Obama, in speech to world’s Muslims, touts religious freedom, cooperation

CAIRO, Egypt (ABP) — In a highly anticipated speech to the world’s Muslims he delivered in Egypt June 4, President Obama called on his host government and other Muslim countries to protect the rights of religious minorities in their midst.

He also scolded some Muslim leaders for their anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial; criticized both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and dinged leaders who use “the pretense of liberalism” to suppress Muslims’ religious freedom in Western nations.

President Obama speaks at Cairo University in Egypt June 4, 2009. In his speech, he called for a 'new beginning between the United States and Muslims', declaring that 'this cycle of suspicion and discord must end'. (WHITE HOUSE/Chuck Kennedy)

Nonetheless, Obama spent much of the speech calling for greater understanding and cooperation between the world’s Muslims and the United States in the struggle against “violent extremism in all of its forms,” as he termed it.

“It's easier to start wars than to end them. It's easier to blame others than to look inward. It's easier to see what is different about someone than to find the things we share,” he said, speaking to a reported crowd of about 3,000 on the campus of Cairo University. “But we should choose the right path, not just the easy path. There's one rule that lies at the heart of every religion — that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. This truth transcends nations and peoples — a belief that isn't new; that isn't black or white or brown; that isn't Christian or Muslim or Jew. It's a belief that pulsed in the cradle of civilization, and that still beats in the hearts of billions around the world. It's a faith in other people, and it's what brought me here today.”

Without offering specific policy proposals, the president said he would focus on bringing about a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian standoff that results in “a world where Israelis and Palestinians are each secure in a state of their own.”

Obama noted that, although he is a Christian, he has Muslim ancestry on his father’s side, and said he had become more familiar with the faith by observing Muslims first-hand in Africa, Asia and the United States. Therefore, he said, “I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.”

However, he added, “that same principle must apply to Muslim perceptions of America. Just as Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire. The United States has been one of the greatest sources of progress that the world has ever known. We were born out of revolution against an empire. We were founded upon the ideal that all are created equal, and we have shed blood and struggled for centuries to give meaning to those words — within our borders, and around the world.”

Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays Email Address President Obama speaks at Cairo University in Egypt. (WHITE HOUSE/Chuck Kennedy)

Obama discussed what he considered seven areas of significant tension between many of the world’s Muslims and the United States. On religious freedom, he said Islam has a history of tolerance of those of minority faiths living in majority-Muslim lands.

“That is the spirit we need today,” he said. “People in every country should be free to choose and live their faith based upon the persuasion of the mind and the heart and the soul. This tolerance is essential for religion to thrive, but it's being challenged in many different ways.

“Among some Muslims, there's a disturbing tendency to measure one's own faith by the rejection of somebody else's faith. The richness of religious diversity must be upheld — whether it is for Maronites in Lebanon or the Copts in Egypt,” he added, referring to indigenous Christian communities that have faced significant persecution from Muslim majorities in recent years.

But he also criticized the tendency in the West to impose laws and regulations onerous to devout Muslims.

“Likewise, it is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit — for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear. We can't disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretence of liberalism.”

On the Israeli-Palestinian situation, Obama had stern words for both camps.

Referring to the Holocaust, he said, “Six million Jews were killed — more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today. Denying that fact is baseless, it is ignorant, and it is hateful. Threatening Israel with destruction — or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews — is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve.”

However, he added, “it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people — Muslims and Christians — have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than 60 years they've endured the pain of dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead. They endure the daily humiliations — large and small — that come with occupation. So let there be no doubt: The situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. And America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own.”

Obama called on Israel to abandon expansion of its settlements in occupied Palestinian lands, and called on Palestinians to abandon violence in all its forms against Israelis.

“America will align our policies with those who pursue peace, and we will say in public what we say in private to Israelis and Palestinians and Arabs. We cannot impose peace. But privately, many Muslims recognize that Israel will not go away. Likewise, many Israelis recognize the need for a Palestinian state. It is time for us to act on what everyone knows to be true.”

–Robert Marus is managing editor and Washington bureau chief for Associated Baptist Press.

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Text of President Obama's June 4, 2009, speech to the world's Muslims