Crosstalk: February 5, 2016

Yesterday President Obama made his first known visit during his presidency to a U.S. mosque. In this case his visit was to the Islamic Center of Baltimore. In attendance was the honor guard made up of Muslim boy scouts who brought in the U.S. and Maryland flags before leading the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the recitation of the Qur'an. Should we be alarmed by this or is it simply another example of the free exercise of religion? Joining Jim to examine that question and much more was Usama Dakdok. Usama is the founder and director of the Straightway of Grace Ministry equipping Christians to be effective witnesses of Jesus Christ to their Muslim neighbors, as well as ministering to Muslims directly. Usama is Egyptian born. He studied Islam and Islamic law since a young age. Usama has translated the Qur'an into English. He's the speaker on the program, 'Revealing the Truth About Islam' which airs daily on VCY America. Jim presented information from The Daily Caller indicating that The Islamic Center of Baltimore 'has deep extremist ties' including the Muslim Brotherhood. It's a member of the network of mosques controlled by the Islamic Society of North America, a Muslim civil rights group named as the unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror case. The majority of the program featured Usama responding to numerous 'facts' from President Obama's nearly 45 minute speech given during his visit to the Islamic Center: --Islam has a message of peace. --Islam has roots in a commitment to compassion, mercy, justice and charity. --Islam has always been part of America. --Muslim-Americans are our neighbors, teachers, doctors, scientists, and entrepreneurs. --Muslim Americans keep us safe. They are part of our police, firefighters, homeland security and in our intelligence community. --The overwhelming majority of the world's Muslims embrace Islam as a source of peace. It is undeniable that a small fraction of Muslims propagate a perverted interpretation. --Groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIL are not the first extremists in history to misuse God's name. --We're all God's children; Christians, Jews and Muslims. Usama's responses to these statements from President Obama underscore earlier comments where Usama described how the only people that have benefited from 9-11 are the Muslims. Why? They killed 3,000 Americans yet have become the victims of the attack while at the same time they build large numbers of houses of worship and are allowed into America as students and refugees in ever greater numbers.