Excerpt:
The White House is pushing a message of religious tolerance ahead of this week's congressional hearing on Islamic radicalism, which has sparked protests on grounds it unfairly singles out Muslims as potential terrorists.
President Barack Obama sent his deputy national security adviser, Denis McDonough, on Sunday to a Washington-area mosque known for its cooperation with the FBI and its rejection of the al-Qaida brand of Islam.
"Being religious is never un-American. Being religious is quintessentially American," McDonough said.