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Obama blasts extremists who seek to ‘hijack religion’
US President Barack Obama told a high-profile Washington breakfast on Thursday that violence rooted in religion wasn’t exclusive to Islam, but has been carried out by Christians as well.
Obama said that even though religion was a source for good around the world, there will always be people willing to “hijack religion for their own murderous ends.”
“Unless we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ,” Obama told the National Prayer Breakfast, a traditional gathering of political and religious leaders.
“In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”
Obama also denounced Islamic State terrorists for professing to stand up for Islam when they were actually “betraying it.” “We see ISIL, a brutal vicious death cult that in the name of religion carries out unspeakable acts of barbarism,” he said criticising them for “claiming the mantle of religious authority for such actions.” “We are summoned to push back against those who would distort our religion for their nihilistic ends,” Obama said.
He singled out the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, calling the militants a “death cult,” as well as those responsible for last month’s terror attacks in Paris and deadly assault on a school in Pakistan.
Suggesting he disagreed with a satirical French newspaper that provoked deadly terrorist attacks by poking fun at Islam, President Obama said that the people of faith are obligated “to condemn such insults.”
“If in fact we defend the legal right of a person to insult another’s religion, we’re equally obligated to use our free speech to condemn such insults and stand shoulder to shoulder with religious communities, particularly religious minorities who are targets of such attacks,” Obama said.
The President said, “Just because you have the right to state something doesn’t mean the rest of us shouldn’t question those who would insult others in the name of free speech.”
Obama never directly mentioned the newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, that was the scene of a terrorist attack in Paris last month that left 12 dead.
The Islamist militants who carried out the attack said they were seeking revenge for the newspaper’s blasphemous caricatures of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) that offended many Muslims.
After the attacks, the President was roundly criticised for failing to attend a unity march in Paris with other world leaders in support of free speech.
“We will constantly reaffirm that fundamental freedom, freedom of religion, the right to practice our faith how we choose, to change our faith if we choose, to practice no faith at all if we choose, and to do so free of persecution and fear and discrimination,” he said. Referring to the global fight against terrorism, Obama criticised those who pervert Islam to carry out violent attacks.
“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 their faith; profess to stand up for Islam but in fact are betraying it,” Obama said.
“We see [the Islamic State], a brutal, vicious death cult that in the name of religion carries out unspeakable acts of barbarism, terrorising religious minorities.” The President added, “No God condones terror. As people of faith, we are summoned to push back against those who try to distort our religion, any religion for their own nihilistic ends.”
But Obama said Christians shouldn’t claim any historical high ground about religious-inspired violence, and said that the US has not been immune from such examples.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, President Obama met Muslim leaders and discussed a range of issues with them including the efforts required to combat the dreaded IS and its “horrific” acts of terrorism.
Source: nation.com.pk