A US Muslim advocacy group urges Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump to apologize for comments that Islam harbors hatred toward the West.
In a Wednesday interview with CNN, Trump said, “Islam hates us…There’s a tremendous hatred. We have to get to the bottom of it. There is an unbelievable hatred of us.”
The statement drew swift condemnation from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which called on Trump to apologize.
Trump also said that the West was at war against radical Islam, adding that it was hard to separate extremism from the religion itself.
“Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric does not reflect leadership, but instead reflects a bigoted mindset that only serves to divide our nation and the world,” Nihad Awad, the group’s national executive director said in a statement.
The group suggested Trump apologize at Thursday evening’s Republican debate in Miami, Florida.
But speaking at the event, Trump refused to renounce his earlier…