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Obama administration responds to Hebdo attack by vowing to fight Islamophobia

2 Comments Posted by angelforisrael on 2015-01-09

The Examiner
By Joe Newby | 8 Jan 2015

Obama administration thinks its job is to promote Islam.
Alex Wong/Getty Images

The civilized world is still reeling from Wednesday’s brutal attack against the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo by gunmen seeking revenge for cartoons attacking Islam. Nevertheless, Breitbart.com reported Thursday, the White House announced it would make fighting Islamophobia a priority.

“Never mind that most Westerners aren’t Islamophobic, but rather GettingShotInTheFaceForExpressingMyOpinion-Phobic,” Ben Shapiro wrote. Speaking with reporters, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the real problem is lack of leadership in defending Islam.

“There are some individuals that are using a peaceful religion and grossly distorting it, and trying to use its tenets to inspire people around the globe to carry out acts of violence,” he said. “And we have enjoyed significant success in enlisting leaders in the Muslim community, like I said, both in the United States and around the world to condemn that kind of messaging, to condemn those efforts to radicalize individuals, and to be clear about what the tenets of Islam actually are. And we’re going to redouble those efforts in the days and weeks ahead.”

In other words, the White House now thinks part of its job is to defend Islam and teach Americans what it really believes. The stunning comment came in response to a question from a reporter who asked if the administration is concerned about a similar attack happening in the U.S. and if any plans are in place to raise threat levels in response to the attack.

“And obviously, we’re still trying to figure out exactly, like I said, who’s responsible for this attack in Paris, what their motivations are,” Earnest added. “But as a general matter, we’re very mindful of the threat from foreign fighters and the threat — and the need to try to counter some of the extremist ideology that ISIL is propagating, using some pretty sophisticated social media strategies.”

Shapiro said this is not the first time the Obama administration has decided its job is to promote Islam. He documented five other times the administration has decided to “explain to the world the true meaning of Islam.”

“My job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives,” Obama told Al-Arabiya shortly after taking the reins in 2009. “My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy.” Shapiro noted that Article II of the Constitution does not give Obama authority to perform such an outreach on the behalf of one particular religion.

“So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed,” Obama said at Cairo University on June 4, 2009. “That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn’t. And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.”

In 2010, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told Al-Jazeera the agency’s mission would include outreach to Muslims in order to help them “feel good about their historic contribution to science, math and engineering.” As we reported in 2012, Obama condemned a filmmaker in the wake of the Benghazi attack and angered many when he said “the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.”

“If you forgot the provision of the First Amendment to the Constitution that gives the president of the United States the authority to officially criticize exercise of First Amendment rights under color of authority, that’s because it doesn’t exist,” Shapiro added. “But don’t worry: Obama’s on the job.”

In 2014, Secretary of State John Kerry said his department “has to start major efforts to delegitimize ISIS’s claim to some religious foundation for what it’s doing and begin to put real Islam out there and draw lines throughout the region.” Shapiro noted that statement appears to violate the idea of separation of church and state, something liberals routinely use to silence any expression of Christianity.

Shapiro said that while the administration seeks to advance what it believes is “pure Islam,” it does so out of ignorance. He quoted Egyptian General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, who recently called for a “religious revolution” in the Muslim world.

“I say and repeat, again, that we are in need of a religious revolution,” Shapiro quoted the general as saying. “You imams are responsible before Allah. The entire world is waiting on you. The entire world is waiting for your word … because the Islamic world is being torn, it is being destroyed, it is being lost. And it is being lost by our own hands….It’s inconceivable that the thinking that we hold most sacred should cause the entire Islamic world to be a source of anxiety, danger, killing and destruction for the rest of the world. Impossible that this thinking — and I am not saying the religion — I am saying this thinking. This is antagonizing the entire world. It’s antagonizing the entire world! Does this mean that 1.6 billion people (Muslims) should want to kill the rest of the world’s inhabitants — that is 7 billion — so that they themselves may live? Impossible!”

http://www.examiner.com/article/obama-administration-responds-to-hebdo-attack-by-vowing-to-fight-islamophobia

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