- Says freedom of religion and freedom of speech interconnected
President Barack Obama on Thursday urged inter-faith tolerance in dealing with challenges besetting the world, while pointing out that violence and bigotry are not unique to one community but have been witnessed at several places including in India and the West.
Speaking at National Prayer Breakfast, Obama also underscored that there is a “connection between freedom of speech and freedom of religion.”
“For to infringe on one right under the pretext of protecting another is a betrayal of both,” he stated categorically.
His remarks came amid a raging controversy over freedom of speech and discriminatory treatment of Muslims in the wake of killings of French journalists and publication Charlie Hebdo’s decision to again print sketches of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the name of freedom of expression.
The U.S. president said faith has been misused as a wedge or, worse, sometimes used as a weapon.
“From a school in Pakistan to the streets of Paris, we have seen violence and terror perpetrated by those who profess to stand up for faith, their faith, professed to stand up for Islam, but, in fact, are betraying it.”
Obama also called ISIS a “brutal, vicious death cult that, in the name of religion, carries out unspeakable acts of barbarism – terrorizing religious minorities like the Yezidis, subjecting women to rape as a weapon of war, and claiming the mantle of religious authority for such actions.”
“So how do we, as people of faith, reconcile these realities — the profound good, the strength, the tenacity, the compassion and love that can flow from all of our faiths, operating alongside those who seek to hijack religious for their own murderous ends?” Humanity, he noted, has been grappling with these questions throughout history.