WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will make his first visit as president to a U.S. mosque in a defense of religious freedom, the White House said, following a rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric in the United States.

Obama on Wednesday will visit the Islamic Society of Baltimore mosque, where he will hold a roundtable with the community and deliver remarks, a White House official said on Saturday.

At the mosque, the president will “reiterate the importance of staying true to our core values — welcoming our fellow Americans, speaking out against bigotry, rejecting indifference, and protecting our nation’s tradition of religious freedom,” the official said.

He has visited mosques outside the United States on his trips abroad.

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Obama, a Democrat in his last year as president, has appealed to Americans to reject anti-Muslim comments by politicians, most notably Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump.

Trump, who is leading the Republican field in opinion polls, called for a ban on Muslim visitors to the United States after a Muslim couple inspired by Islamist militants killed 14 people in a shooting in San Bernardino, California, in early December.

According to a Gallup poll in December, Americans are now more likely to name terrorism as the top issue facing the United States than any other issue.

The Baltimore Sun reported that President Obama will deliver remarks Wednesday at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, located in Catonsville, and will meet with community members there to discuss religious freedom, White House officials said. Administration officials hope the visit will send a message at a time when Muslim leaders are increasingly anxious about reactions after attacks in Paris and San Bernardino.

White House spokesman Keith Maley told the Sun, “The president believes that one of our nation’s greatest strengths is our rich diversity. As the president has said, Muslim Americans are our friends, and neighbors; our co-workers, and sports heroes – and our men and women in uniform defending our country.”

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Critics, however, “may question (Obama’s) choice of the Islamic Society of Baltimore, where Mohamad Adam el-Sheikh, a native of Sudan and former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, led the institution for 18 years as its Imam,” Breitbart reported. “Before becoming Imam there, el-Sheikh helped found the Muslim American Society, an outfit created by Muslim Brotherhood members.” El-Sheikh told the Washington Post in 2004, in regard to Palestinian suicide bombers, “If certain Muslims are to be cornered where they cannot defend themselves, except through these kinds of means, and their local religious leaders issued fatwas to permit that, then it becomes acceptable as an exceptional rule…”

El-Sheikh also helped found the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque, which was once led by Anwar Al Awlaki, the deceased and infamous Al Qaeda terrorist, as Breitbart noted.

This article originally appeared in Reuters and in Religion News Service, with reporting by Roberta Rampton and Idrees Ali, and with additions by LifeZette.