{"id":24249,"date":"2010-10-25T21:13:30","date_gmt":"2010-10-25T18:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=24249"},"modified":"2014-01-05T21:26:04","modified_gmt":"2014-01-05T19:26:04","slug":"obama-nixes-shrine-visit-over-headscarf-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2010\/10\/25\/obama-nixes-shrine-visit-over-headscarf-fear\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama Nixes Shrine Visit Over Headscarf Fear"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Obama May Nix Shrine Visit Over Headgear Rule<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24250\" title=\"OBAMAv haci\" src=\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/OBAMAv-haci-.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"468\" height=\"583\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/OBAMAv-haci-.jpg 468w, https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/OBAMAv-haci--241x300.jpg 241w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px\" \/><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>President Barack Obama may cancel a planned visit to a Sikh shrine in India  because advisers feel the head covering he would be required to wear might fuel  chatter that he is a secret Muslim.<\/p>\n<p>Obama is scheduled to arrive in India on Nov. 6, at the invitation of  Manmohan Singh, India\u2019s first Sikh prime minister.<\/p>\n<p>His original itinerary reportedly included a visit to the Golden Temple in  the northern city of Amritsar, the Sikhs\u2019 holiest site.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObama had planned to see the temple when he traveled to India next month but  his advisers are said to have ruled out the headscarf option, fearing that in  some people\u2019s minds, it would connect him with militant Islamism,\u201d Britain\u2019s The  Times reported.<\/p>\n<p>Singh had told Obama in a letter that a visit to the Golden Temple would  demonstrate \u201cAmerica\u2019s respect for all faiths and traditions,\u201d according to  CNSNews.<\/p>\n<p>The world\u2019s 25 million Sikhs are followers of a monotheistic religion that  dates back to the 15th century in India. They are sometimes mistaken for  Muslims.<\/p>\n<p>Sikh men wear turbans, and non-Sikh visitors to the temple are required to  cover their heads. Temple guardians told The Times no exception to the head  covering rule would be made for Obama.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are not making any special preparations for him, since everybody is equal  in the eyes of God,\u201d said S. Ram Singh, a member of the committee that manages  the temple. \u201cIt is our tradition to cover the head when you are in [the temple]  and even he will have to cover his head.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A temple priest said a baseball cap would not suffice, The Times noted.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about the reported cancellation of the shrine visit, White House press  secretary Robert Gibbs did not respond directly, but said: \u201cIt\u2019s a big country.  We\u2019d love to spend a lot more than the three allotted days that we have in  India. This trip will focus our business on Mumbai and in the cities of Mumbai  and New Delhi.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Joseph K. Grieboski, founder and chairman of the Washington, D.C.-based  Institute on Religion and Public Policy, expressed disappointment over the  reported canceling of the temple visit.<\/p>\n<p>He said in a statement: \u201cThis could have been a unique and historic  opportunity for the president to stand in the holiest shrine of an  often-discriminated religious minority and to speak for the rights of all  minorities around the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><input id=\"gwProxy\" type=\"hidden\" \/><input id=\"jsProxy\" onclick=\"if(typeof(jsCall)=='function'){jsCall();}else{setTimeout('jsCall()',500);}\" type=\"hidden\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Obama May Nix Shrine Visit Over Headgear Rule President Barack Obama may cancel a planned visit to a Sikh shrine in India because advisers feel the head covering he would be required to wear might fuel chatter that he is a secret Muslim. Obama is scheduled to arrive in India on Nov. 6, at the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":24250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}