shut down several mosques on the suspicion that they were radicalizing attending Muslims, a trend in Europe that hasn’t spread widely in the United States. He has no idea what hit him, but he knows this: When you say something nice about Barack Obama, as a 2016 Republican, it’s all over.

During his speech, Obama also called upon the various religions to find common ground and asserted that Christianity and Islam share a common history.

Attempts to cast Muslim Americans in roles unrelated to national security have been historically rare. But the fact that one of the world’s major faiths has become so toxic, as an element in American public discourse, that the contamination reached the daily strategic planning of the Obama White House, however indirectly, is remarkable. “I said, ‘Really? I didn’t know that”.

In his speech at the Islamic Center, Obama spoke about threats Muslim Americans have faced. “But the bigger issue is radical Islam”, Rubio said.

Obama also pointed to the historicity of American mosques dating back to the 1800’s, and said that some thought Thomas Jefferson was a Muslim, so Obama is not the first president to be accused of following Islam.

Trump has drawn controversy in the past for suggesting Obama might be a Muslim who was born in Kenya – even though the president identifies as a Christian and records show he was born in Hawaii. The supposedly more mainstream Marco Rubio has gone so far as to decry Obama’s efforts to address discrimination against Muslims, with the Florida senator calling it “cynicism” for the president “to spend a significant amount of time talking about discrimination against Muslims”.

A survey says a large number of Muslims consider rising Islamophobia as most important issue in the upcoming elections.