10 Most Important Obama Faith Moments
10. Speaking to Muslim World From Turkey
(Salih Zeki Fazlioglu/AFP/Getty Images)
Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan tour the Sultanahmet Mosque in Istanbul.
President Obama used his first appearance as president in a majority-Muslim nation, an overnight stay in Turkey in April, to reach out to the broader Islamic world. "Let me say this as clearly as I can," he said in an address to the Turkish parliament. "The United States is not at war with Islam." Obama also got personal in the speech, citing his years spent in Indonesia as a child: "The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans. Many other Americans have Muslims in their family or have lived in a Muslim-majority country—I know, because I am one of them." After the address, Obama toured a historic Turkish mosque and met with Istanbul's top Muslim cleric. Among the trip's biggest surprises: word from administration officials that the president still planned to give a separate "Muslim speech" from a primarily Muslim nation within the first 100 days or so of his administration. Many White House observers thought his address to the Turkish parliament fulfilled his pledge to give such a speech.
What do you think are the most important "faith moments" in the first 100 days of Obama's presidency?