Thursday, Dec. 09, 2010
Obama Decides Not to Visit the Golden Temple
The Golden Temple in Amritsar is the center of the Sikh religion and, at one point in the planning of the U.S. President's November trip to India, it had been viewed a likely place for Obama to visit. However, American politics may have gotten in the way. Though the White House has not acknowledged it, the requirement that men cover their heads when they enter the Golden Temple may have scotched the visit. In the U.S., Sikhs are very often mistaken for Muslims — and, when Islamophobia enters, unhappy consequences ensue. That was probably one factor too many for an American politican already burdened with false but unstanchable scuttlebutt that he is a secret Muslim.