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Religion, and Islam, Up Front and Center in Pres. Obama’s Last State of the Union Address

Religion, and Islam, Up Front and Center in Pres. Obama’s Last State of the Union Address

Last updated on: January 12, 2016 at 4:39 pm by Dilshad Ali

Religion, and Islam, Up Front and Center in Pres. Obama’s Last State of the Union Address 2016-01-12T16:39:12-04:00 Dilshad Ali

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President Barack Obama delivers the State of The Union address on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Photo courtesy White House stock footage.

He’s got nothing left to prove, nothing left to lose. I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to hearing what President Obama has to say in his very last State of the Union Address. And, judging from the line of VIP and other guests, religion will be up front and center.

Two employees of CAIR (Council on Islamic-American Relations), an organization viewed with suspicion by the government in the past, will be there at the invitation of lawmakers This is pretty huge. Writes CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab on Facebook:

CAIR has long been respected in the communities it serves, the media and journalism community, and by local governments, but politicians on the national level, queasy by design, have been the slowest to embrace the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization.

Some politicians over the years, particularly from the right, have falsely accused CAIR of being “hamas-linked” and/or “terrorism linked,” laughably baseless claims that have left CAIR personnel with hearty chuckles around the water coolers from Chicago to Phoenix.

CAIR chapters have traditionally been intensely grassroots, stringently scoped, and effective as such and it is no surprise that the two invitees come from the field: Sameena Usman from California and Nezar Hamze (also serving as an active Sheriff) from Florida.

Here is to more success and recognition of Muslim Americans and their representative agencies as equal shareholders in this country’s past, present and future – and shame on the fearmongers, hatemongers and liemongers who invest time effort and money in an attempt to slow or even halt that process. You are anti-American.

Presidential hopeful (and anti-Muslim proclaimer) Ben Carson has raised concern over the invitation of Usman and Hamze, calling for an investigation into why they were invited:

“Let’s go ahead and investigate the thing,” he said. “Let’s not be giving them access to the ability to further carry on what they call a civilization jihad, and to change us from a Judeo-Christian foundation to a Muslim foundation. We have got to be smarter than that.”

Yeah, right.

Also on deck is controversial figure Kim Davis, who made news last year after same-sex marriage became legal in all 50 states after a historic Supreme Court Ruling. She refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, saying it violated her religious beliefs. According to the International Business Times, the Family Research Council, a “social conservative, anti-gay activist group,” has arranged for Davis and her lawyer to attend the address, “though it is unclear which lawmaker is responsible for providing the seats.

Of course, Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff in the Supreme Court that legalized gay marriage, will also be there as a guest of the president.

Two other guests to note, according to the IBT:

Dr. Mohammed Qureshi, Muslim doctor whose mosque was shot in a hate crime

Qureshi is the president of Baitul Aman Mosque in Meriden, Connecticut, which was shot at shortly after the Nov. 13 Paris terrorist attacks. A local resident named Ted Hackey Jr. fired several rounds of bullets from his semi-automatic rifle in his yard — aiming some in the direction of the mosque next door. His Facebook page featured hateful rants like “All Muslims must die!” Qureshi, who is a guest of Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., said he wished he had introduced himself to the mosque neighbor. “If he had known us, he wouldn’t have had that hate.”

Catholic nuns Sister Loraine Marie Maguire and Sister Constance Veit

Maguire and Veit have been invited by the House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to represent the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic religious order that has fought a long legal battle against the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate. In a class-action lawsuit, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has argued on behalf of the nuns that religious exemptions in the ACA are not enough, because simply signing the coverage over to a third-party insurance provider makes them complicit in offering birth control. Maguire and Veit will sit in the Speaker’s Box during the speech.

Check out this article to learn who the other VIP guests will be, and which lawmaker is inviting them. It’s a pretty interesting, telling group.

And, for fun, if you have an hour to spare – don’t we all? — check out this video of the president’s first State of the Union address in 2009. His hair is a lot more black, and he sure looks a lot less careworn and more hopeful, positive. The Obama of 2016 has been through a lot, made a lot decisions that angered a wide swath of people (including Muslims), and did a lot of great, great things. Looking forward to tonight’s speech.

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