President Barack Obama has pledged to preserve religious freedom in the United States, as he declared that last Sunday’s violent attack on a Sikh Gurdawara in Wisconsin had no place in America.
Speaking at an Iftar dinner, he hosted at the White House, Obama also strongly defended Huma Abedin, an American of Pakistani descent and a key aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in the wake of some Republican lawmakers’ casting aspersions on her background links. Citing the contributions of Muslims to America’s development, Obama noted in his remarks that Muslim Americans strengthen the country every single day. “This is the diversity that makes us Americans; the pluralism that we will never lose,” he stated.
“And at times, we have to admit that this spirit is threatened. We’ve seen instances of mosques and synagogues, churches and temples being targeted,” he said, addressing the gathering that included American Muslim legislators Keith Ellison and Andre Carson
and diplomats from Islamic countries. Obama termed the attack on the Sikh temple as an assault on religious freedom. Obama spoke after thousands of mourners paid their final respects Friday to six worshippers gunned down by a white supremacist for reasons that authorities say may never become clear.
At the Iftar dinner, the fourth of his presidency, Obama said:
“So tonight, we declare with one voice that such violence has no place in the United States of America. The attack on Americans of any faith is an attack on the freedom of all Americans.”
He particularly highlighted the contributions of Huma Abiden, who is a born American to an Indian father and a Pakistani mother. Republican lawmaker Michele Bachmann of Minnesota recently alleged that Abedin had ties to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. However, top US senator John McCain severely criticized his fellow Republicans’ attack on Ms Abedin.
In his remarks Obama said the American Muslims are entrepreneurs and lawyers, community leaders, members of U.S military, and Muslim American women serving with distinction in government.
“ And that includes a good friend, Huma Abedin, who has worked tirelessly in the White House, in the US Senate, and most exhaustingly, at the State Department, where she has been nothing less than extraordinary in representing our country and the democratic values that we hold dear. Senator Clinton has relied on her expertise, and so have I.”
