Barack Obama to make first visit to a US mosque

US president Barack Obama is visiting an American mosque for the first time, in a public show of support for the Muslim community. Mr Obama plans to hold talks with Muslim leaders at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, the White House announced. The visit will amount to a public embrace of Muslims by Mr Obama at a time when public sentiment against them seems to be growing, largely fuelled by fears of terrorist acts carried out by extremist groups. Mr Obama has largely put distance between himself and US Muslims, opting against feeding the rampant theories that he is a closet Muslim who was born in Kenya, the country of his late father's birth. He is American by virtue of his birth in Hawaii and has released his birth certificate as proof, and is also Christian, but segments of the US population still believe neither to be true. The visit will come during the final year of Mr Obama's two terms in office. He will go to the Baltimore mosque to "celebrate the contributions Muslim Americans make to our nation and reaffirm the importance of religious freedom to our way of life". In remarks to be delivered at the mosque, Mr Obama "will reiterate the importance of staying true to our...

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