Religious freedom as practised in the White House

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2017
Religious freedom as practised in the White House

Re: “Redressing the legacy of Obama is a huge task”, Letters, February 13.

The writer states, falsely, that a private mosque has been discovered in the confines of the White House. I wonder what it looks like. Maybe like the one at Woking in England, Britain’s first mosque.
In fact an Ahmadi Muslim, Qasim Rashid, made a call to prayer from a special prayer room in the White House last year. Rashid said later that, as a member of the Ahmadi community, he would not be allowed to do the same in his native Pakistan. “This ‘rebellious’ act would have gotten me arrested and imprisoned in Pakistan, with up to the death penalty as punishment.
“But in my adopted nation of America, I am a full citizen with full rights and full religious freedom. So much so that I can proclaim the Islamic call to prayer from the White House itself, and do so without fear.” He and others from the community were invited to a White House reception to celebrate Eid al-Fitr.
In fact it is no secret where President Obama worshipped during his presidency – at the Evergreen Chapel near Camp David. On questions of religion, however, we await to see whether the present Presbyterian incumbent will indeed move the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I somehow doubt it.
Meanwhile at the White House, I wonder whether Barack’s copy of  “A Jefferson Bible for the Twenty-first Century” has been found. A book Mr JC Wilcox may well find a good read.
Ian Martin
Bangkok